Between Tyranny and Democracy: Political Exiles and the History of Heraclea Pontica

Abstract

In the surviving fragments of his treatise On Heraclea the historian Memnon assigns a central role to the exiles from Heraclea. As opponents of tyranny, they represented a destabilising element, a constant danger to the survival of the Clearchid regime. This article explores the events that led to the banishment of the exiles, reconstructs the politics of expulsion implemented by the tyrants, and clarifies the status of the exiles and their political orientation in the light of Memnon’s frequent juxtaposition of the exiles’ demand to return to their homeland and the restoration of democracy.

RULES FOR THE RECEPTION OF EXILES IN THE TREATY BETWEEN SINOPE AND HERACLEA PONTICA (I.SINOPE 1)

“…We know that Clearchus, the founder of the dynastic tyranny of Heraclea, resorted extensively to expulsions of his political opponents and that, after his death, his brother Satyrus followed the same policy. 21 Furthermore, the exiles' issue still remained unresolved for the Heracleotians under Dionysius' rule, and their embassies to Alexander and Perdiccas asking to return constituted a real danger to the survival of the regime. 22 To obtain their kathodos, the exiles, or better the descendants of those expelled under Clearchus and Satyrus, had to wait for the definitive fall of the tyranny in 282 and its replacement by a democratic government.…”