The Solonian constitution was created by Solon in the early 6th century BC.[1] At the time of Solon, the Athenian State was almost falling to pieces in consequence of dissensions between the parties into which the population was divided. Solon wanted to revise or abolish the older laws of Draco. He promulgated a code of laws embracing the whole of public and private life, the salutary effects[a] of which lasted long after the end of his constitution.
Under Solon's reforms, all debts were abolished and all debt-slaves were freed. The status of the hectemoroi (the "one-sixth workers"), who farmed in an early form of serfdom, was also abolished. These reforms were known as the Seisachtheia.[b] Solon's constitution reduced the power of the old aristocracy by making wealth rather than birth a criterion for holding political positions, a system called timokratia (timocracy). Citizens were also divided based on their land production: pentacosiomedimnoi, hippeis, zeugitae, and thetes.[2] The lower assembly was given the right to hear appeals, and Solon also created the higher assembly. Both of these were meant to decrease the power of the Areopagus, the aristocratic council. Despite the division between classes and citizens, Solon felt these class were connected as one. Solon felt that a disservice against even just one member of the society would indirectly be a disservice against every member of the society.[3] The only parts of Draconian constitution that Solon kept were the laws regarding homicide. The constitution was written as poetry, and as soon as it was introduced, Solon went into self-imposed exile for ten years so he would not be tempted to take power as a tyrant.
Religion
There was also a religious impact that played a role in the archaic city. Within the clans there was never a recovery of military impact, but religion had always influenced political potential. Generations beyond the years had gone on and religion was not forgotten as the advancement of the political system did.
James H. Oliver. (2003). The Solonian Constitution and a Consul of A.D. 149. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 13(1), page 101.
Classes
Pentacosiomedimnoi
The pentacosiomedimni or pentakosiomedimnoi (Ancient Greek: πεντακοσιομέδιμνοι) were the top class of citizens: those whose property or estate could produce at least 500 medimnoi of wet or dry goods (or their equivalent), per year.[4][5] They were eligible for all top positions of government in Athens. These were:
Prior to the rule of Solon, the term hippeus came from the word "horse;" those who were rich enough to buy a horse would flaunt their superiority by selecting names that began or ended with the word ‘hippos[6]'. However, Solon later changed the meaning of the hippeus, as it became the second highest of the four social classes. It was composed of men who had at least 300 medimnoi or their equivalent as yearly income. The Hippeus were also called the Knights in Aristotle's Athenian Constitution (circa. 350 BC). Aristotle gave an alternate characterization for the class of Hippeus as 'those who were able to maintain a horse'. This assumption appears to be on the basis of the inscription of the statute of Diphilus[7]
Zeugitae
The zeugitae (Ancient Greek: ζευγῖται, romanized:zeugitai) were those whose property or estate could produce at least 200 medimnoi of wet or dry goods (or their equivalent), per year.[8] The term appears to have come from the Greek word for "yoke", which has led modern scholars to conclude that zeugitae were either men who could afford a yoked pair of oxen or men who were "yoked together" in the phalanx—that is, men who could afford their own hoplite armor.[9][10]
The zeugitae could serve as hoplites in the Athenian army. The idea was that one could serve as a hoplite if he had enough money to equip himself in that manner, i.e. he could produce 200 medimnoi or more per year.
At the time of Solon's reforms, zeugitae were granted the right to hold certain minor political offices.[11] Their status rose through the years; in 457/6BC, they were granted the right to hold the archonship,[12] and in the late 5th century moderate oligarchs advocated for the creation of an oligarchy in which all men of hoplite status or higher would be enfranchised, and such a regime was indeed established for a time during the Athenian coup of 411 BC.[13]
They were eligible for a few positions of government in Athens such as:
The thetes (Ancient Greek: θῆτες, romanized:thêtes, sing. Ancient Greek: θής, romanized:thēs, 'serf') were the lowest social class of citizens. The thetes were those who were workers for wages, or had less than 200 medimnoi (or their equivalent) as yearly income. (Thus, the wage ratio of pentacosiomedimni to thetes could be as little as 2.5.) This distinction spanned from some time earlier than 594−593 BC until 322 BC.[citation needed] The thetes were defined as citizens who did not qualify as zeugitae, although the thetes may have predated the Solonian reforms. They could participate in the Ecclesia (the Athenian assembly), and could be jurors serving in the law court of the Heliaia, but were not allowed to serve in the Boule or serve as magistrates.[citation needed]
Twelve thousand thetes were disenfranchised and expelled from the city after the Athenian defeat in the Lamian War. There is debate among scholars whether this represented the entire number of thetes, or simply those who left Athens, the remainder staying behind.
Unlike the popular concept of galley slaves, ancient navies generally preferred to rely on free men to row their galleys. In the 4th and 5th century, Athens generally followed a naval policy of enrolling citizens from the lower classes (the thetes), metics and hired foreigners.[15][full citation needed] However, under some conditions, for example during the Mytilenean revolt, higher classes were enrolled as rowers also. This made them crucial in the Athenian Navy and therefore gave them a role in Athens' affairs.
Of the population dissatisfied, the inhabitants of the northern mountainous region of Attica, and the poorest and most oppressed section of the population, the diacrii, demanded that the privileges of the nobility, which had till then been obtained, should be utterly set aside. Another party, prepared to be contented by moderate concessions, was composed of the parali, the inhabitants of the "Paralia", the coast. The third was formed by the nobles, called pedici or pediaci,[c] because their property lay for the most part in the pedion,[d] the level and most fruitful part of the country. Solon, who enjoyed the confidence of all parties on account of his tried insight and sound judgment, was chosen archon by a compromise, with full power to put an end to the difficulties, and to restore peace by means of legislation. One of the primary measures of Solon was the Seisachtheia ("dis-burdening ordinance"). This gave an immediate relief by cancelling all debts, public and private. At the same time, he made it illegal for the future to secure debtsupon the person of the debtor.[e] Solon also altered the standard of coinage [and of weights and measures], by introducing the Euboic standard[f] in place of the Pheidonian[g] or Aeginetan standard.[h][17] 100 new drachmae were thus made to contain the same amount of silver as 73 old drachmae.
Timocracy
By this measure he pleased neither party, but the rich were dissatisfied at the loss of their securities, and the poor were still more so because the land was not divided afresh, as they hoped it would be, and because he had not, like Lykurgus, established absolute equality.
... [Solon], wishing to leave all magistracies as he found them, in the hands of the wealthy classes, but to give the people a share in the rest of the constitution, from which they were then excluded, took a census of the wealth of the citizens, and made a first class of those who had an annual income of not less than five hundred medimni of dry or liquid produce; these he called pentakosiomedimni. The next class were the Hippeis, or knights, consisting of those who were able to keep a horse, or who had an income of three hundred medimni. The third class were the Zeugitae, whose property qualification was two hundred medimni of dry or liquid produce; and the last class were the Thetes, whom Solon did not permit to be magistrates, but whose only political privilege was the right of attending the public assemblies and sitting as jurymen in the law courts. This privilege was at first insignificant, but afterwards became of infinite importance, because most disputes were settled before a jury. Even in those cases which he allowed the magistrates to settle, he provided a final appeal to the people.
Solon further instituted a timocracy, (τιμοκρατία) and those who did not belong to the nobility received a share in the rights of citizens,[i] according to a scale determined by their property and their corresponding services to the Athenian State. For this purpose, he divided the population into four classes,[j] founded on the possession of land:
pentacosiomedimni (or pentacosiomedimnoi) – who had at least 500 medimni of produce as yearly income
zeugitae – possessors of a yoke of oxen, with at least 150 medimni
thetes – workers for wages, with less than 150 medimni of yearly income
Solon's legislation only granted to the first three of these four classes a vote in the election of responsible officers, and only to the first class the power of election to the highest offices; as, for instance, that of archon. The first three classes were bound to serve as hoplites; the cavalry was raised out of the first two, while the fourth class was only employed as light-armed troops or on the fleet, and apparently for pay. The others served without pay. The holders of office in the State were also unpaid.
Each division had different rights; for example, the pentacosiomedimnoi could be archons, while thetes could only attend the Athenian assembly. The fourth class was excluded from all official positions, but possessed the right of voting in the general public assemblies (the Heliaia) which chose officials and passed laws. They had also the right of taking part in the trials by jury which Solon had instituted.
Solon established a constitutional order with a single chief consultative body, and a single administrative body. Solon established as the chief consultative body the Council of the Four Hundred,[k] in which only the first three classes took part, and as chief administrative body the Areopagus, which was to be filled up by those who had been archons.
↑ The city of Athens was anciently divided into three districts, one sunny slope of a hill, one other on the beach of the sea, and the third in the middle of the plain between the hill and the sea. The inhabitants of the intermediate district were called pediani, pediaci or pedici, those of the hill were referred to as the diacrii, and those of the shore as the paralii. These three classes of inhabitants formed many factions. Pisistratus availed of pediani against diacrii. In the time of Solon, when he had choose a form of government, the democratic diacrii they wanted, the pediani asked the aristocracy, and the paralii a mixed government.
↑ The Greek word, pedion (πεδίον) means 'plain', 'flat', 'field'.
↑ In ancient Greece, the power of creditors over the persons of their debtors was absolute; and, as in all cases where despotic control is tolerated, their rapacity was boundless. They compelled the insolvent debtors to cultivate their lands like entile, to perform the service of beasts of burthen, and to transfer to them their sons and daughters, whom they exported as slaves to foreign countries.
For more, see 1832 Select Committee report: "Imprisonment for Debt" in Reports of Committees of The House of Representatives.[16]
↑ According to Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, 4, a Council of 401 members was part of Dracon's constitution (about 621 B.C.). The members were selected by lot from the whole body of citizens. Solon (who was archon in 594) reduced the Council to 400, one hundred from each of the four tribes; and extended in some particulars the powers already possessed by the Areopagus (ib. 8). See Boule
↑ Aristotle (June 9, 2021) [350 BC]. "Athenian Constitution". The Internet Classics Archive. Translated by Kenyon, Frederic G. MIT. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
↑ R M. Johnson; Select Committee (January 17, 1832), "Imprisonment for Debt", Reports of Committees of The House of Representatives: 1st Session, 22nd Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 7, 1831, vol.I (of five), House of Representatives, United States Congress, Report No. 194
Aristotle (1952). Constitution of the Athenians. Translated by Horace Rackham. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. – via Perseus Digital Library.
Plutarch's Lives: Solon. (1914 edition, with English translation by Bernadotte Perrin). London: William Heinemann Ltd. – digitised and published online by Perseus Digital Library, Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
"18: section 1". Plutarch's Lives: Solon. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Retrieved May 6, 2019– via Perseus Digital Library, Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
"16: section 1". Plutarch's Lives: Solon. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1914a – via Perseus Digital Library, Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
Schmitz, Winfried (2023). Leges Draconis et Solonis (LegDrSol). Eine neue Edition der Gesetze Drakons und Solons mit Übersetzung und historischer Einordnung. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. ISBN978-3-515-13361-6.
Draco, also called Drako or Drakon, according to Athenian tradition, was the first legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the system of oral law and blood feud by the Draconian constitution, a written code to be enforced only by a court of law. His laws were supposed to have been very harsh, establishing the death penalty for most offenses. Tradition held that all of his laws were repealed by Solon, save for those on homicide. An inscription from 409/8 BC contains part of the current law and refers to it as "the law of Draco about homicide". Nothing is known about the specifics of other laws established by Draco.
Pericles was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens as Archon (ruler), roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.
Solon was an archaic Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. Solon's efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline resulted in his constitutional reform overturning most of Draco's laws.
The Areopagus is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares". The name Areopagus also referred, in classical times, to the Athenian governing council, later restricted to the Athenian judicial council or court that tried cases of deliberate homicide, wounding, and religious matters, as well as cases involving arson of olive trees, because they convened in this location. The war god Ares was supposed to have been tried by the other gods on the Areopagus for the murder of Poseidon's son Halirrhothius.
Cleisthenes, or Clisthenes, was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC. For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy". He was a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid clan. He was the younger son of Megacles and Agariste making him the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon. He was also credited with increasing the power of the Athenian citizens' assembly and for reducing the power of the nobility over Athenian politics.
In cities of ancient Greece, the boule was a council appointed to run daily affairs of the city. Originally a council of nobles advising a king, boulai evolved according to the constitution of the city: In oligarchies boule positions might have been hereditary, while in democracies members were typically chosen by lot and served for one year. Little is known about the workings of many boulai, except in the case of Athens, for which extensive material has survived.
A timocracy in Aristotle's Politics is a state where only property owners may participate in government. More advanced forms of timocracy, where power derives entirely from wealth with no regard for social or civic responsibility, may shift in their form and become a plutocracy where the wealthy rule.
The Aristoi was the label given to the noblemen in ancient Greek society, and in particular ancient Athens. The term literally means "best", with the denotation of best in terms of birth, rank, and nobility, but also usually possessing the connotation of also being the morally best. Goldman emphasizes that the notion of 'good work' has been a persistent theme in defining the ideals of excellence, suggesting that Aristoi were not only leaders but also exemplars of ethical conduct and civic responsibility. The term in fact derives similarly with arete: "The root of the word is the same as aristos, the word which shows superlative ability and superiority, and "aristos" was constantly used in the plural to denote the nobility."
Constitution of the Athenians may refer to either of two ancient treatises on the subject of the government of Athens:
The law courts of ancient Athens were a fundamental organ of democratic governance. According to Aristotle, whoever controls the courts controls the state.
Archon basileus was a Greek title, meaning "king magistrate"; the term is derived from the words archon "magistrate" and basileus "king" or "sovereign".
Ephialtes was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism, and which are considered by many modern historians to mark the beginning of the radical democracy for which Athens would become famous. These powers included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. He reduced the property qualifications for holding a public office, and created a new definition of citizenship. Ephialtes, however, would not live to participate in this new form of government for long. In 461 BC, he was assassinated, probably at the instigation of resentful oligarchs, and the political leadership of Athens passed to his deputy, Pericles.
Heliaia or Heliaea was the supreme court of ancient Athens. The view generally held among scholars is that the court drew its name from the ancient Greek verb ἡλιάζεσθαι, which means congregate.[α] Another version is that the court took its name from the fact that the hearings were taking place outdoors, under the sun.[β] Initially, this was the name of the place where the hearings were convoked, but later this appellation included the court as well.
Hippeis is a Greek term for cavalry. In ancient Athenian society, after the political reforms of Solon, the hippeus was the second highest of the four social classes. It was composed of men who had at least 300 medimnoi or their equivalent as yearly income. According to the Timocratic Constitution, the average citizen had a yearly income of less than 200 medimnoi. This gave the men who made 300 medimnoi the ability to purchase and maintain a war horse during their service to the state.
In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon. "Archon" means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office, while "eponymous" means that he gave his name to the year in which he held office, much like the Roman dating by consular years.
The Areopagite constitution is the modern name for a period in ancient Athens described by Aristotle in his Constitution of the Athenians. According to that work, the Athenian political scene was dominated, between the ostracism of Themistocles in the late 470s BC and the reforms of Ephialtes in 462 BC, by the Areopagus, a traditional court composed of former archons. Modern scholars have debated the existence of this phenomenon, with some concluding that Aristotle and his contemporaries invented it to explain Ephialtes' need to limit the Areopagus' powers, and arguing that the lack of concrete measures establishing the Areopagus' dominance shows that the Areopagite constitution is "palpably unhistorical". Other scholars, such as Donald Kagan, have countered that no concrete measures were necessary, as the Areopagus' dominance was established not through actual changes in the laws but through the prestige of its leading members. Aristotle specifically cites the Areopagites' distribution of money to the public as the citizen body prepared to abandon Athens in the face of the advancing Persian army.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient Greece:
The Draconian constitution, or Draco's code, was a written law code enforced by Draco in Athens near the end of the 7th century BC; its composition started around 621 BC. It was written in response to the unjust interpretation and modification of oral law by Athenian aristocrats. As most societies in Ancient Greece codified basic law during the mid-seventh century BC, Athenian oral law was manipulated by the aristocracy until the emergence of Draco's code. Around 621 BC the people of Athens commissioned Draco to devise a written law code and constitution, giving him the title of the first legislator of Athens. The literate could read the code at a central location accessible to anyone. This enactment of a rule of law was an early manifestation of Athenian democracy.
Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting liberty, equality, and security. Although Athens is the most familiar of the democratic city-states in ancient Greece, it was not the only one, nor was it the first; multiple other city-states adopted similar democratic constitutions before Athens. By the late 4th century BC, as many as half of the over one thousand existing Greek cities might have been democracies. Athens practiced a political system of legislation and executive bills. Participation was open to adult, free male citizens Adult male citizens probably constituted no more than 30 percent of the total adult population.
The Athenian Revolution was a revolt by the people of Athens that overthrew the ruling aristocratic oligarchy, establishing the almost century-long self-governance of Athens in the form of a participatory democracy – open to all free male citizens. It was a reaction to a broader trend of tyranny that had swept through Athens and the rest of Greece.
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