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Polycrates and the Fisherman

Artist: Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615–1673)

Date: 1664

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Description

This painting recount the story of the Greek king Polycrates, as told by the ancient historian Herodotus. Polycrates, ruler of the island of Samos, worried that he was tempting fate with his great prosperity. He tried to introduce some counterbalancing misfortune into his life by throwing a precious signet ring into the sea, but it was swallowed by a large fish and returned to the king by a fisherman, the episode shown here. Polycrates’s good fortune came to an end when he was entrapped by Oroetus of Sardis and put to death.

Polycrates

Polycrates (r. c. 535-522 BCE) was the tyrant of Samos who established Samian naval supremacy in the eastern Aegean and strove for control of the Aegean Sea and mainland towns of Ionia in the 6th century BCE. Polycrates had a successful career until the Persian Oroetus (r. c. 530-520 BCE) lured him to the mainland and had him crucified.

#Samos #Polycrates #AchaemenidEmpire

Tyrant Polycrates, hybris, and the failure of sacrifice in Herodotus

Keren Freidenreich on Polycrates, hybris, and the failure of sacrifice in Herodotus

In this latest talk from the winter 2026 edition of the Herodotus Helpline, Keren Freidenreich reads the story of Polycrates and his rejected ring in Book 3 of the Histories as an example of hybristic excess. The paper argues that, for Herodotus, hybris cannot be read in an exclusively secular light; the gods seek to redress those like Polycrates who 'think big' and exercise unrestrained power.

From the youtube channel of Herodotus Helpline.

#herodotus #the histories #polycrates #hybris #keren freidenreich

Samos

Samos est une île grecque située dans l'est de la mer Égée, juste au large de la côte de la Turquie actuelle. Elle connut un essor particulier au VIe siècle avant notre ère et était célèbre dans l'Antiquité pour sa marine, son vin et son important sanctuaire dédié à Héra. Samos était un membre actif de la Ligue de Délos et le célèbre philosophe et mathématicien Pythagore y vit le jour, tout comme le célèbre astronome Aristarque. Ayant accueilli Jules César et Marc Antoine au 1er siècle avant notre ère, l'île tomba ensuite dans l'oubli pendant la période impériale romaine. Samos est classée au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO.

#Histoire #Samos #Polycrates #Épicure

Salvator Rosa, The Crucifixion of Polycrates, c. 1663-64

Polycrates' death from the Book III of Herodotus Histories: the Persian satrap of Sardis Oroetes exploited the greed of the powerful Greek tyrant of Samos Polycrates to lure him into a trap in the city of Magnesia of Asia Minor, where he arrested and killed him. The truth is that Herodotus is not explicit on how exactly Oroetes put to death Polycrates. He says only that Polycrates was killed in a way "too disgusting to relate" and that Oroetes hung his body from a stake or crucified the body, according to different translations of the relative passage into English (ἀποκτείνας δέ μιν οὐκ ἀξίως ἀπηγήσιος Ὀροίτης ἀνεσταύρωσε). According to D. Asheri (D. Asheri-A. B. Lloyd-A. Corcella Commentary on Herodotus I-IV, p. 509), we should understand that Oroetes ordered Polycrates' corpse impaled. But Herodotus' passage (3.125,3) has been understood by many readers in different periods as meaning that Polycrates was put to death by crucifixion. However, it seems that the verb used by Herodotus in the original (ἀνεσταύρωσε, of ἀνασταυρῶ) took only later exclusively the meaning of crycifying and in any case it results from Herodotus' text that, if crucifixion took place, it concerned Polycrates' corpse. The crucifixion or impalement of Polycrats' dead body was obviously a means of further humiliation of the executed tyrant. It is also noteworthy that in the same Book Herodotus relates how Oroetes, a satrap of a region at the frontiers of the Persian empire who showed tendencies to autonomy, was later tricked and put to death by King Darius.

#herodotus #the histories #polycrates #samos #salvator rosa

Polycrate

Polycrate (r. c. 535-522 av. J.-C.) était le tyran de Samos qui établit la suprématie navale samienne dans la partie orientale de la mer Égée et qui fit tout son possible pour contrôler la mer Égée et les villes continentales d'Ionie au 6e siècle avant J.-C. Polycrate connut une belle carrière jusqu'à ce que le Perse Orétès (r. env. 530-520 av. J.-C.) ne l'attire sur le continent et ne le fasse crucifier.

#Samos #Polycrates #EmpireAchéménide

Polícrates

Polícrates fue el tirano de Samos (de c. 535 a 522 a.C.) que estableció la supremacía naval sami en el Egeo oriental y luchó por el control del Mar Egeo y de las ciudades continentales de Jonia en el siglo VI a.C. Polícrates tuvo una exitosa carrera hasta que el persa Oretes (que gobernó de c. 530 a 520 a.C.) lo atrajo a tierra firme y lo hizo crucificar.

#Samos #Polycrates #ImperioAqueménida

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uW7i9UWeL8)

This is the Greek myth of Polycrates and his fish luck. I'll bet he won the meat raffle at school every. single. year. as a kid... Wanna keep watching? Here are some places to start! More Easy Distractions: http://bit.ly/PfI7MP More Myths: http://bit.ly/PfIbMz

#Dael Kingsmill #Mythology #Polycrates #Fish #Ring #Good Luck #Bad Luck #Monarch's Factory

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