Pisistratus died in 527 BC. His reign would be remembered as a 'Golden Age' of Athenian progress and development. His son, Hippias, ruled successfully at first, and like his father avoided interfering in the private affairs of the people.

Cleisthenes was now over forty years old and an established politician with a reputation for flexibility and clever strategy. For reasons that are still unclear, but possibly because of the political plotting of his father Megacles, he had already spent a period in exile - a time he spent touring the other city-states of Greece.

Then in the year 514 BC Hippias' brother and right-hand man, Hipparchos, was assassinated in a lovers quarrel. In response Hippias became an increasingly brutal and savage dictator.

After long years of waiting, Cleisthenes at last saw his opportunity. Calling in a favour owed him by the Oracle of Delphi, the greatest shrine in all Greece, he managed to obtain Spartan help and overthrew Hippias, who fled to Asia Minor.

The year was 510 BC, the traditional date of Athens' liberation from the tyrants. However, almost immediately Cleisthenes' bid for power was thwarted…