Sicyon

 

(sĭsh'ēŏn, sĭs'–) , ancient city of Greece, in the Peloponnesus, NW of Corinth and 2 mi (3.2 km) S of the Gulf of Corinth. Sicyon was founded by Argos and attained its greatest power under the tyrant Cleisthenes in the 6th cent. B.C. Under the leadership of the general Aratus, Sicyon joined (3d cent. B.C.) the Achaean League. With the destruction (146 B.C.) of Corinth by the Romans, Sicyon briefly regained power but subsequently declined. Sicyon was an important center of art. In the archaic period of Greek art (625–480 B.C.) it was famous for painting and pottery. In the 4th cent. B.C. the Sicyonic school of painting, founded by Eupompus, produced such artists as Pamphilus and Apelles.

For the modern municipality, see Sikyona.

Sicyon was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea. Alexanor, a son of Machaon, and grandson of Aesculapius, who built to his sire a temple at Titane in the territory of Sicyon. He himself too was worshipped there, and sacrifices were offered to him after sunset only. (Paus. ii. 23.4, 11.6, &c.).

Sicyon was built on a low triangular plateau about two miles from the Corinthian Gulf. Between the city and its port lay a fertile plain with olive groves and orchards. After the Dorian invasion the community was divided into the ordinary three Dorian tribes and an equally privileged tribe of Ionians, besides which a class of serfs lived on and worked the land.

For some centuries, Sicyon remained subject to Argos, where its Dorian conquerors had come from; as late as 500 BC it acknowledged a certain suzerainty. However, its virtual independence was established in the 7th century BC, when a line of tyrants arose and initiated an anti-Dorian policy. Chief of these rulers was the founder's grandson Cleisthenes, the uncle of the Athenian legislator Cleisthenes. Besides reforming the city's constitution to the advantage of the Ionians and replacing Dorian cults with the worship of Dionysus, Cleisthenes gained renown as the chief instigator and general of the First Sacred War (590 BC) in the interests of the Delphians.

About this time, Sicyon developed the various industries for which it was noted in antiquity. As the abode of the sculptors Dipoenus and Scyllis it gained pre-eminence in woodcarving and bronze work such as is still to be seen in the archaic metal facings found at Olympia. Its pottery, which resembled Corinthian ware, was exported with the latter as far as Etruria. In Sicyon also the art of painting was supposed to have been invented. After the fall of the tyrants their institutions survived till the end of the 6th century BC, when Dorian supremacy was re-established, perhaps by the agency of Sparta, and the city was enrolled in the Peloponnesian League. Henceforth, its policy was usually determined either by Sparta or Corinth.

In the 5th century BC Sicyon, like Corinth, suffered from the commercial rivalry of Athens in the western seas, and was repeatedly harassed by squadrons of Athenian ships. In the Peloponnesian War Sicyon followed the lead of Sparta and Corinth. When these two powers quarrelled after the peace of Nicias it remained loyal to the Spartans. Again in the Corinthian war Sicyon sided with Sparta and became its base of operations against the allied troops round Corinth. In 369 it was captured and garrisoned by the Thebans in their successful attack on the Peloponnesian League. During this period Sicyon reached its zenith as a centre of art: its school of painting gained fame under Eupompus and attracted the great masters Pamphilus and Apelles as students; its sculpture was raised to a level hardly surpassed in Greece by Lysippus and his pupils.

The destruction of Corinth (146) brought Sicyon an acquisition of territory and the presidency over the Isthmian games; yet in Cicero's time it had fallen deep into debt. Under the Roman empire it was quite obscured by the restored cities of Corinth and Patrae; in Pausanias' age (A.D. 150) it was almost desolate. In Byzantine times it became a bishop's seat, and to judge by its later name Hellas it served as a refuge for the Greeks from the Slavonic immigrants of the 8th century.

The village of Vasiliko (described by the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica as "insignificant") now occupies the site.

This is one of the historical sites least visited by tourists in Greece.^{[citation needed]} As of 2006, entry to all areas except the small museum is unrestricted.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• "Sicyon: The most ancient Greek city-state", Ellen Papakyriakou/Anagnostou. Contains a great deal of information on ancient and present-day Sicyon.

• "The Greco-Roman Theatre at Sicyon", The Ancient Theatre Archive. Theatre specifications and virtual reality tour of the ancient theatre.

Donate to Wikimedia