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Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Center of Democracy?
•At the end of the “Dark Age” (c. 800 bce), the land of Athens was in the possession
of a few “tribes” or families of eupatridae (the “well born”).
•From these eupatridae came the members who formed the Areopagus, a council of
elders who made religious, military, and civil decisions.
•Power had been passed down through heredity, although this would change around
700 bce.
•With a policy of unification, the leaders of Athens “unified” (annexed and absorbed)
the surrounding cities of Attica in 8th century bce.
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Center of Democracy?
The ingredients of discord:
Potential conflicts…
1.
Threats from without
i.
War
Conflict between Athenians and nonAthenians
2.
Competing demands within
i.
Tribal affiliation
ii.
Eupatridae
iii. Upper Class aristocracy
iv. Different mechanisms of government
v.
Middle Class excluded from politics
vi. Poor excluded from politics
i.
debt and bondage
vii. Some excluded from citizenship altogether
Conflict between tribes
Conflict the eupatridae and the aristocracy
Conflict between those included in politics
and those excluded
Conflict between the aristocracy and
the poor
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Stages of Athenian Government
Eupatrid oligarchy
(700 – 600)
Four tribes and tribal kings
(pre-700 bce)
Early democratic reforms
Empire
Cleisthenes
(510 – 462)
Delian League
Reform and Tyranny
Solon
(594– 561)
Peisistratus and sons
(561 – 510)
“Radical” democracy
Ephialtes and Pericles
(461 – 429)
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Stages of Athenian Government
Eupatrid oligarchy
(700 – 600)
Four tribes and tribal kings
(pre-700 bce)
Reform and Tyranny
Solon
(594– 561)
“The demos rose up in revolt against the elites” –
Aristotle, Athenian Politics
“There was fierce political struggle, and for a long time
[the Athenians] fought each other” – Plutarch, Solon
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Solon’s reforms
"The mortgage-stones that covered her, by me Removed, -- the land that was a slave is free;
that some who had been seized for their debts he had brought back from other countries, where
-- so far their lot to roam, They had forgot the language of their home;
and some he had set at liberty, -Who here in shameful servitude were held."
•In 594, Solon appointed chief archon to mediate crisis
•Created four “classes” based on wealth
•Access to public offices now dependent upon wealth, not birth
•Poor, indebted laborers freed and debts forgiven; enslavement for debt is abolished
•Changed the way archons were selected
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Stages of Athenian Government
Eupatrid oligarchy
(700 – 600)
Four tribes and tribal kings
(pre-700 bce)
Reform and Tyranny
Solon
(594– 561)
“The demos rose up in revolt against the elites” –
Aristotle, Athenian Politics
“There was fierce political struggle, and for a long time
[the Athenians] fought each other” – Plutarch, Solon
Peisistratus and sons
(561 – 510)
508 bce: Spartans and exiled elites
attack and overthrow Hippias,
Pesistratus’ son
Peisistratus contends for power
with two other elites and wins…and
then loses…and then wins…and
then loses…and the wins, finally.
They were joined by
“those Athenians who
wished to be free” Herodotus
Ancient Greece:
Rise of Athens
Solon’s reforms
The four classes
1. Pentacosiomedimnoi (could serve as Strategoi)
2. Hippeis (could afford and serve as cavalry)
3. Zeugitai (could afford Hoplite shields and to serve as infantry)
4. Thetes (the poorest; often were servants or “sharecroppers”)
Under Cleisthenes
•Cleisthenes abolishes the original four tribes
•Creates a number of “demes,” based on geography
•Creates ten tribes
Under Pericles