Tyrants ofMiletus
Late 8th or 7th c.BCE Amphitres 7th century BCE Thrasybulus 6th century BCE Thoas 6th century BCE Damasanor c. 518-514 BCE Histiaeus c. 513-499 BCE Aristagoras 3rd century BCE Timarchus
v t e

Thrasybulus (Greek:Θρασύβουλος ὁ Μιλήσιος) was thetyrant ofMiletus in the 7th century BC. Under his rule, Miletus fought a lengthy war againstLydia. This war ended without a decisive victor (a result that Herodotus credits to Thrasybulus's trickingAlyattes into making peace.^[1]). Following the war, Miletus and Lydia concluded an alliance.

Thrasybulus was an ally ofPeriander, the tyrant ofCorinth. He features in a famous anecdote fromHerodotus'sHistories,^[2] in which a messenger fromPeriander asks Thrasybulus for advice on ruling.^[3] Thrasybulus, instead of responding, takes the messenger for a walk in a field of wheat, where he proceeds to cut off all of the best and tallest ears of wheat. The message, correctly interpreted by Periander, was that a wise ruler would preempt challenges to his rule by "removing" those prominent men who might be powerful enough to challenge him; this story gave the name totall poppy syndrome.

• Negative selection (politics)

• Fine, John V.A.The Ancient Greeks: A critical history (Harvard University Press, 1983)ISBN 0-674-03314-0

Thisancient Greek biographical article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Ancient Milesians
• Archaic tyrants
• 7th-century BC Greek people
• Ancient Greek people stubs

• Use dmy dates from May 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Greek-language text
• All stub articles