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CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

A distinguished citizen of CYME in Asia Minor, son of HERACLEIDES (3). Aristodicus advised the Cymeans not to hand over the Lydian refugee PACTYES to the Persians (c. 545 BCE) despite an oracular response from BRANCHIDAE (Apollo’s temple at Didyma) that they should do so. A second delegation was sent, which included Aristodicus; he framed the question so as to emphasize that the Cymeans would be handing over a SUPPLIANT to certain death. When the ORACLE gave the same response as previously, Aristodicus chased all the BIRDS he could find (“suppliants” of the god) away from their nests in the temple walls. The story goes, Herodotus says, that a voice from the interior of the temple threatened Aristodicus and the Cymeans for their impiety (1.158–59). Unwilling to incur the wrath of either the Persians or APOLLO, the Cymeans decide to send Pactyes to MYTILENE and then—when his position becomes precarious—to CHIOS; but there he is treacherously handed over to the Persians (1.160). Scholars differ on the attitude toward Apollo Herodotus displays here, as well as the extent to which the story reflects or justifies the political stances vis‐à‐vis PERSIA of the parties involved.

SEE ALSO: Gods and the Divine; Piety; Temples and Sanctuaries