{"id":763,"date":"2012-07-01T20:15:55","date_gmt":"2012-07-01T20:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajaonline.org\/2012\/07\/01\/1160\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T19:56:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T00:56:27","slug":"1160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/","title":{"rendered":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This article offers as a case study a comprehensive scrutiny of literary sources and archaeological data for the first tyranny of Phalaris at Akragas (571\/0&ndash;555\/4 B.C.E.). Literary sources report that during Phalaris&rsquo; tyranny, there was a period of prosperity characterized by a building program (temples, fortifications), territorial expansion up to the northern coast of Sicily, and dominion over the Sikans, just a decade after the foundation of Akragas. Scholars have adopted a generally positivist approach in reading these sources, in reconstructing the historical figure of Phalaris, and in outlining the artistic and cultural frame of Akragas during the second quarter of the sixth century B.C.E. From a methodological point of view, this case study sheds light on the unbalanced relationship between literary\/historiographical sources and archaeological evidence in the reconstruction of archaic Akragas. I present an updated view of the artistic, architectural, and cultural context of archaic Akragas and draw a new picture of the geopolitical boundaries of the polis that is supported by archaeological evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article offers as a case study a comprehensive scrutiny of literary sources and archaeological data for the first tyranny of Phalaris at Akragas (571\/0&ndash;555\/4 B.C.E.). Literary sources report that during Phalaris&rsquo; tyranny, there was a period of prosperity characterized by a building program (temples, fortifications), territorial expansion up to the northern coast of Sicily, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[904],"tags":[5,10,14,52],"issues":[133],"region":[871],"class_list":["post-763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-iconography","tag-architecture","tag-literarystudies","tag-terracottas","issues-133","region-italy-sicily"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article offers as a case study a comprehensive scrutiny of literary sources and archaeological data for the first tyranny of Phalaris at Akragas (571\/0&ndash;555\/4 B.C.E.). Literary sources report that during Phalaris&rsquo; tyranny, there was a period of prosperity characterized by a building program (temples, fortifications), territorial expansion up to the northern coast of Sicily, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Journal of Archaeology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aja.journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"345\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"aja\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aja\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"aja\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/711697bfd0087a94589eecedb525bf52\"},\"headline\":\"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\"},\"wordCount\":180,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Iconography\",\"Architecture\",\"Literary Studies\",\"Terracottas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\",\"name\":\"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg\",\"width\":345,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Terracotta fragment of a mythological group with Chrysaor (male body) and Medusa (left hand). Copenhagen, Nationalmuseet, inv. no. 11372 (\u00a9 Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Antiquities).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Journal of Archaeology\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Journal of Archaeology\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/new-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/new-logo.svg\",\"width\":383,\"height\":65,\"caption\":\"American Journal of Archaeology\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aja.journal\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/711697bfd0087a94589eecedb525bf52\",\"name\":\"aja\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd114eda02f0b494bee774e4322c6b2086f01df7fa9fd5b694ebe9918a9ac1d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd114eda02f0b494bee774e4322c6b2086f01df7fa9fd5b694ebe9918a9ac1d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"aja\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/author\/aja\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology","og_description":"This article offers as a case study a comprehensive scrutiny of literary sources and archaeological data for the first tyranny of Phalaris at Akragas (571\/0&ndash;555\/4 B.C.E.). Literary sources report that during Phalaris&rsquo; tyranny, there was a period of prosperity characterized by a building program (temples, fortifications), territorial expansion up to the northern coast of Sicily, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/","og_site_name":"American Journal of Archaeology","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aja.journal","article_published_time":"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":345,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"aja","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"aja","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/"},"author":{"name":"aja","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/711697bfd0087a94589eecedb525bf52"},"headline":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas","datePublished":"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/"},"wordCount":180,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg","keywords":["Iconography","Architecture","Literary Studies","Terracottas"],"articleSection":["Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/","url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/","name":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas | July 2012 (116.3) | American Journal of Archaeology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg","datePublished":"2012-07-01T20:15:55+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-10T00:56:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Adornato2.jpg","width":345,"height":675,"caption":"Terracotta fragment of a mythological group with Chrysaor (male body) and Medusa (left hand). Copenhagen, Nationalmuseet, inv. no. 11372 (\u00a9 Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Antiquities)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/article\/1160\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/","name":"American Journal of Archaeology","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#organization","name":"American Journal of Archaeology","url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/new-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/new-logo.svg","width":383,"height":65,"caption":"American Journal of Archaeology"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aja.journal"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/711697bfd0087a94589eecedb525bf52","name":"aja","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd114eda02f0b494bee774e4322c6b2086f01df7fa9fd5b694ebe9918a9ac1d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fd114eda02f0b494bee774e4322c6b2086f01df7fa9fd5b694ebe9918a9ac1d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"aja"},"url":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/author\/aja\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7358,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions\/7358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajaonline.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}