The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY
OF ATHENS
Athens
in Historical times
At some point
during the early historical period, the whole of Attica was united
and made up a political entity centred in Athens. All the Inhabitants
of Attica were called Athenians and Attica became synonymous with
Athens.
Cylon and Draco
The
7th century BC was one of major political activity in municipal
terms. The “polis” (town) had achieved its social
and administrative shape in the previous century. Originally,
there was a conflict among the powerful aristocratic families
of the cities, some of whom attempted or even managed to monopolize
power, in certain cases favouring the lower level citizens, especially
artisans and merchants. They also established tyrannies.
In
Athens, in about 635 BC, Cylon, instigated by his father-in-law,
Theagenes, the tyrant of Megara, established a tyranny by seizing
the Acropolis with his supporters. The Athenians besieged them
and finally gained control of the Sacred Rock. Some of the tyrants
managed to escape but most, including Cylon, took shelter at the
altar of Athena Polias and left it only when they were guaranteed
a regular trial. The Athenians broke their promise and killed
them, thus staining the city with the so-called Curse (Agos) of
Cylon. Later, Epimenides the diviner was summoned to cleanse the
city of the unholy deed.
Around
624 BC, the Athenians assigned Draco to make laws and write them
down publicly so as to abolish the exclusive right of the aristocratic
families who interpreted and applied unwritten laws arbitrarily.
Draco’s laws, which most probably concerned only cases of
murder, have made their mark in history because of their harshness.
Solon
Solon
was a true ruler during the unsettled time between 638 and 559
BC. In 595-594 BC, he persuaded the Athenians to re-conquer Salamis
which had been in Megarean hands since the time of the Curse of
Cylon. Having succeeded in doing so, he was elected archon in
594-593 and was appointed diallaktes (arbitrator on social issues).
As part of his jurisdiction he publicly enacted and inscribed
constitutional, family and civil laws.
The
most important part of his legislations was the “seisachtheia”,
a set of laws instituted in order to rectify the wide-spread serfdom
and slavery that had run rampant in Athens. Under the pre-existing
legal status, debtors unable to repay their creditors would surrender
their land to them, then becoming hektemoroi, i.e. serfs who cultivated
what used to be their own land and gave one sixth of produce to
their creditors. Should the debt exceed the perceived value of
debtor's total assets, then the debtor and his family would become
the creditor's slaves as well. The same would result if a man
defaulted on a debt whose collateral was the debtor's personal
freedom.
The
seisachtheia laws immediately cancelled all outstanding debts,
retroactively emancipated all previously enslaved debtors, reinstated
all confiscated serf property to the hektemorioi and forbade the
use of personal freedom as collateral in all future debts. A ceiling
to maximum property size was also instituted regardless of the
legality of its acquisition (i.e. by marriage), meant to prevent
excessive accumulation of land by powerful families.
An
important step towards democracy was the institution of the collective
exercise of power to include the lower level of citizen through
the assembly of the citizens (Ecclesia tou Demou) and the people’s
court (Heliaia). In order to make this measure work, Solon associated
the holding of high offices with property rather than with descent
and founded the Council of 400.
Peisistratos’
tyranny
Peisistratos
of Athens (ca. 607-528 BC) was a Greek statesman who became the
Tyrant of Athens following a (quite popular) coup. He ruled in
561, 559-556 and 546-528 BC.
Peisistratos
was the son of a philosopher and teacher called Hippocrates. He
was named for the Peisistratos in the Odyssey. The eromenos (an
adolescent boy who was in a love relationship with an aduld man)
of the Athenian lawgiver Solon, he assisted Solon in his endeavors
and fought bravely in the conquest of Salamis. When Solon left
Athens, Peisistratos became leader of the party of the Highlands
(poorer, rural people) in 565 BC.
He
used a clever scheme, calling for bodyguards after he pretended
to be attacked. Those bodyguards were composed of the people of
the Highlands who had entered Athens. In 561 BC he seized the
Acropolis with this group of bodyguards and he became a tyrant.
His rule did not last. Within a year he was driven out by Lycurgus,
Megacles and others from the party of the Coast. He returned in
559 BC with the help of Megacles who had split from Lycurgus.
Megacles had allied with Peisistratus on the condition that Peisistratos
marry Megacles' daughter.
The
Athenians were persuaded by Megacles that the goddess Athena was
bringing Peisistratus home. He returned from exile in a carriage
accompanied by a tall woman disguised as Athena in a suit of armor.
Later, Megacles was angered by the fact that Peisistratos refused
to have children with his daughter and Peisistratos was again
exiled in 556 BC by Lycurgus and Megacles. He went to Euboea and
remained there for almost ten years, becoming quite rich through
mining. He returned to Athens in 546 BC with a considerable force
and regained power with the support of Lygdamos of Naxos. This
time he worked well to retain his position. Peisistratus rewarded
Lygdamos by making him tyrant of Naxos.
Consolidating
his power by favoring rural citizens with new land laws, Peisistratus
also kept a large force of mercenaries and took hostages. He kept
the democratic reforms introduced by Solon but ensured that family
members held the highest offices. Peisistratos promoted the cults
of Athena and Dionysos. He began the construction of the Temple
to Athena on the Acropolis and also promoted a number of other
public works including the lyceum, temples to Apollo and to Zeus
as well as the Fountain of the Nine Springs. He also supported
literature and the arts. Peisistratus had an eromenos, Charmus,
himself.
The
Panathenaic Festival and the city Dionysia festival flourished
during his reign. Athenian coinage was introduced by about 550
BC. This may have reflected on his policy though there is no reference
in documents to this. Peisistratos commissioned the first standard
written editions of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer which had previously
been passed down orally or "cribbed" in private copies.
The
Panathenaic Festival was reorganized under Peisistratos, bringing
all Athenians together. In addition, he introduced the worship
of Dionysus who became particularly popular and who was associated
with the flourishing of drama. After the death of Peisistratos,
his sons, Hipparchos and Hippias came into power. Hipparchos was
murdered in 514 BC by Harmodios and Aristogeiton, most probably
because of personal revenge. Hippias was overthrown by the Spartans
in 510 BC. More...
Cleisthenes
Cleisthenes
(also Clisthenes or Kleisthenes) was a noble Athenian of the Alcmeonidate
family. He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient
Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC.
With
help from the Alcmeonidate clan and the Spartans, he was responsible
for overthrowing Hippias, the son of the tyrant Peisistratos.
After the collapse of the Peisistratid tyranny, Isagoras and Cleisthenes
were in rivalry for power. Isagoras won the upper hand by becoming
archon in 507-508 BC. Cleisthenes responded by gaining support
from the unrepresented masses. Isagoras appealed to the Spartan
king Cleomenes I to help him expel Cleisthenes. He did so on the
pretext of the Alcmaeonid curse. Consequently, Cleisthenes left
Athens as an exile.
Isagoras
was unrivalled in power inside the city and attempted to establish
an oligarchy, a form of government where most or all political
power rests with a small segment of society (typically the most
powerful, whether by wealth, family, military strength, ruthlessness
or political influence). Therefore, he set about uprooting hundreds
of people from their homes under the pretense that they too were
cursed and attempted to dissolve the council. However, the council
resisted and the Athenian people declared their support in favor
of it. Isagoras and his supporters were forced to flee to the
Acropolis where they were besieged for two days. On the third,
a truce was called so that Cleomenes and his men could be released.
Cleisthenes was subsequently recalled along with the hundreds
of exiles and assumed leadership of Athens.
After
this victory, Cleisthenes began to reform the government of Athens.
He eliminated the four traditional tribes, which were based on
family relations and had led to the tyranny in the first place.
He organized citizens into ten tribes according to their area
of residence (their deme). He also established legislative bodies
run by individuals chosen by lot rather than kinship or heredity.
He reorganized the Boule (city council) created with 400 members
under Solon so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe.
The
court system (Dikasteria - jury courts) was re-organized and had
from 201-5001 jurors selected each day, up to 500 from each tribe.
It was the role of the Boule to propose laws to the assembly of
voters, who convened in Athens about forty times a year for this
purpose. The bills proposed could be rejected, passed or returned
for amendments by the assembly.
Cleisthenes
also seems to have introduced ostracism (first used in 487 BC),
whereby the citizens voted to exile a citizen for 10 years. The
word ostracism is derived from ostrako, a fragment of pottery
which was used as a ballot. If a man’s name was written
on an ostrako and more than 6.000 pottery fragments with his name
were collected, he was driven into exile for then years. The initial
trend was to vote for a citizen that was thought of as being a
threat to the democracy for instance by having ambitions to set
himself up as tyrant. However, soon after, any citizen judged
to have too much power in the city tended to be targeted for exile
e.g. Xanthippus in 485-484 BC. Under this system, the exiled man's
property was maintained but he was not physically in the city
where he could possibly create a new tyranny.
Cleisthenes
called the whole of his reforms isonomia ("equality under
the law"), rather than democratia (democracy). Soon after
his reforms, his life became a mystery since none of the ancient
texts available mention him thereafter.