Important personalities of democracy in ancient Athens.

1. By Joanna Pappa, Maria Mauraki,
Despoina Mparmpagianni, Pantelis
Pappas

2. Who was Solon?
 Solon (639-559 B.C.) was one of the seven wise men of ancient
Greece. He was an Athenian legislator, philosopher and poet.
 Because of the trips he made to Egypt and Minor Asia, he
obtained knowledge and experiences, which he used efficiently
for the social and economical recovery of the city-state of
Athens.

3.  Poet
Solon gained people’s trust with his poetic work. At his poems he pointed out that all
the bad fortune and the quarrels of his city were due to the class struggle. The
Athenian citizens were losing their freedom due to debt and he promised the
recovery of evil. That’s why the Athenians chose him as a legislator, so that he
would restore peace with the modification of institutions.
 Legislator
In 594/3 B.C. , Solon was ascertained “archon” (master) by the township of Athens and
he was given the authorities of a mediator, conciliator and a legislator. His
legislative measures are based on the principle of inequality and not equality. His
legislative work contained first measures for the amends of the existing situation,
state reforms which related to the political body, changes in the function of the
courts, as well as changes in legislation.

4. Amends
 He abolished the debts of private individuals to private and
to public bodies.
 He released those Athenians who had become slaves, because
of debts and he abolished debt slavery (borrowing by using
the personal freedom of the borrower and the members of
his family as security for a loan).
For the political body :
 Everybody had the right to participate at the assembly of the
Athenian citizens.
 He conceded the right of voting but not of standing for
election.
Popular Sovereignty:
 He transferred to the assembly of citizens the authority of
electing lords, which High Court had until then.
 He founded a new parliament body, the Parliament of the
400.
 He transferred to it the preparliamentary authorities which
the High Court had until then.
Courts:
 He gave the possibility to each citizen, to report to High
Court with prosecution against anyone, even a lord, and to
appear as a prosecutor.
 He founded the Solar, a popular court with lots of members.
Other legislations:
 The prohibition of export of agricultural products except for
oil.
 Lawmaking of social welfare for disabled and retired people.
 Measures for protection of family and wedding.
 Obligation of parent to teach their kids a trade.
Self exile
 In order for Solon to avoid
the modification of his
legislation and not to get
involved in it’s
implementation, he self-
exiled for 10 years.
-Maria Mauraki

5.  Who is Pericles?
Pericles Holargeus son of Xanthippe was a
politician , orator and general of the 5th
century B.C. ( That was also known as “Golden
century”) . He offered a lot to Athens such as
glory and fame. His time is called after him
“Age of Pericles”.

6.  Leadership:
The opinions about Pericles’s leadership vary. A
lot of scholars believe that Pericles was a
populist and a demagogue, while others
expressed admiration for his leadership.
According to Plutarch , when Pericles took
control he wasn’t the same man anymore,
he had changed . Thukydides said in his
works that Pericles didn’t follow, but he was
leading the people of Athens.
 Military capabilities:
For more than twenty years, Pericles took part
in a lot of war campaigns. As a leader he
never took dangerous decisions and he was
always very cautious . Having as an example
Themistocles’ military beliefs, he also
believed that Athens should count more on
its naval force.
During the Peloponnesian wars,Pericles built a
highly effective defense strategy .The two
basic characteristics of this strategy were to
avoid deferring financial sanctions in Megara
and to avoid conflicts,that wouldn’t offer
something beneficial to Athens. Even though
his comrades were involved in many military
operations right after his death , they didn’t
change his strategy until the destructive
military campaign in Sicily.
 Rhetorical skills:
As for Pericles rhetorical skills since he
didn’t record his words, the only source
we could find is from Thukydides works.
Many modern scholars are still trying to
connect Pericles words, so that they can
have a complete view in Pericles
rhetorical skills. According to Plutarch,
Pericles didn’t want to stir up the crowd
and he actually avoided it , but he was
always talking in a calm way. But, of
course, as Plutarch says the words of this
ancient Greek politician had a dose of
arrogance which didn’t agree with many
citizens. Socrates on the other hand,
says that Pericles had been trained in
rhetoric from Aspasia, that had also
trained many other orators. Many
ancient Greek writers admire Pericles’
skills and they called him “Olympic”
because they believed that he was
carrying Zeus weapons when he was
saying his speeches.

7.  Personal life :
Like everyone else Pericles had first married a woman that was a close relative of
his, with which he had two kids named Xanthippe and Parole. Unfortunately
their marriage didn’t last long and in 445 B.C. Pericles divorced his wife and
gave her to another man for marriage. The woman with which he lived after
his failed marriage was Militia Aspasia. Their relationship was really daring,
because Pericles was treating her as an equal, something that was
unbelievable for ,the most men of that time, If we take into account a
woman’s social status in ancient Athens. And despite his son’s and everyone’s
objections, he continued having close relations with her.
-Joanna Pappa, Pantelis Pappas

8.  Cleisthenes was a Greek Politian of the 6th century B.C
 In 508-507 B.C. Cleisthenes had laid the foundations for the democratic reform of
Athens. With the end of Peisistratus tyranny, he took over to reform the constitution
of Athens and make it more democratic. He separated Attica in 3 basic
municipalities (the city, the coast and the inland area). After that with the system
of tritium, that was a theoretical unit, he separated every municipality in 10
tritiums, creating 30 tritiums in total. After that he took one tritium from every
municipality and made a tribe .He did the same with the rest of the tritiums,
creating 10 new tribes. In that way the rich aristocrats, had stopped being a strong
class on their own, and they were mixed with the rest of the citizens, Also politians
had stopped benefiting the citizens of only one area.
 Later that time, Cleisthenes gave all the authority and power to the assembly of
Athenian citizens. He also created “ostracism” in older to protect the new
constitution (= After an anonymous complaint, someone could exile the person they
wanted for 10 years, only if 6 thousand citizens voted against the man he wanted to
exile).

9.  And just like that “democracy” was born in Athens, the constitution that gave every
citizen the right, but also the duty to participate in the governance of the state.
 With these changes Cleisthenes “gave the state to the people”. The bodies of power
after Cleisthenes’ reform were:
The 10 lords (one was elected for every tribe)
The Parliament of the Supreme Court, which was a council for aristocrats, with
duty the supervision of the state
The Parliament of 500, where only the 3 higher social classes could participate
The assembly of the citizens of Athens
 Because of these reforms, Cleisthenes was named “The great lord” (524 B.C. till 523
B.C.). But these positions weren’t accessible for everybody, even though partial
election existed. Nevertheless, the foundation of democracy had been set.
 In 479 B.C. a lot of people were against Cleisthenes’ reform, and that’s the reason why
a peculiar oligarchy was established in Athens. After that, the council of aristocrats and
the Supreme Court took over, covering the duties of supervision and all the established
rights. This idiosyncratic and anachronistic junta created strong hatred, resulting to
the separation of the oligarchs and laymen Athenians.
 Despoina Mparmpagianni