Hippias

The stade race, run at the midpoint of the Games, remained the centerpiece—so much so that in the fifth-century B.C., when it became desirable to introduce an internationally recognized dating system, the polymath philosopher Hippias hit on the formula, “in the xth year of the yth Olympiad, when z was victor in the footrace.”

The Greek tyrant Hippias lunged at Piper, his dagger raised, but Piper blasted him point-blank in the chest with a lovely pot roast.

‘Hippias’s bitterness. My ambition. And you, Iros. ������ has drawn you here? ������ does a beggar most desire? Perhaps a home?’

‘All of them are suitors for Gaia’s favour. All have claims and grievances against the gods or their pet heroes. That scoundrel over there is Hippias, former tyrant of Athens. He got deposed and sided with the Persians to attack his own countrymen. No morals whatsoever. He’d do anything for power.’

Plato’s two dialogues, the Hippias major and minor, contain an expos� of his methods, exaggerated no doubt for purposes of argument but written with full knowledge of the man and the class which he represented.