Athenian coup of 411 BC state of Athens remained an anomaly, however, as the rest of the Greek city states were run either as tyrannies or, most often, by oligarchies. Both Thucydides and Aristotle wrote that "the revolution was provoked by defeat in Sicily." Despite the democracy in Athens, Greek tradition remained aristocratic, and the works of Homer celebrated an aristocratic world view, where the nobles made decisions and the commoners obeyed. The poems of Theognis of Megara (from the sixth century BC) and the Theban poet Pindar (of the fifth century BC) were popular among the Athenian nobles at this time, casting democracy as
Siege of Segesta (397 BC) their levy with allied contingents. Segestan cavalry probably was not as efficient as that of Selinus (probably for this reason Carthage equipped a cavalry force for them in 410 BC to fight Selinus). It is not known to what extent Greek cultural influenced the Elymian military equipment in 397 BC, probably Segestans also fielded a force of hoplites. In siege situations, women and old men could be used as impromptu peltasts. The Greek army probably encamped to the north of the city prior to attacking the city. Dionysius did try to starve the Elymians into submission; he assaulted the city