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
Battle of the Crimissus Plutarch, give very different accounts. According to Plutarch Dionysius surrendered the acropolis to Timoleon right away and was expelled to Corinth. Diodoros states that this happened at the end of the siege in 343/2 BC. The Carthaginians broke off the siege and retreated. Timoleon then attacked the forces of Hicetas and drove them out of Syracuse. Timoleon then proceeded to liberate the other Greek cities on Sicily in 342/1 BC in order to restore them their autonomy and democracy. He sent his mercenaries to raid the Carthaginian territory in western Sicily, which gained him a large amount of booty. As