Athens

The path from aristocracy/oligarchy to democracy by way of tyranny is best viewed in Athens, where an unnamed follower of Aristotle recorded this process in a work called Constitution of Athens (classicists refer to it as the Ath. Pol.—Athenaion Politeia). The following extract is a paraphrase of that political development as preserved in this work. The numbers in this extract refer

To sections of the Ath. Pol. Dates are, of course, modern (as opposed to the ancient system of dating).

[2] In the later seventh century, there were considerable tensions between the upper and lower classes. Not only was the constitution at this time entirely oligarchic, but the poorer classes—men, women, and children—were the slaves of the rich. [3] At this time, the government consisted of the following offices. First was the king, a position that had existed since ancient times. Second was the polemarch ("war leader”), or head of the military; the office was instituted because some kings proved feeble in times of war. Finally, there were the Archons ("leaders”). At first there were three Archons; later, six thesmothetai, or junior Archons, were added, with the position becoming an annual office. It was their responsibility to record all legal decisions and act as guardians of the law. After the year of service, the ex-Ar-chons were inducted into the Areopagos council, in which they remained for life. The original purpose of this body was to protect the laws and to serve as the highest law court in the state, especially trying cases involving murder or treason. In reality, though, at this time, the Areopagos council administered many of the important aspects of government. In all cases, all offices were reserved exclusively for the nobility, based on birth and wealth.

[4]  In 621 b. c.e., Drakon revised the Athenian constitution, enacting extremely harsh laws that gave rise to the term Draconian. For example, he prescribed the death penalty for every infraction of the law. Citizenship, along with the right to vote, was given to all males who could provide themselves with military equipment. They elected the Archons and city treasurers from among those citizens who owned at least 10 minas of property (the equivalent of a few million dollars today); generals and cavalry officers from those who possessed 100 minas and had children at least 10 years old; and lesser officials from among themselves. Drakon also instituted a council of 401 members, chosen by lot from all the male citizens over thirty years old. No one could serve on the council twice until every citizen had had his turn once.

[5]  Such revisions still did not resolve the class crisis in Athens, and in 594, when civil war was about to break out, the citizens elected Solon as an Archon and asked him to fix the government. The Athenians considered Solon the ideal choice, as his moderate views convinced both rich and poor that he was on their side. [6] Solon's first action was the Seisakhtheia, or "Shaking-Off of Burdens,” by which he cancelled all debts in Athens, ending much of the hold the rich had on the poor. Furthermore, he liberated all citizens who had become slaves through their inability to pay off debts, and he made borrowing off one's person (i. e., using one's liberty as collateral, so that if one cannot pay off a debt, one must become the loaner's slave) illegal, so that this would not happen again.

[7] Next, Solon changed the Athenian class structure, creating four new classes. At the top were the pentakosiomedimnoi, whose property furnished 500 units of grain, wine, oil, etc. annually. Next were the knights (literally "horsemen”), whose property furnished 300 units and who could afford to buy and maintain a warhorse with full accoutrements. Third were the zeugetai, with 200 units and at least one pair of oxen; and fourth the thetes, or basic laborers. All government positions were available only to the top three classes, although the thetes did have the right to vote. [8] Solon also

Created (or possibly re-created from the time of Drakon) a council of 400, called the boule, with one hundred representatives coming from each of the four tribes [see chapter 6]. The Areopagos continued its function as guardian of the laws and protector of the constitution. These reforms benefited all levels of society, although ultimately they did not satisfy anyone. The poor were lifted out of the lowest levels of poverty and had their debts removed. The middle classes now had access to the political machinery, as candidacy was based not on noble birth but on wealth. The wealthy did not have their land taken or their prerogatives touched, in contrast to the general call from the poor for land redistribution. Still, the poor were poor, the wealthy were ambitious, and problems resumed.

[13] Within 15 years of the Solonic reforms, political strife reemerged in Athens. The factions were divided based on residence and political ideology. First was the Coast faction, led by Megakles the Alcmaeonid, which wanted a moderate form of government. Second were the Plainsmen, led by Lycurgus, who wanted an oligarchy. Third were the Highlandsmen, led by Peisistratos, who wanted a radical democracy.

[15] It took three attempts over ten years for him to become tyrant, but from 546 to 527, Peisistratos was tyrant of Athens.

[16]  Peisistratos was a mild and beneficent tyrant. He was merciful in justice, and he advanced money to the lower classes to improve their farms, so they might make a comfortable living through agriculture. One reason for this was so the people, being busy at their farms, would not come into the city to cause problems. But Peisis-tratos also began the agriculture tax, claiming one-tenth of all produce [see chapter 5] for the city. He established regional justices, even going to the countryside himself to hear cases. This made the legal system infinitely easier for the common folk to access, and, once again, kept them out of the city. Peisistratos greatly improved the city's culture—he commissioned great works of architecture, such as the new temple of Athena on the Acropolis, and instituted new religious festivals, such as the Greater Dionysia. It was during his reign that Athenian pottery experienced a renaissance, and from this time forth Athens was Corinth's major rival in the pottery trade.

[17]  Peisistratos died in 527 and left the city to his Athenian sons Hipparchus and Hippias (he also had two sons from his Argive wife Timonassa—Iophon and Hege-sistratos, also known as Thessalos). [18] Hippias administered the city, being more politically minded, and Hipparchus functioned more in the realms of literature and art. For a while, the beneficial and mild tyranny of Peisistratos persevered under these brothers. Unfortunately, their half brother Thessalos was a liability, being highly visible and very temperamental. He fell in love with a youth named Har-modios, who did not return the affections. Thessalos took revenge by refusing to allow Harmodios's sister to take part in the Panathenaic procession, claiming she came from a disreputable family. This was quite an insult in status-conscious Athens, and Harmodios, along with his friend Aristogeiton and others, took revenge by plotting the tyrants' assassination at the very religious festival from which his sister was barred. The assassination did not go as planned, and the two wound up killing Hipparchus, but not Hippias. As a result, Harmodios was killed instantly, Aristogeiton was tortured to death, and Hippias went from tyrant to despot.

[19] This tyranny came to an end in 510, when Hippias was expelled from Athens by the Spartan king Kleomenes. It seems that Delphi needed a new temple, and the

Noble Athenian family Alcmaeonidai agreed to finance the building, using the best marble money could buy. In exchange, they persuaded (bribed) the Delphic priests that, whenever any Spartan came for an oracle, they were to tack onto the answer that it was the will of Apollo that the Spartans free Athens from tyranny. Eventually the Spartans got the hint and freed Athens by expelling Hippias.

[20] From this point, two rival factions sought political control of Athens, one led by Isagoras, who favored tyranny, and one by Kleisthenes, an Alcmaeonid, who favored democracy. [21] Kleisthenes won out, and he instituted the next round of democratic reforms. Starting in 508 b. c.e., he broke down the traditional four tribes of Athens [see chapter 6] and created ten. Each tribe was composed of three thirds, or trittyes: a third of coastal dwellers, a third of country dwellers, and a third of city dwellers. Having one third of each tribe in each location meant there could be no strong opposition between, say, the interests of the coastal sailors against those of the country farmers. Furthermore, because the political machinery was within the city itself, each tribe had equal access to the city. The trittyes were each composed of several demes. A deme was like a neighborhood, headed by a demarch who controlled local affairs. Membership in a deme was the most basic level of citizenship, and henceforth people in the literature and inscriptions were identified by name, father's name, and deme name.

Kleisthenes enlarged the boule from 400 to 500, with each tribe contributing 50 members, all picked by lot. For each tenth of the year, the 50 members of each tribe took turns being on 24-hour call, living in the Tholos in the Athenian Agora. Thus, if there were a crisis at, say, 4 a. m., there would be a governmental body already convened to deal with it. Boule positions were open to all male citizens. The more important positions, like Archon and general, were voted on rather than picked by lot and were open to only the top two economic classes. [22] Finally, Kleisthenes instituted ostracism, a procedure by which the people of Athens could vote to have someone banished from the city for ten years. This was intended to keep anyone with too much power from becoming tyrant.

[25] After the Persian Invasions [see chapter 4], the two most significant politicians in Athens were Ephialtes and Pericles, Kleisthenes's nephew. Ephialtes, in 462 b. c.e., stripped the Areopagos of most of its functions, returning it to the status of treason-and homicide-jury. All other functions were turned over to the boule. The following year, Ephialtes was assassinated, and one must savor the irony that the people in charge of prosecuting his assassin were, of course, the Areopagos. [26] From this point, Pericles, as a continually reelected general, was functional master of Athens, and he turned the city from a democracy (as established under Kleisthenes) to a social democracy. He allowed the Zeugetai, the third economic class, to hold governmental offices such as Archon. [27] He instituted pay for attending governmental functions, such as the assembly or juries. This allowed those too poor to miss even a day of work to take part in the political machinery. The wealth pouring into Athens from the Delian League financed these reforms. Furthermore, Pericles started a huge building campaign in the city, replacing all the public monuments that were destroyed by the Persians half a century before. Between pay for political service, wages for the building program, and the pay for the continued maintenance of the navy with its rowers (usually from the poorest classes), Pericles raised the standard

Of living for all the lower classes without infringing on the assets or prerogatives of the wealthier classes.

[26] To limit the number of people who would benefit from these benefits, however, Pericles restructured the citizenship requirements. Previously, one only had to have an Athenian father, enrolled in a deme, to be a citizen. As of 451 b. c.e., Pericles mandated that, for a person to be a citizen, his/her father and mother both had to be Athenian citizens. This limited the number of those drawing money from the state while strengthening the notion of Athenian community, especially in the upper classes. Up to this point, it was customary for the Athenian elite to intermarry with the elite of other poleis, forming aristocratic, familial unions that could be stronger than civic ties. With this new law, Athenians were forced to marry other Athenians or risk loss of citizen status for their children and rights to property in Attica. (Amusingly, Pericles was one of the first people to contravene this law. His sons from his Athenian wife, whom he had divorced, died, leaving him only with his son Nothos by his Milesian concubine Aspasia. He begged the assembly to grant this son citizenship, which they did.)