Post by wildfire on Feb 3, 2005 0:44:20 GMT -5
In 510 B.C. the splendid Greek city of Sybaris was destroyed. It was the result of a war with another Greek city called Croton. Crotoniate troops took no prisoners, and all Sybarites who were unable to escape were murdered where they stood. Since the orders were total destruction, soldiers were seventy days---- more than two months---- demolishing the city. And if that weren't enough, says one ancient historian, after the remaining rubble was burned a nearby river was redirected over the smoldering waste, thus to bury forever even the site on which Sybaris had stood!
It would take twenty-five centuries and some fairly sophisticated technology to rediscover that site. But what could have inspired such hatred of one Greek city for another, especially for one as glorious as Sybaris? And how could the army of Croton possibly have defeated the army of Sybaris, outnumbered three to one?
Today, when one is called a "Sybarite," it means he is devoted to the good life, to luxury in the extreme. The term is derivative of the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, more directly of its pampered inhabitants.
For their Easy Street address, the original Sybarites were envied far and wide. But seeds of their extinction were sown inside the city walls.
The citizens who had it good became jealous of the citizens who had it better. One particularly eloquent troublemaker named Telys began making speeches. In fact, he actually persuaded the Sybarite tribunal to confiscate all the wealth and all the real estate of the five hundred richest men in town! Had the government only left those five hundred men alone, Sybaris might have survived the centuries. As it happened, you can barely find the place with a magnetometer!
The five hundred disenfranchised Sybarites fled to the city of Croton, seventy-five miles away. Hot on their heels, Sybarite messengers with an ultimatum for Croton: Return the five hundred or risk war.
As far as the Crotoniate assembly was concerned, war with powerful Sybaris was out of the question. The Sybarite army outnumbered the Crotoniate army three to one. So the Crotoniates were about to send those five hundred disenfranchised fat cats back to Sybaris when a distinguished gentleman addressed the assembly. He was the great mathematician Pythagoras, who had been living in Croton for almost twenty years. Anyway, Pythagoras convinced the assembly to grant asylum to the displaced Sybarites and then to dispatch a corps of diplomats to Sybaris for a nice friendly chat.
The Crotoniates sent thirty such peaceful emissaries.
Upon their arrival in Sybaris, all were killed. That is the reason why Croton went against the odds, declared war on Sybaris with little hope of winning.
Of course, Croton did win. History records that Sybaris was utterly annihilated.
But, the Crotoniates killed them softly— with a song!
So far as we know, nothing like it had ever happened before, nor has it happened since. . . .
When the Crotoniate army advanced to within arrows' range of the Sybarite cavalry, Crotoniate musicians , pipers, began playing a certain tune often performed during Sybarite parades.
The magnificent Sybarite horses had been trained to DANCE whenever that tune was played. And now, in battle, the entire Sybarite cavalry was dancing, prancing, elegantly sidestepping, ignoring the frantic commands of the riders.
Thus were the Sybarite forces slaughtered, and thus did the opulent society of Sybaris sink into oblivion—defeated by a graceful melody.
Now you know the rest of the story.
It would take twenty-five centuries and some fairly sophisticated technology to rediscover that site. But what could have inspired such hatred of one Greek city for another, especially for one as glorious as Sybaris? And how could the army of Croton possibly have defeated the army of Sybaris, outnumbered three to one?
Today, when one is called a "Sybarite," it means he is devoted to the good life, to luxury in the extreme. The term is derivative of the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, more directly of its pampered inhabitants.
For their Easy Street address, the original Sybarites were envied far and wide. But seeds of their extinction were sown inside the city walls.
The citizens who had it good became jealous of the citizens who had it better. One particularly eloquent troublemaker named Telys began making speeches. In fact, he actually persuaded the Sybarite tribunal to confiscate all the wealth and all the real estate of the five hundred richest men in town! Had the government only left those five hundred men alone, Sybaris might have survived the centuries. As it happened, you can barely find the place with a magnetometer!
The five hundred disenfranchised Sybarites fled to the city of Croton, seventy-five miles away. Hot on their heels, Sybarite messengers with an ultimatum for Croton: Return the five hundred or risk war.
As far as the Crotoniate assembly was concerned, war with powerful Sybaris was out of the question. The Sybarite army outnumbered the Crotoniate army three to one. So the Crotoniates were about to send those five hundred disenfranchised fat cats back to Sybaris when a distinguished gentleman addressed the assembly. He was the great mathematician Pythagoras, who had been living in Croton for almost twenty years. Anyway, Pythagoras convinced the assembly to grant asylum to the displaced Sybarites and then to dispatch a corps of diplomats to Sybaris for a nice friendly chat.
The Crotoniates sent thirty such peaceful emissaries.
Upon their arrival in Sybaris, all were killed. That is the reason why Croton went against the odds, declared war on Sybaris with little hope of winning.
Of course, Croton did win. History records that Sybaris was utterly annihilated.
But, the Crotoniates killed them softly— with a song!
So far as we know, nothing like it had ever happened before, nor has it happened since. . . .
When the Crotoniate army advanced to within arrows' range of the Sybarite cavalry, Crotoniate musicians , pipers, began playing a certain tune often performed during Sybarite parades.
The magnificent Sybarite horses had been trained to DANCE whenever that tune was played. And now, in battle, the entire Sybarite cavalry was dancing, prancing, elegantly sidestepping, ignoring the frantic commands of the riders.
Thus were the Sybarite forces slaughtered, and thus did the opulent society of Sybaris sink into oblivion—defeated by a graceful melody.
Now you know the rest of the story.
