Athens was a city in Greece controlled by aristocrats that became a unified polis in 700 B.C.E. Athens was pretty much down the toilet in terms of political turmoil. People owed money left and right, others had hardly any land. Athens practically ha...
In Ancient Athens, aristocrats were the authority of the empire; they held all the wealth, power, and controlled much of Athens. In the minds of the Athenians, aristocrats were seen as too powerful, having too much control, and robbing the citizens of any chance of independence or authority. Basically, the aristocrats owned the best land, and controlled political life and eventually caused political turmoil. Farmers were sold as slaves when they couldn't pay their debts, citizens revolted for having not enough food or land. Athens was on the verge of civil war.
Solon; an Aristocrat, was put into power by aristocratic rulers to avoid citizen revolts. After the tension between rich and poor, Solon introduced reforms and cancelled all citizens debts, and freed people who were slaves due to their debt. However, Solon failed to give land to the poor from the rich, which was Athens main problem. Aristocrats still held too much power, and the poor still had no land. While Solon rejected the demands of redistributed lands, he eased on debts and established a rule that debts could not lead to citizen slavery. Furthermore, Solon broke up the Athenians into four classes with different duties and rights for each, the result was to put rich people into the same class as aristocrats, ending the rule of aristocracy. The idea of the poor having power frightened the rich people who were used to having things their way. The rich people, and authorities frowned upon the idea of women, slaves, or resident aliens taking share of governance. Though Solon tried to better Athens, his reforms led to what he hoped to avoid, tyranny.
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Marble bust of Solon (640-561 B.C.), Athenian law-maker and poet. Roman copy of a Greek original from the 4th century B.C.
