Bakkhylides 11 and the Rule of the «Slaves» at Argos

Abstract

Herodotos’ account of the events that followed the defeat and massacre of the Argives at Sepeia in 494 BC is generally interpreted to imply that the Argive citizens either lost control of the state to the members of a lower social order or shared it with them. Scholars also appear to be in agreement that the report of Herodotos is the earliest evidence for these events. Here, however, a case is presented for the view that a passage from Bakkhylides 11 contains a contemporary reference. Considered with a reexamination of the relevant texts from Herodotos, Aristotle, Diodoros and Plutarch, this passage suggests that the new citizens came from the elite among the Argive περίοικοι.