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 Syracuse (278 BC) and Sostratus cooperated with Pyrrhus, he did not trust them. When Sostratus no longer felt safe and fled, he accused Thoenon of conspiring with Sostratus and had him killed. The Sicilian Greeks became hostile to him, with some cities allying themselves with the Carthaginians and the Mamertines. At this point he decided to return to Southern Italy to support the Samnites and Tarentines, who were losing the war with the Roman Republic. Siege of Syracuse (278 BC) The Siege of Syracuse in 278 BC was the last attempt of Carthage to conquer the city of Syracuse. Syracuse was weakened by