Polycrates << puh LIHK ruh `teez` >> ruled the Greek island of Samos from about 538 to 522 B.C. He built the strongest Greek navy of his time and used it to establish power over several neighboring islands.
Polycrates made Samos a center of the arts. He supported several famous Greek poets, including Anacreon and Ibycus. The Greek sculptor and metalworker Theodorus crafted a famous ring for Polycrates. According to the Greek historian Herodotus , Polycrates threw away the ring, his most prized possession, to avoid the anger of the gods over his good fortune. But the ring came back to him in the belly of a fish. Polycrates also financed the building of such public works as an aqueduct, city walls, a harbor mole (breakwater), and a temple to the goddess Hera .
As a politician, Polycrates was opportunistic, meaning that he used every opportunity to his advantage, regardless of right or wrong. For example, he made a defensive alliance with the Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis I. But the alliance was dissolved because Polycrates provided the Persian King Cambyses with ships to invade Egypt. Polycrates survived a revolt by the fleet he provided. According to Herodotus, this revolt might have occurred because Polycrates had asked Cambyses to kill the sailors, most of whom were political dissidents (people who disagree with the government). Herodotus reported that Polycrates finally was killed by a Persian governor who lured him to Sardis , an ancient city near present-day Izmir , Turkey .
