There are merely a few references to the life of Theagenes of Megara amongst the ancient authors, which makes outlining a vague biography almost impossible. What we do know is that Theagenes of Megara

Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...

 was among the first of Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 tyrant

Tyrant

A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...

s, possibly inspired by Cypselus

Cypselus

Cypselus was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC.With increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures, Greek city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings; Corinth, the richest archaic polis, led the way...

 of neighbouring Corinth

Corinth

Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...

. Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

's Rhetoric mentions that Theagenes of Megara asked for a body guard. He states that "he who is plotting tyranny asks for a body guard." He is compared with Pisistratus, "who when granted it [a body guard] became a tyrant", a possible insight into how Theagenes managed to gain control of Megara and also insight into how the Greek concept of tyrannus might be linked with a body guard.

He slaughtered the flocks of the rich, as Aristotle mentions in his Politics. Prior to mentioning Theagenes' slaughter, he gives some insight into why this may have occurred: "They would do this because they had the confidence of the people, a confidence based upon hostility to the rich." This is paralleled again by Aristotle with Pisistratus' leading a revolt of dwellers on the plain. Aristotle mentions that military men aimed at tyranny, this might hint that Theagenes might have been a general by profession who could be paralleled with Pittacus

Pittacus of Mytilene

Pittacus was the son of Hyrradius and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. He was a native of Mytilene and the Mytilenaean general who, with his army, was victorious in the battle against the Athenians and their commander Phrynon. In consequence of this victory the Mytilenaeans held Pittacus in the...

 the Mytilenaean

Mytilene

Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...

 general-turned-tyrant.

Thucydides

Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...

 also states that Cylon, a victor at Olympia

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

, married Theagenes’ daughter. After Cylon had consulted the Delphic Oracle, the gods told him to seize the Athenian

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 Acropolis

Acropolis

Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...

. It was from Theagenes that he obtained a force. He tried about 630 people in the courts to help his son-in-law Cylon get to power in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 Cylon succeeded "with a view to making himself a tyrant.

He built a fountain house that can still be seen off the "Road of the Spring-House" in modern Megara

Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...

. This fountain was built in around 600 BC, helping us put a rough date to date the time of Theagenes' tyranny. This spring is said to have the water of the Sithnidian nymphs running through it. Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 mentions this fountain is "worth seeing for its size and ornament and the number of columns." Athenagoras of Athens

Athenagoras of Athens

Athenagoras was a Father of the Church, a Proto-orthodox Christian apologist who lived during the second half of the 2nd century of whom little is known for certain, besides that he was Athenian , a philosopher, and a convert to Christianity. In his writings he styles himself as "Athenagoras, the...

 stated that Theagenes had been deified by the inhabitants of Thasos

Thasos

Thasos or Thassos is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, close to the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestos but geographically part of Macedonia. It is the northernmost Greek island, and 12th largest by area...

, despite his having "committed murder at the Olympic games". Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

 mentions that after Theagenes' casting out, the Megarians enjoyed a conservative government for a short while. However, Plutarch does not expand on the nature of the exile.

Theagenes is also mentioned in Aristophanes' Peace

Peace

Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

. When the chorus are persuading Trygaeus not to sacrifice a fat swine because they would be associating with the 'swinishness' of Theagenes.