Sicyon
Sicyon, an ancient Greek city located in the northern Peloponnese, is situated approximately eleven miles northwest of Corinth. Historically known for its strategic position near the Corinthian Gulf and its artificial port at Kiato, Sicyon played a significant role in various historical narratives, including being a dependency of Agamemnon and the capital of Adrastus. The city experienced notable growth under the Orthagorid dynasty in the 7th century BC, particularly during the reign of Cleisthenes, who fostered commercial connections and artistic endeavors. Sicyon became a prominent center for the arts, producing renowned figures like the sculptor Lysippus.
Throughout its history, Sicyon underwent changes in governance, aligning with various leagues and powers, including the Spartans and later the Achaean League. Despite fluctuating fortunes, such as a brief autocratic rule and a period of prosperity during Macedonian influence, the city eventually faced decline due to debts and natural disasters. By the time of Pausanias in the 2nd century AD, Sicyon was largely in ruins but had still retained some significance as an early Christian and Byzantine bishopric. Archaeological remains, including temples, theaters, and public buildings, reflect its rich cultural heritage and historical importance in ancient Greece.
Subject Terms
Sicyon
Sikyon or Sekyon (`town of the cucumbers’), originally, it was said, called Aegiale or Aegialeia—after aigialos, `shore land,’ and the mythical Aegialeus—and then later Mecone, and subsequently for a time Demetrias (now Basiliko, two and a half miles from Sikonia)
A Greek city in the northern Peloponnese, about eleven miles northwest of Corinth. The original town lay at the foot of two wide plateaus, one of which constituted its acropolis, two miles from the Corinthian Gulf—on which it possessed an artificial port (Kiato)—at the junction of deep ravines cut by the rivers Asopus and Helisson (Elisson). Inhabited in the Mycenaean Late Bronze Age, Sicyon appeared in Greek legend as a dependency of Agamemnon of Mycenae, and as the royal capital of Adrastus while he was a refugeee from Argos.
A long period of subordination to the Argives was ended in c 655 BC by the local dynasty of the Orthagorids, whose most powerful monarch Cleisthenes (c 600–570) established impressive commercial connections abroad, married his daughter into the great Alcmaeonid family of Athens, supported Delphi in the First Sacred War against Cirtha (c 590), and sponsored flourishing schools of painting, pottery, and bronze sculpture; of which the lastnamed art was allegedly developed by Dipoenus and Scyllis, pupils of the legendary (?) Cretan Daedalus, and culminated toward the end of the sixth century in the bronze caster Canachus, famous for his statue of Apollo Philesius at Didyma.
During the following century Sicyon was the most active Peloponnesian mint. When the Spartans eliminated the city's autocratic dynasty, it became a member of their League—to which it remained loyal, despite Athenian harrassment, during the Peloponnesian War (431–404). In 367 it briefly resumed autocratic rule, under Euphron who was described in hostile terms by Xenophon and Diodorus, because he supported the poor against the upper classes. At this juncture Epaminondas had made Sicyon the headquarters of Theban power in the Peloponnese. Subsequently, dictatorial government was established yet again with the help of Philip II of Macedonia (359–336). During this period the place attained a second zenith as an artistic center: Pamphilus (who conducted courses lasting twelve years) taught Apelles painting there, and Sicyonian sculpture culminated in the outstandingly famous and innovative Lysippus, the portrayer of Alexander the Great.
Alexander maintained a major mint in the city. After his death, it was captured by Demetrius I Poliorcetes (the Besieger, 303), who transplanted its inhabitants to the plateaus overlooking the previous site, at a new settlement named Demetrias. Under the sponsorship of Aratus this community joined the Achaean League (251), the destruction of which by the Romans in 146 brought it additional territory and, for a time, the presidency of Corinth's Isthmian Games. Sicyon was so deeply in debt c 58 BC, however, that it had to sell its works of art, and during the Principate it was eclipsed by the restoration of Corinth and Patrae; after devastation by an earthquake (cAD 140), Pausanias found its site half-ruined and almost deserted. Nevertheless, what remained of the town was the seat of a bishopric in early Christian and Byzantine times.
Remains of walls encircling the habitation center and separating the acropolis from the other (lower) terrace are still to be seen. Pausanias and other writers, and local coins, record temples dedicated to a considerable variety of deities, including Fortune (Tyche Akraia) and the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces [Pollux]). These two shrines were situated on the acropolis, and the seats of a stadium and a theater—one of the largest on the Greek mainland—were cut into its slopes. Excavations have uncovered a gymnasium with a colonnaded courtyard, and, beside the agora, a portico (Stoa) with traces of a double colonnade, a council chamber (Bouleuterion) of the third century BC—later transformed into a Roman bathing establishment (of which another, larger example exists elsewhere in the city)—and an early temple renovated in Hellenistic times and subsequently converted into a Christian church. A further Christian basilica has been excavated on a low hill beside the ancient port.