Pittacus

Pittacus of Mytilene (c. 650–570 BCE) was an archaic Greek statesman from Mytilene on Lesbos and is traditionally counted among the Seven Sages of Greece. Active in the city’s turbulent politics, he helped overthrow the tyrant Melanchrus and later opposed the aristocrat Myrsilus. Ancient sources report that Pittacus was appointed *aisymnetes* (an elected emergency ruler) and governed for a fixed term, after which he relinquished power. He was credited with legal reforms, including a law increasing penalties for crimes committed while drunk. Pittacus was also associated with concise moral maxims and was remembered as a lawgiver and poet in later tradition.