H. again insists on the eminence of the Alcmaeonids (cf. v. 62. 2 n.). Megacles, father of Alcmaeon, was archon at the time of the Cylonian massacre (? 632 B. C.) (cf. v. 71 n.). That Alcmaeon was the founder of the family's great wealth is suggested by the name Alcmaeonid, and by the story here given, which is obviously a comic version of the enrichment of the family by the Lydian king or by successful trade with Sardis (Meyer, i,1 § 488). As is usual in such stories (cf. i. 29. 1; vi. 127. 3 n.), the chronology is confused and erroneous. Croesus reigned in Lydia circ. 560-546 B. C. (or five years later, Busolt, ii. 458-60), and his embassy to Delphi is not likely to have been earlier than 556-555 (Marmor Parium); but Alcmaeon appears to have been general in the Sacred war with Cirrha (circ. 595-586 B. C., Plut. Sol. 11), and circ. 550 B. C. has a grand-daughter old enough to be married to Pisistratus. The marriage of Megacles and Agariste (inf.) must therefore be placed before 565, probably 572 B. C. (cf. 126. 2), and the connexion of Alcmaeon with the Lydian king a generation earlier (inf.). It is, however, mis-spent ingenuity to transfer the services of Alcmaeon to the embassy sent to Delphi by Alyattes (i. 19. 25), and ascribe the wealth of the Alcmaeonids to the gratitude of that king. These anecdotes disregard chronology, nor has H. a fixed scheme for the sixth century (cf. App. XIV. 6 and Abbott, Exc. xi to Bk. V). Mahaffy (Soc. Greece, p. 158) contrasts the under-bred sharpness of the Greek and the courteous generosity of the Oriental.
Ὀλυμπιάδα: Isocrates, περὶ ζεύγ. 25 ἵππων γὰρ ζεύγει πρῶτος Ἀλκμέων τῶν πολιτῶν Ὀλυμπιάσιν ἐνίκησε. This was the only Olympic victory of the house when Pindar wrote Pyth. vii. 14. (490 or 486 B. C.). It seems to belong to Ol. 47 (592 B. C.).
