page_title: Polycrates
section_title: Polycrates' ring
hierarchical_section_title: Polycrates / Polycrates' ring
caption_attribution_description: English: The ring of Polycrates is found inside a fish
context_page_description: Polycrates, son of Aeaces, was the tyrant of Samos from the 540s BC to 522 BC. He had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant.
context_section_description: According to Herodotus, Amasis thought Polycrates was too successful, and advised him to throw away whatever he valued most in order to escape a reversal of fortune. Polycrates followed the advice and threw a jewel-encrusted ring into the sea; however, a few days later, a fisherman caught a large fish that he wished to share with the tyrant. While Polycrates' cooks were preparing the fish for eating, they discovered the ring inside of it. Polycrates told Amasis of his good fortune, and Amasis immediately broke off their alliance, believing that such a lucky man would eventually come to a disastrous end. Within Herodotus' work, this story serves to advance general themes about the mutability of fortune and how to judge success. Most subsequent references to Polycrates in literature and other media have focused on this story.
  Polycrates' Ring (German: Der Ring des Polykrates) is a lyrical ballad written in June 1797 by Friedrich Schiller and first published in his 1798 Musen-Almanach annual. It is about how the greatest success gives reason to fear disaster. Schiller relied on the accounts of the fate of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, in Herodotus' Histories, Book III.
  The early 20th century opera Der Ring des Polykrates by Erich Wolfgang Korngold retells the story of Polycrates as a modern fable.
  Polycrates is mentioned in Byron's famous stanzas "The Isles of Greece:"
  Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
  We will not think of themes like these!
  It made Anacreon's song divine:
  He served—but served Polycrates—
  A tyrant; but our masters then
  Were still, at least, our countrymen.
caption: The ring of Polycrates is found inside a fish.
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