Views on treason in ancient Greece : supporting Philip II of Macedon in fourth-century Athens

Abstract

During the Persian Wars an Athenian would be stoned even for suggesting that Athens might discuss Mardonius’ proposals to submit to Persia. In his account, Herodotus (9.4-5) reports the visit of the Hellespontian Murychides to Athens who acted as a representative of Mardonius and sought to lure Athens into supporting Mardonius’ schemes against the rest of the Greeks of the Hellenic Alliance, and thus achieve the Athenians’ submission to Persia. Herodotus attests that when a certain Athenian councillor named Lycides suggested that Athens should actually take the Persian terms into further consideration and bring them before the Athenian people for potential approval, both his fellow councillors and the Athenian public that happened to be nearby found his suggestion outrageous and executed him by stoning. In addition, the rest of his family shared a similar fate, as soon after Lycides’ stoning an infuriated mob of Athenian women marched to Lycides’ house and pelted his wife and children to death. [excerpt]