Critias ordering the Execution of Theramenes (litho)

Critias ordering the Execution of Theramenes. After the fall of Athens in BC 404, her democratic constitution was abolished, and her government handed over by the Spartans to thirty officers, headed by a man named Critias, whose cruel and oppressive rule caused them to be known as the Thirty Tyrants. Murders, imprisonments, fines and confiscations were the order of the day. The picture shows the treatment of one of their own supporters, who refused to assassinate and plunder a wealthy foreign merchant. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920). Note: Image has been digitally enhanced to facilitate repro.