Pisistratus and Philaidae

Use in the book

The identification at 228b moves through citizenship, father and locality before settling on Hipparchus. Socrates first describes the authority he obeys as a fellow citizen of both speakers. He then adds that this man is Pisistratus’ son, identifying Pisistratus by his connection with Philaidae. The construction embeds the apparently extraordinary cultural ruler in an ordinary civic geography. Athens in the story includes the communities of Attica as well as its urban centre.

Pisistratus himself is not given a speech, action or developed character. His importance is genealogical and political: his name identifies the ruling family against which the praise of Hipparchus must be heard. The later claim that Athens experienced tyranny only during Hippias’ three final years makes the earlier family regime appear exceptionally benign. That is a feature of Socrates’ account, not a reason to describe Pisistratus’ rule as a democracy.

The location also prepares the geography of the Herms. A reader has already heard of one local community before learning that Hipparchus set monuments halfway between the town and each deme. This relation is textual rather than a claim that Philaidae was one of the specific sites named on a surviving Herm. No such monument is identified in the dialogue.

Plutarch’s Life of Solon 10.2 associates Pisistratus with Philaidae in an account of Athenian claims to Salamis. That later source supports the local identification supplied by the edition’s note. It does not independently establish Hipparchus’ educational intentions or the accuracy of his description as the eldest son.

Places to read

1. 228bΠεισιστράτου δὲ ὑεῖ — “And the son of Pisistratus”: the father identifies the person Socrates obeys.
2. 228bτοῦ ἐκ Φιλαϊδῶν — The locality belongs to the identification of Pisistratus.
3. 228dτῶν δήμων ἑκάστων — The narrative expands from a named local origin to the network of demes.

Translation in this edition

The translation prints “Pisistratus of Philaidae,” without an article before the place-name. Its note identifies Philaidae as a deme and cites Plutarch. “Deme” is useful geographical vocabulary here, but one should not import the full later democratic administrative system into every reference to an earlier Attic community. The passage supplies no tribal affiliation, boundary description or institutional history.