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Saturday, 26 October 2019
Friday, 25 October 2019
A Very Brief History of Athens in the Classical Period
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| Athenian Empire in 450 BC |
Early kingships or chiefdoms in Greece particularly those which prevailed during the Heroic Age were of a particular type. Kingship and a king's power were defined, constitutional and sanctioned by religion and custom. Kings had more or less absolute powers in matters of war, religion, justice and politics. The job of the basileus was to hold his people and tribes together together by force of his personality and his constitutional authority. It was typical for the king's son to inherit his father's throne. Wise kings and those kingdoms which prospered had a council of advisors or boulé of elders comprising representative members from the leading families in their kingdoms to advise them.
Thucydides [Thuc. 2.15.2] tells us that Theseus, hero and mythical king of Athens, slayer of the Minotaur, is said to have done away with the independent city-states [poleis] or petty principalities of Attica, the region around Athens. These petty city-states were frequently at war with each other. There were twelve of them and Theseus was said to have been responsible for bringing about their political unification or synoikismos - 'dwelling together' of them under the leadership of the city-state of Athens, with the creation of one council chamber [bouleteurion] and one seat of government which he sited in Athens [prytaneion]. It was thus how Athens is said to have become the capital and chief city of the region and its province, Attica. This change was represented in the myth of Theseus by his journey of labours, subduing ogres and other monstrous beasts. Euripides portrayed Theseus as the democratically inclined king of Athens in his play Suppliants.
During the 8th century BC there began the process whereby many of Greece's city-states were to send groups of their citizens overseas to found colonies: for example Corinth in 733 founded Syracuse in Sicily, and Athens created many colonies on the Ionian coast. Trade with their colonies. made the home city-states rich. Later some of the colonies were to become independent city-states in their own right. Traditional kingship came to an end in Attica around 700 BC.During most of the 7th century BC as the people on the the Greek mainland grew richer Athens and the Greece's nascent city-states came to be ruled by their wealthy nobles. Over time Athens gradually transitioned from being a monarchy [rule by kings (basileis)] into one in which the rule of a king was superseded and exercised by an aristocracy. Thus was the birth of the republics [Politeia; Latin: Res Publica]. Aristocracy is the placing of the executive power of government into the hands of a small, privileged ruling class or elite. The king has gone. The term aristocracy meant 'rule by the best' or nobles. The term is particularly used to describe those situations when an aristocracy led to hereditary ruling dynasties being formed from amongst the families of the ruling class. In those city-states where rule was by a rich property owning class one might choose to use a different term, calling it a Timocracy instead.
The Archons
After kingship was abolished for the sake of continuity a triumvirate was created to replace the rule by one man. The religious duties of the king and the city's civic religious events were conducted by a king-magistrate [archon basileus], the king's military duties by a military magistrate [polemarchos] who was head of the city's armed forces and the king's civil duties by the eponymous archon, who was chief executive magistrate of the Athenian city state. According to Aristotle's description of the Constitution of the Athenians, the powers of the former kings were devolved upon these archons [leaders/magistrates], and these offices were filled by members of the aristocratic families by elections every ten years.
In 683 and afterwards these archonships became annual appointments, and the eponymous archon gave his name to the year. Later on the archon basileus still presided over the festivals and religious ceremonies of the state, judged disputes between clans and between priests, and tried certain cases of bloodshed. The polemarch's duties were religious and and in respect to resident aliens, judicial. The eponymous archon organized the personnel for and financing of state festivals, and judged cases involving inheritance and family rights. As judges the archons gave final judgements. In secular matters they arbitrated between clans and between priests. Later a further six magistrates were added to the council of archons, 'recorders' [thesmothetai] who recorded the law. On leaving their appointments they became life members of the Areopagus.
The Areopagus and Ekklesia
In Athens, under the rule of the aristocrats, a council of the elders of the city, the Areopagus, arose which became its leading political institution. Essentially the Areopagus was the administrative body of the aristocracy. This council itself probably grew out of the group of leading citizens of the Athenian city-state who had been appointed by the king to advise him. Its name was taken from a hill northwest of and close by the Acropolis, where they met, Ares' Hill . It had a similar purpose to the Senate that was also to arise in Rome and meet on the Capitoline Hill . Membership of the Areopagus, some 150, was restricted to those who had formerly served in high public office, such as having been an archon. appointed from the top two classes in Athens the aristocratic or wealthy families of Athens. Its role was guardianship of the laws and the constitution of Athens [nomophulakia]. It had a dual role: it also acted as a court of justice. But as Athens constitution evolved, so the role of the Areopagus was to change over time.
The Athenian state came to be administered on a day to day basis by the archons who had been appointed by the Areopagus on the basis of their noble birth and wealth. Membership was originally open only to nobles by birth (eupatridai). The archons were appointed [elected/selected] by the Areopagus after examination of the candidates on the basis of their noble birth and wealth. The term of office for an archon was originally for life but this was eventually to be reduced to a term of 10 years, after which they could not be re-elected/selected, once they had served their term they automatically became life members of the Areopagus.
The Areopagus Council vetted the incoming archons, supervised their conduct, and audited their acts after they left office. It controlled the administration of state affairs; and was responsible for safeguarding the constitution and the laws; inflicted penalties without the right of appeal; and paying the fines into the state treasury. The Areopagus was thus the hub of constitutional life in Athens. To be elected to the Areopagus one had to be a former magistrate. Candidature for election to archonship was defined in terms of both 'birth and wealth', a qualification which excluded guildsmen.
The Assembly of all citizens of Athens [ekklesia] had basic but important powers. The Ekklesia even though it may have discussed and decided on some matters of state, its competence was very probably limited. Its agenda was controlled by the Areopagus. Citizens had the right of appeal to the Areopagus if they cited the law that was supposed to have been contravened, explaining why they thought they had been wronged.
This constitution became hallowed proving itself to work after centuries of custom and tradition. But it had its weaknesses. Athens was a large tribal state in which the power of the clans kept itself intact. There was dissent. In 632 a young noble, Cylon [Kylon], with accomplices from Athens and troops from Megara, seized the Acropolis in a coup hoping to set himself up as tyrant. The people rallied round their archons and blockaded the Acropolis. Whilst Cylon escaped, his men took sanctuary at the altar of Athena. They were promised that if they left the temple and stood trial their lives would be spared. But it happened many were executed, stoned to death on the spot. For this sacrilege the people held the Alcmeonidae to be responsible. Their leader Megacles who had been the eponymous archon that year, had been in charge of the blockade and probably had recruited the blockading force mainly from amongst his own clansmen. He was accused of sacrilege and that the slaughter had brought pollution upon the whole state.
In the troubled times which followed this act a sense of guilt prevailed amongst the people. This lay heavily on their conscience. Athenians were a deeply religious people. The gods had to be assuaged. About the turn of the century they set up a special court to try the case. 300 jurors were elected on the qualification of birth alone. The Alcmeonidae family were found guilty; the family were cursed with a miasma ("stain" or "pollution"), which was inherited by all its later generations. The living were banished for all time, sent into life exile from the city for violating the laws against killing suppliants, and their dead were exhumed and their remains cast out beyond the frontiers of Attica. In this instance we can see the force of religious belief and the fear of state-pollution, and the concept of clan collective responsibility for the acts of individuals, and the aristocratic principle in the selection of the court this case.
Draco [c. 650 BC - c. 600 BC] was Athens' first recorded lawgiver.
At Athens the struggle for political liberty manifested itself in an insistent demand for written laws and definite principles upon which to base the administration of justice. The distinctive privilege which the nobles had always enjoyed was the exclusive knowledge and administration of the laws. They were, therefore, open to the charge of exercising this privilege in their own favour. To relieve the oppression of this aristocratic system, and to effect a compromise between the nobles and the commons, Draco was commissioned to write down the laws of the state by which all classes alike should be governed.
He ended the primitive system of oral law and blood feud which had been prevalent in Athens and replaced them with a written law code, one which could be enforced by and in a court of law. Draco might be described as Athens' first democratic lawgiver, "democratic" as he had been invited to introduce this reform by the citizens of Athens themselves. However his code was to become characterized by a particular harshness (many of the misdemeanours defined in his code were punishable by death). Indeed our word and adjective "Draconian" was to derive from his very name. In 621 BC Draco's code passed into law.
Clans, Phratries, Guilds before 508 BC
Attica had been for centuries and remained a single state and had no serfs. Attica was divided into three parts: the plains [pediake], the territory around Athens and Eleusis or coast-land [paralia] and the hill-land [diacria] that is the northern stretch dominated by mountains.
Before Solon the lands and estate of a family, their most important property, were vested in that family and, should the family die out, in the clan of which that family was a hereditary member. Land was thus inalienable. The guilds came later. When refugees came to Attica, they were often admitted to citizenship. Initially they were absorbed into clans. Later they were formed into guilds, of which their numbers and members increased by new creations and additions. The guilds did not have roots in the family and clan system and therefore missed out in the original allocation of lands which went to the families and their clans. The property of a guildsman was generally alienable by sale or by bequest. Thus a phratry consisted of two groups, members of clans {gene) and members of guilds {orgeones). The distinction between them was that clansmen worked (and owned) the land and guildsmen practised trades and handicrafts.
A clan was thus a large familial group, comprising many households; among these some houses [oikoi] were more noble than others. When the tribal state was originally instigated, the number of clans was fixed; thereafter, as membership was hereditary, the number of clans did not increase.
Upon reaching maturity, thus it was that male Athenians became enfranchised and registered by being admitted to a phratry [brotherhood] either as a member of a clan or of a guild. The clans and guilds were deeply involved in the religious life of Attica. Admission to a phratry was a religious event. Each clan had its own shrines and tombs in the countryside of Attica. Attachments to these locations were strong amongst the members of a clan. Clans had greater social and political strength than guilds. They were the elite and generally held all the best and most fertile land in Attica. The hereditary priesthoods came from the clans. Within a phratry it was the elders of the clan who conducted the administration of its religion and justice. Each phratry and each clan acted more or less as a state within the state.
The Tyrannies
From 621 to 508 BC Athens was governed by a series of aristocratic rulers. Civil unrest [stasis] in the 7th and 6th century BC gave rise to a form of government known as a tyranny. In classical times tyranny meant rule by a tyrant which could mean rule by a harsh ruler but the harshness of the rule was not always necessarily the case. Indeed some tyrannies in Ancient Greece could be seen as "enlightened", such as those under the Cypselids and Bacchiads families of Corinth. Indeed, the Classical Greek conception of a tyrant was that of a man ruling without law or responsibility, with a view more to his own interest than to that of his subjects. It was not essential to the idea that he should use his power harshly or oppressively; ages, reflecting on the evils of unconstitutional rule, associated with the early tyrants a character that was often undeserved. Indeed Corinth was probably the leading city-state in Greece at that time. In classical times tyranny was where one man took over ruling what had previously been dealt with by a council of nobles or aristocrats. Tyrants often arise as populist leaders leading a a group of members of the under-class against the oppression of rule by aristocrats and/or oligarchs. Tyrrany can be characterized as rule by one. Many tyrants claimed they had popular support for their role and position. In Greek theatrical tragedy tyrannos was ideologically neutral. A tyranny might evolve into an institution called Monarchy where the succession to the positions of power in that city-state were claimed by the members of the dynastic line of a given family.
Draco's Laws of Debt
A great evil arose out of Draco’s laws of debt. The laws dealt differently with the different classes of Athens. In the case of clansmen, whose estate belonged to the clan, their land was inalienable. In the case of guildsmen, whose property was personal and therefore alienable. When a clansman contracted a loan, he gave as pledge not his estate, which he could not alienate [not be deprived of], but the produce of the land. If he became bankrupt, Draco's law required that he and his family should be bound in service to his creditor on his estate and forced to give up one-sixth of the produce deriving from his land to his creditor. Such bankrupt clansmen were entitled 'sixth-parters' [hectemorioi] and their land thus bound was marked with special record-stones [horos]. Their land did not pass to the creditor: it was 'enslaved' to the creditor, in the sense that the land and the family now bound to it had lost their liberty, and they and their land was now in bondage marked very visibly with record-stones. In contrast guildsmen could pledge their property, themselves and their family's liberty, since there existed no laws which forbade the selling of wives or children. If a guildsman became bankrupt, the law gave the creditor full possession of the man, his family and dependents with the right to sell them into slavery either at home or abroad, completely at the will of the creditor.
These harsh laws of debt were especially exploited by the wealthy leading class of Athens. Opportunity for this exploitation was provided by the introduction of cash and coinage [movable accumulable wealth], and with the expansion of commerce, they were able to become rich at the expense of the other classes. The introduction of a currency brought economic evils in its train: loans, usury, mortgages and slavery for debt. These evils favoured the rise of tyrants. Within a short space of time nearly all the poor were in debt to the rich, either as clansmen working on their land like serfs or bondsmen [as thetes] under the system called hectemorioi and having pay over to the rich a sixth of their produce. Or if they were guildsmen they and their families, their persons having been pledged as security for their debt, were seizable by their creditors and could be sold into slavery either in Attica or overseas.
Birth of Athenian Democracy
Then there began a motivation amongst the citizens of Athens at large of a need for change. Aristotle described this need and its origin as follows
Aristotle, Athenian Constitution
Arist. Ath. Pol. 2
2.1
Afterwards it came about that a party quarrel took place between the notables and the multitude that lasted a long time. For the Athenian constitution was in all respects oligarchical, and in fact the poor themselves and also their wives and children were actually in slavery to the rich; and they were called Clients, and Sixth-part-tenants (for that was the rent they paid for the rich men's land which they farmed, and the whole of the country was in few hands), and if they ever failed to pay their rents, they themselves and their children were liable to arrest; and all borrowing was on the security of the debtors' persons down to the time of Solon: it was he who first became head [Note] of the People.
2.3
Thus the most grievous and bitter thing in the state of public affairs for the masses was their slavery; not but what they were discontented also about everything else, for they found themselves virtually without a share in anything.The three major steps towards the development of Athenian Democracy according to Aristotle as stated in his work Politics were:-
No 3 Reforms of Solon in 594/3 BC
No 5 Reforms of Cleisthenes 508/7 BC
No 7 Reforms of Ephialtes 462/1 BC
Solon's Constitutional and Economic Reforms
In 594 BC, there was much political and civil strife between the notables and several uprisings of the masses concerning the possibility that a tyranny might be set up to rule Athens.
Aristotle later on in the 4th century BC, was to describe the process how tyrannies arise when oligarchies disagree internally. The Areopagus and the people jointly agreed to appoint Solon as mediator to develop and propose a set of social, economic and constitutional reforms. Solon [ca 630 – 560 BC] was an Athenian statesman and lawmaker who was said to have laid down the foundations for Athenian democracy the foundations of a true republic, though the reforms he introduced were essentially timocratic in nature, It is said they wanted to appoint him tyrant and ruler of Athens but he refused the post. This is what he did..
Solon repealed or revised all of Draco's laws except those which dealt with homicide.
He reduced the powers of the Areopagus. He left it only with the authority to try cases of homicide (BloodGuilt) [see Aeschylus' Oresteia part 3 - The Eumenides and the trial of Orestes] and gave it the general responsibility of overseeing the care of Athens' laws and its constitution, [nomophulakia],
He is credited with the setting up of a rival popular council to the Areopagus comprising 400 persons, called the Boulé, It is sometimes called the Council of 400, so-called as it was made up of 100 representatives from each of the four traditional Ionic tribes of Athens. He assigned to it many of the powers formerly held by the Areopagus. Membership of this Council was not confined to the rich or aristocracy but was open only to male citizens from the top three social classes as defined by their property holdings and annual incomes, measured by the output of produce from their lands. All women, any citizen of the Thetes class [originally serfs, now anyone who produced/earned less than 200 medimnos of food per year], metics [foreigners living in Athens who had some of the privileges of citizenship, but not this], slaves and the under-30s were all excluded from membership. The primary purpose of the Council of 400 was to draw up the agenda for the People's General Assembly, the Ekklesia, Membership of this latter assembly had comprised all citizens, excluding the lowest class of freemen (thetes), that is the class of freemen who worked for others, The Pnyx became its official meeting place.
Solon legislated that all citizens were to be admitted to the Ekklesia and to a court called the Heliaia. It appears that the Heliaia was the Ekklesia, or some representative portion of it, sitting as a kind of jury. Solon allowed all Athenian citizens to participate in the ekklesia, regardless of class, even the thetes The assembly was responsible for declaring war, military strategy and electing the strategoi [the generals responsible for the defence of Attica and Athens] and other officials. It was responsible for nominating and electing magistrates (árchontes), thus indirectly electing the members of the Areopagus. It had the final say on legislation and the right to call magistrates to account after their year of office.
Solon also undertook economic reform. He dealt with one of the immediate causes of the unrest, namely debt. He ordered all debts to be cancelled and all debt-slaves to be freed, and forbade the borrowing of money upon the security of the freedom of persons. Thus it was he freed Athenians from "debt-slavery". He did it in this manner. If any Athenian worker agricultural or otherwise owed any kind of obligation to another; whether that was a monetary debt or service or whatever, the boundaries of their land was marked out with boundary stones (horoi) publicly indicating they and their land were under the duty of servicing these obligations. These unfair covenants passed from generation to generation, which turned many members of the lower classes of Athenian society into hereditary debt-serfs, with "debts" that had been created by their ancestors forcing them to have to work for their masters and not for themselves. Solon ordered all such marker stones to be lifted removed, thereby cancelling and freeing many Athenian Citizens from these obligations. One might characterise Solon's arrangements as "Rule by Some".
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The Rise of the Tyrant Peisistratos [c. 600 BC to c 551 BC] and his Dynasty
Solon's reforms of the constitution had not eliminated the bitter contentions that persisted between the aristocratic families for control of the post of the chief archonate, the Archon Eponymous, chief executive of the city. Peisistratos, hero of the capture of Nisaea, an important port, during a war with the neighbouring city of Megara. Following his success he gained huge great political standing and popularity in the assembly..
Peisistratos organized his own political faction, called the Hillsmen. a group which included aristocratic families from his own district, Eastern Attica, together with a large part of the people of Athens. Seizing an opportunity for power and stage a coup Peisistratos made a dramatic entrance into the Athenian agora on the back of a chariot. Peisistratos had slashed himself and his mules to make it seem that his enemies had tried to kill him. The people voted him the use of a bodyguard armed with clubs, which he subsequently used to seize the Acropolis and to hold onto power for a short while during the year 560/559 BC.
Peisistratos was accepted as tyrant by the Athenian assembly in 561 BC, and, according to Herodotus, he "administered the state constitutionally and organized the state's affairs properly and well." Soon afterwards he was ousted. Herodotus explains his exile thus:“Not much later, however, the supporters of Megacles [leader of the people of the coast] and those of Lycurgus [keasr of the people of the plains] came to an understanding and expelled him”.
Not long afterwards Megacles invited him to come back again in 556 BC on condition that he marry his daughter. Peisistratos, ever the showman, returned in triumph accompanied by a tall woman called Phye, dressed up as if she was the goddess Athena.
The Athenians thus accepted Peisistratus in his second term as tyrant. However he refused to consummate his marriage with Megacles' daughter. Consequently Peisistratos was forced once more to leave Attica entirely. During his exile of nearly ten years he accumulated great wealth. With a strong personal army, he marched upon Marathon and from there onto Athens. His popularity soared with many local peoples supporting him. It was thus, in 546 BC, that he began his third and final tyranny which was one of the longest lasting tyrannies in the history of Classical Greece.
Solon watched on helplessly as Peisistratos swept away Solon's constitutional reforms, and appointed himself as tyrant of Athens. Solon had wanted the Athenians themselves to look after their new constitution and had left the city without a defender, despite his attempts by means of his reforms to prevent the rise of a tyrant. But perhaps a tyranny was inevitable. Injustice and corruption, and the wrongdoings lead to unrest [stasis]: stasis invokes powerful individuals to want to control the state of affairs. Thus is how a tyranny is born. The popular strongman of the day, Peisistratos, came to power.
The 6th century BC saw Athens having a period of phenomenal growth, especially under the tyrannies of Peisistratos and his sons (ca 560–510 BC). Around 510 BC the Alcmaeonidae family, who had been exiled from Athens, requested that Sparta help them overthrow Hippias, the son of Peisistratos wjo had succeeded his father as tyrant of Athens. The Alcmaeonidae, led by Cleisthenes, bribed the oracle at Delphi to tell the Spartans to assist them. After two attacks Cleomenes prevailed and ousted Hippias. After which Cleisthenes and the Athenian aristocrat Isagoras then fought each other for control of Athens. Cleomenes came with an armed force to support Isagoras, and they forced Cleisthenes and the Alcmaeonidae family to go into exile for a second time. Isogoras was made leader of the oligarchy.
Peisistratos, was a populist leader championing the very poorest class of people in Athens, the hill-dwellers, who made their living bartering honey and wool. This class outnumbered the other classes in Athens. With their assistance Peisistratos seized the Acropolis and took over the reins of government declaring himself tyrant. Twice during his reign he was ousted from political office and sent into exile. He awaited for the other parties to fall out with one another, he made his re-entry back into power. riding back into Athens after his first exile on a golden chariot accompanied by a tall woman appearing to be Athena. After hi second exile using the wealth from the mines of Laurion to fund a force to regain power again, power which he held till his death in 528/7 BC His sons Hippias and Hipparchus succeeded him.
In 514 BC Hipparchos was assassinated. The murder was actually the result of a love feud, and not really a political act The reign of the remaining tyrant, Hippias, became increasingly severe. His tyranny became harsh with numerous executions and sentences of exile in vengeance for his brother. It took four years and several unsuccessful military encounters before the rival clan, the Alkmaeonidai finally managed to bribe Apollo's oracle at Delphi to persuade the Spartans to help them oust the tyrants. The Spartans were renowned as the best warriors in Greece at that time, and with the help of a Spartan army led by King Cleomenes I the tyrants were thrown out of Athens in 510 B.C.
After this Cleomenes I, king of Sparta put in charge of Athens a pro-Spartan oligarchy headed up by Isagoras. In 508 BC Isagoras was elected Archon Eponymous, Isogoras' rival Cleisthenes, with the support of the Athenian middle class aided by the democrats, the majority of Athenian citizens, soon displaced Isogoras' regime.
Whilst tyranny is technically a non-heritable position of power one often seized by an able person in violation of tradition or constitutional norms. Peisistratos had ruled differently Herodotus wrote that he, "having not disturbed the existing magistrates nor changed the ancient laws … administered the State under that constitution of things which was already established, ordering it fairly and well". Aristotle wrote about him, that "his administration was temperate…and more like constitutional government than a tyranny". The modern definition of a tyrant, which is a single ruler, often violent and oppressive. Peisistratos' career was a model example of tyranny. His sons were not.
Cleisthenes and his Reforms
But his rival Cleisthenes, with the support of the middle class and aided by democrats, took over. Cleomenes intervened in 508 and 506 BCE, but could not stop Cleisthenes who was now supported by the Athenians. Through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only men were citizens). He also established the system of ostracism.
By 5th century BC tyranny had been replaced in Athens with more egalitarian forms of government, which had previously been ruled by an oligarchy or class of wealthy persons.
Cleisthenes had long lived under the shadow of a family curse because of an impious act which had been committed by one of his distant ancestors. The story goes as follows: at a critical moment in Athens' history, two opposing political factions came face to face at a sacred shrine They clashed and some of the members of the opposing faction to Cleisthenes' family who had taken refuge there were killed, a sacrilege quite contrary to the principles of sanctuary. For this act of impiety serious political consequences ensued for the Alcmaeonidae: forever after they came came to be known as the "Accursed".
Whilst Cleisthenes languished in exile together with the 700 families his arch-enemy Isagoras with the help of his Spartan allies, proceeded to dismantle the last vestiges of Athens' traditional government
Cleisthenes, whose family had originally come from Sicyon near Corinth was a lawgiver, He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens, setting it on a democratic path in 508 BC. Because of these accomplishments, some historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy."
The overthrow of the tyrannical dynasty under Hippias plunged Athens once again into factional strife. Two parties contended for power, one supporting the Pisistradids who had been deposed. This faction was led by Isagoras another tyrant, and the other which supported the Alcmaeonids, rivals to Isagoras led by Cleisthenes. Isogoras had the support of the King of Sparta, Cleomenes I. But Cleisthenes had the backing of the people of Athens. He may have been a member of the aristocracy, but was very popular with the Demos because he had played a significant part in bringing the tyrants down. Meeting with the leaders of the aristocracy in the city and promising to bring about order, they was appointed him leader of the people.
Unprepared and overwhelmed by the united opposition against them, they were forced to agree to a humiliating truce.
In 508 BC Isagoras, with the help of Cleomenes King of Sparta, expelled Kleisthenes and his family from Athens. It was then the ordinary Athenians seized power for themselves. Kleisthenes' supporters together with the aid of the ordinary citizens of Athens revolted against the tyranny of Isagoras' rule. Isagoras and his Spartan allies found themselves trapped on the Acropolis for two days. On the third day unprepared and unprovisioned they lacked food and water. They were forced to conclude a humiliating truce with the mob. This allowed Isagoras and Cleomenes to escape. The mob then captured the Acropolis, executing 300 of Isagoras' allies and supporters. They then recalled Cleisthenes to the city and made him a special commissioner to help them found a new constitution..The exact details of how Kleisthenes carried out his reforms are not known. He was not an Archon but may have been specially commissioned by the Areopagus to reform Athens' Constitution after Isagoras had left. The date of the reforms is usually given as 508/7 BC, but there may have been a two to three years interregnum as his proposals were being implemented.
As the people's leader he set about reforming the Athenian tribal system and adminsitration of the polis. His aims were to give back more power to the people, and to create a civic identity uniting the remoter rural regions of Attica with those in the city proper. This had the effect of expanding the civic body of Athens.
Cleisthenes abolished the four traditional tribes of Athens creating ten new ones, called phyles, each one named after a local hero. To populate these tribes Cleisthenes divided the province of Attica in three zones — its urban centre (asty), its coastal strip (paralia) and an inland area (mesogeia). Each of these zones was further divided into ten districts called Trytties. Now Cleistenes created each new tribe with citizens from each of the three zones. They were no longer based on blood groupings, but residential district at the time of the reforms. Each of the new tribes was now made up of three trytties one from each of the three zones. Thus Athens was re-organised into 30 trittyes ("thirds"). The ten new tribes of Athens, or phyles, were now each composed of three trittyes, one from the coast, one from the city, and one from the inland area. To each of these trittytes were assigned between one and ten of the 139 existing settlements, villages or districts within the city, which were henceforth called demes [demoi]. By this means each of the citizens in Attica were united into a single democracy and everyone felt they had an equal share in the fortunes of Athens. Each deme was responsible for keeping an accurate register of its citizen electors. This became the necessary record of citizenship of Athens. Prior to this all citizenship had been based on membership of a phratry, or family group. The establishment of demes as the fundamental units of the state weakened the gene, or aristocratic family groupings.
Typically a deme functioned as a polis in miniature. Indeed some demes, e.g. Eleusis and Acharnae, were in fact towns.
At the same time Cleisthenes reorganized the Boulé [or People's Assembly] increasing the size of its membership. It had originally been created under Solon with 400 members. Now Cleisthenes arranged for it to have 500 members, 50 representatives from each of the ten newly established tribes. The demes were responsible in selecting/electing who their representatives would be.
Cleisthenes also established a system of Ostracism in Athens to re-inforce its new democracy, to limit opportunities for any demagogue through populism from becoming a monarch or a tyrant. The system of Ostracism allowed the people of Athens to vote to send any public figure they disliked into exile.
Ostracism was a highly formalised institution. Once and only once each year there was a standard motion on the agenda of the People's or Citizen's Assembly [the Boulé] in Athens [an institution open to all its male citizens of good standing]. The motion called for their fellow citizens in the Assembly to vote and decide whether an Ostracism was to be held that year. This was a preliminary motion in the Assembly to answer the following question concerning the current state of affairs in the Athenian polis, and how those affairs were expected, in the opinion of the majority of those present in the Assembly, to play out that year The citizens in the Assembly were asked to answer the following question: “Was there anyone currently present in the polis, an individual whose continued presence might put the state and polis so greatly at risk as to justify his immediate expulsion and removal from the city without further trial or ado?”
If the Citizens Assembly voted “Yes” to this motion a further special vote was held in the Agora. Every Athenian now had the opportunity to cast a ballot in the form of a pottery sherd called an Ostrakon on which he could write the name of the Athenian he most wanted to see expelled from the city and polis. Citizens didn't have to justify their choice, there was no necessary presumption of past misconduct or guilt; Ostracism was not a legal trial. All they had to do was to nominate someone they wanted rid of. The individuals concerned had no charges filed against them, nor did the Athenian state provide any information with which to help voters make their choice of target,: nor were there any formal candidates on a list nominated for Ostracism, and no formal speeches were to be made for or against any possible candidates. The institution was designed to focus attention on a balance of the expected public gain and loss to be made by the city by the individual's total and complete absence from the affairs of the polis, rather than on any question of justice or retribution for any past misdemeanours committed by the individual concerned.
Once all the votes had been cast they were sorted and counted, and the person to be ostracised publicly announced. The person so selected was immediately sent into exile for 10 years, effectively precluding his future participation in the politics of Athen, and the risks that entailed. The principal effect of ostracism was essentially limited to the selected individual. The ostracized person's friends and family were allowed to remain in Athens and he could retain his possessions and property.
Over time a pattern began to emerge which theoreticians called "The Kyklos". This was a term used by some classical Greek historians to describe how a cycle of different types of governments in a polis evolved. The concept of "The Kyklos" was first described by Plato in his Republic, in chapters VIII and IX. Later a more fully developed version of this theory was produced by Polybius who explained how the system of government in a polis rotated through the three basic benign forms: namely democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy which, before they each transformed into the next, because of inherent defects, they each passed through three malignant or degenerate of corrupt versions of each of these, namely the regimes of ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny.
Originally society started in a state of ochlocracy [mob rule] but after time a strong person would emerges from the chaos and set up a monarchy. The monarch's descendants, who because of their family dynasty power tend to lack virtue and they turn into despots [persons holding absolute autocratic power, typically exercising it in a cruel or oppressive way]. It is thus how a monarchy degenerates by corruption into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler of a tyranny the despot is eventually overthrown by the leading citizens of the polis, who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the polis becomes ruled by corrupt version of the aristocracy which can be termed as an oligarchy. The oligarchs are eventually overthrown by a revolt of the people who set up a democracy. Democracy itself soon becomes corrupt, degenerating into ochlocracy or mob rule, and the cycle begins all over again..
It was thus how the Democracy of Classical Athens came into being. Cleisthenes'Reeforms led to a system of "Rule by All". This kind of democracy was a system of government under which the Athenian drama flourished. Indeed were it not for the democratic system classical Athenian drama may not have come into being. The young Athenian democracy needed a propaganda machine which to extol its virtues. Theatre provided just that means.
The Graeco-Persian Wars
Ionian Revolt [499-493 BC]
First Persian invasion of Greece (492–490 BC)
Because of the support Athens had given the city-states of Ionia during their revolt against Persian rule, this had incurred the wrath of Darius the Great, emperor of Persia. Darius crosses the Dardanelles and invades and subjugates Thrace and Macedon, and the Cycladic Islands are also conquered. Persia establishes control over the Aegean sea with its navy. but in its attempts to capture Athens it is unsuccessful. It is defeated at the battle of Marathon.
Second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC)
The Thirty Tyrants of Athens
In the Spring of 404 BC Athens surrendered to the Spartans. Peace talks were held in Sparta. Sparta's proposed that Athens should be meted out with the same punishments that it had served on Melos and Skione, where after sieges of those cities the Atenians had put all the adult males to death and enslaved all the women and children. Sparte said that would be handing control of Attica on a plate to the Thebans. Instead Sparta imposed a caretaker government on Athens one mirrored on its system of government. This was known as the rule of The Thirty Tyrants.
Theirs was a reign of terror. The members of this government were all Laconophiles. They came from the wealthy elite, admired oligarchy and hated democracy. Their abused their power sentencing some to death and executing them just to be able to lay their hands on their wealth. Such corruption was intolerable, even to Sparta, who allowed Athens' democrats to return from exile and restore the former constitution.
Trial and Execution of Socrates - 399 BC
The Trial of the Alcmeonidae and the Cleisthenean Constitutional Reforms
George Willis Botsford
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
Vol. 8 (1897), pp. 1-22 (22 pages)
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
DOI: 10.2307/310488
https://www.jstor.org/stable/310488
Land Tenure in Attica and Solon's Seisachtheia
Author(s): N. G. L. Hammond
Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 81 (1961), pp. 76-98
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/628078
Ephialtes, the Areopagus and the Thirty
Lindsay G. H. Hall
The Classical Quarterly
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/639092
Politics and the Oresteia
C. W. MacLeod
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Vol. 102 (1982), pp. 124-144
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/631132
Greek Tyrants and the Persians, 546-479 B. C.
M. M. Austin
The Classical Quarterly
Vol. 40, No. 2 (1990), pp. 289-306
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/639090
Reciprocity and Ritual : Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-State: Seaford, Richard - Internet Archive
Hollmann, Alexander. “Kleisthenes the Stoner: Herodotus 5.67.2.” Mnemosyne, vol. 65, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1–17., www.jstor.org/stable/23253350.
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The 6th century BC saw Athens having a period of phenomenal growth, especially under the tyrannies of Peisistratos and his sons (ca 560–510 BC). Around 510 BC the Alcmaeonidae family, who had been exiled from Athens, requested that Sparta help them overthrow Hippias, the son of Peisistratos wjo had succeeded his father as tyrant of Athens. The Alcmaeonidae, led by Cleisthenes, bribed the oracle at Delphi to tell the Spartans to assist them. After two attacks Cleomenes prevailed and ousted Hippias. After which Cleisthenes and the Athenian aristocrat Isagoras then fought each other for control of Athens. Cleomenes came with an armed force to support Isagoras, and they forced Cleisthenes and the Alcmaeonidae family to go into exile for a second time. Isogoras was made leader of the oligarchy.
Peisistratos, was a populist leader championing the very poorest class of people in Athens, the hill-dwellers, who made their living bartering honey and wool. This class outnumbered the other classes in Athens. With their assistance Peisistratos seized the Acropolis and took over the reins of government declaring himself tyrant. Twice during his reign he was ousted from political office and sent into exile. He awaited for the other parties to fall out with one another, he made his re-entry back into power. riding back into Athens after his first exile on a golden chariot accompanied by a tall woman appearing to be Athena. After hi second exile using the wealth from the mines of Laurion to fund a force to regain power again, power which he held till his death in 528/7 BC His sons Hippias and Hipparchus succeeded him.
In 514 BC Hipparchos was assassinated. The murder was actually the result of a love feud, and not really a political act The reign of the remaining tyrant, Hippias, became increasingly severe. His tyranny became harsh with numerous executions and sentences of exile in vengeance for his brother. It took four years and several unsuccessful military encounters before the rival clan, the Alkmaeonidai finally managed to bribe Apollo's oracle at Delphi to persuade the Spartans to help them oust the tyrants. The Spartans were renowned as the best warriors in Greece at that time, and with the help of a Spartan army led by King Cleomenes I the tyrants were thrown out of Athens in 510 B.C.
After this Cleomenes I, king of Sparta put in charge of Athens a pro-Spartan oligarchy headed up by Isagoras. In 508 BC Isagoras was elected Archon Eponymous, Isogoras' rival Cleisthenes, with the support of the Athenian middle class aided by the democrats, the majority of Athenian citizens, soon displaced Isogoras' regime.
Whilst tyranny is technically a non-heritable position of power one often seized by an able person in violation of tradition or constitutional norms. Peisistratos had ruled differently Herodotus wrote that he, "having not disturbed the existing magistrates nor changed the ancient laws … administered the State under that constitution of things which was already established, ordering it fairly and well". Aristotle wrote about him, that "his administration was temperate…and more like constitutional government than a tyranny". The modern definition of a tyrant, which is a single ruler, often violent and oppressive. Peisistratos' career was a model example of tyranny. His sons were not.
Cleisthenes and his Reforms
But his rival Cleisthenes, with the support of the middle class and aided by democrats, took over. Cleomenes intervened in 508 and 506 BCE, but could not stop Cleisthenes who was now supported by the Athenians. Through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only men were citizens). He also established the system of ostracism.
By 5th century BC tyranny had been replaced in Athens with more egalitarian forms of government, which had previously been ruled by an oligarchy or class of wealthy persons.
Cleisthenes had long lived under the shadow of a family curse because of an impious act which had been committed by one of his distant ancestors. The story goes as follows: at a critical moment in Athens' history, two opposing political factions came face to face at a sacred shrine They clashed and some of the members of the opposing faction to Cleisthenes' family who had taken refuge there were killed, a sacrilege quite contrary to the principles of sanctuary. For this act of impiety serious political consequences ensued for the Alcmaeonidae: forever after they came came to be known as the "Accursed".
Whilst Cleisthenes languished in exile together with the 700 families his arch-enemy Isagoras with the help of his Spartan allies, proceeded to dismantle the last vestiges of Athens' traditional government
Cleisthenes, whose family had originally come from Sicyon near Corinth was a lawgiver, He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens, setting it on a democratic path in 508 BC. Because of these accomplishments, some historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy."
The overthrow of the tyrannical dynasty under Hippias plunged Athens once again into factional strife. Two parties contended for power, one supporting the Pisistradids who had been deposed. This faction was led by Isagoras another tyrant, and the other which supported the Alcmaeonids, rivals to Isagoras led by Cleisthenes. Isogoras had the support of the King of Sparta, Cleomenes I. But Cleisthenes had the backing of the people of Athens. He may have been a member of the aristocracy, but was very popular with the Demos because he had played a significant part in bringing the tyrants down. Meeting with the leaders of the aristocracy in the city and promising to bring about order, they was appointed him leader of the people.
Unprepared and overwhelmed by the united opposition against them, they were forced to agree to a humiliating truce.
In 508 BC Isagoras, with the help of Cleomenes King of Sparta, expelled Kleisthenes and his family from Athens. It was then the ordinary Athenians seized power for themselves. Kleisthenes' supporters together with the aid of the ordinary citizens of Athens revolted against the tyranny of Isagoras' rule. Isagoras and his Spartan allies found themselves trapped on the Acropolis for two days. On the third day unprepared and unprovisioned they lacked food and water. They were forced to conclude a humiliating truce with the mob. This allowed Isagoras and Cleomenes to escape. The mob then captured the Acropolis, executing 300 of Isagoras' allies and supporters. They then recalled Cleisthenes to the city and made him a special commissioner to help them found a new constitution..The exact details of how Kleisthenes carried out his reforms are not known. He was not an Archon but may have been specially commissioned by the Areopagus to reform Athens' Constitution after Isagoras had left. The date of the reforms is usually given as 508/7 BC, but there may have been a two to three years interregnum as his proposals were being implemented.
As the people's leader he set about reforming the Athenian tribal system and adminsitration of the polis. His aims were to give back more power to the people, and to create a civic identity uniting the remoter rural regions of Attica with those in the city proper. This had the effect of expanding the civic body of Athens.
Cleisthenes abolished the four traditional tribes of Athens creating ten new ones, called phyles, each one named after a local hero. To populate these tribes Cleisthenes divided the province of Attica in three zones — its urban centre (asty), its coastal strip (paralia) and an inland area (mesogeia). Each of these zones was further divided into ten districts called Trytties. Now Cleistenes created each new tribe with citizens from each of the three zones. They were no longer based on blood groupings, but residential district at the time of the reforms. Each of the new tribes was now made up of three trytties one from each of the three zones. Thus Athens was re-organised into 30 trittyes ("thirds"). The ten new tribes of Athens, or phyles, were now each composed of three trittyes, one from the coast, one from the city, and one from the inland area. To each of these trittytes were assigned between one and ten of the 139 existing settlements, villages or districts within the city, which were henceforth called demes [demoi]. By this means each of the citizens in Attica were united into a single democracy and everyone felt they had an equal share in the fortunes of Athens. Each deme was responsible for keeping an accurate register of its citizen electors. This became the necessary record of citizenship of Athens. Prior to this all citizenship had been based on membership of a phratry, or family group. The establishment of demes as the fundamental units of the state weakened the gene, or aristocratic family groupings.
Typically a deme functioned as a polis in miniature. Indeed some demes, e.g. Eleusis and Acharnae, were in fact towns.
At the same time Cleisthenes reorganized the Boulé [or People's Assembly] increasing the size of its membership. It had originally been created under Solon with 400 members. Now Cleisthenes arranged for it to have 500 members, 50 representatives from each of the ten newly established tribes. The demes were responsible in selecting/electing who their representatives would be.
Cleisthenes also established a system of Ostracism in Athens to re-inforce its new democracy, to limit opportunities for any demagogue through populism from becoming a monarch or a tyrant. The system of Ostracism allowed the people of Athens to vote to send any public figure they disliked into exile.
Ostracism was a highly formalised institution. Once and only once each year there was a standard motion on the agenda of the People's or Citizen's Assembly [the Boulé] in Athens [an institution open to all its male citizens of good standing]. The motion called for their fellow citizens in the Assembly to vote and decide whether an Ostracism was to be held that year. This was a preliminary motion in the Assembly to answer the following question concerning the current state of affairs in the Athenian polis, and how those affairs were expected, in the opinion of the majority of those present in the Assembly, to play out that year The citizens in the Assembly were asked to answer the following question: “Was there anyone currently present in the polis, an individual whose continued presence might put the state and polis so greatly at risk as to justify his immediate expulsion and removal from the city without further trial or ado?”
If the Citizens Assembly voted “Yes” to this motion a further special vote was held in the Agora. Every Athenian now had the opportunity to cast a ballot in the form of a pottery sherd called an Ostrakon on which he could write the name of the Athenian he most wanted to see expelled from the city and polis. Citizens didn't have to justify their choice, there was no necessary presumption of past misconduct or guilt; Ostracism was not a legal trial. All they had to do was to nominate someone they wanted rid of. The individuals concerned had no charges filed against them, nor did the Athenian state provide any information with which to help voters make their choice of target,: nor were there any formal candidates on a list nominated for Ostracism, and no formal speeches were to be made for or against any possible candidates. The institution was designed to focus attention on a balance of the expected public gain and loss to be made by the city by the individual's total and complete absence from the affairs of the polis, rather than on any question of justice or retribution for any past misdemeanours committed by the individual concerned.
Once all the votes had been cast they were sorted and counted, and the person to be ostracised publicly announced. The person so selected was immediately sent into exile for 10 years, effectively precluding his future participation in the politics of Athen, and the risks that entailed. The principal effect of ostracism was essentially limited to the selected individual. The ostracized person's friends and family were allowed to remain in Athens and he could retain his possessions and property.
Over time a pattern began to emerge which theoreticians called "The Kyklos". This was a term used by some classical Greek historians to describe how a cycle of different types of governments in a polis evolved. The concept of "The Kyklos" was first described by Plato in his Republic, in chapters VIII and IX. Later a more fully developed version of this theory was produced by Polybius who explained how the system of government in a polis rotated through the three basic benign forms: namely democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy which, before they each transformed into the next, because of inherent defects, they each passed through three malignant or degenerate of corrupt versions of each of these, namely the regimes of ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny.
Originally society started in a state of ochlocracy [mob rule] but after time a strong person would emerges from the chaos and set up a monarchy. The monarch's descendants, who because of their family dynasty power tend to lack virtue and they turn into despots [persons holding absolute autocratic power, typically exercising it in a cruel or oppressive way]. It is thus how a monarchy degenerates by corruption into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler of a tyranny the despot is eventually overthrown by the leading citizens of the polis, who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the polis becomes ruled by corrupt version of the aristocracy which can be termed as an oligarchy. The oligarchs are eventually overthrown by a revolt of the people who set up a democracy. Democracy itself soon becomes corrupt, degenerating into ochlocracy or mob rule, and the cycle begins all over again..
It was thus how the Democracy of Classical Athens came into being. Cleisthenes'Reeforms led to a system of "Rule by All". This kind of democracy was a system of government under which the Athenian drama flourished. Indeed were it not for the democratic system classical Athenian drama may not have come into being. The young Athenian democracy needed a propaganda machine which to extol its virtues. Theatre provided just that means.
The Graeco-Persian Wars
Ionian Revolt [499-493 BC]
First Persian invasion of Greece (492–490 BC)
Because of the support Athens had given the city-states of Ionia during their revolt against Persian rule, this had incurred the wrath of Darius the Great, emperor of Persia. Darius crosses the Dardanelles and invades and subjugates Thrace and Macedon, and the Cycladic Islands are also conquered. Persia establishes control over the Aegean sea with its navy. but in its attempts to capture Athens it is unsuccessful. It is defeated at the battle of Marathon.
Second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC)
The Mines of Laurion
Coinage arrived in the Greece mainland and its city-states around the mid 6th century BC. Coinage enabled some families to become hugely rich as it enabled them to accumulate their wealth year after year, unlike the wealth that might be stored in agricultural produce in barns or other storehouses, which can rot. The discovery of the silver mines at Laurion made it possible for vast quantities of coins to be minted.
Under the tyrant Pisistratus Athens began a systematic exploitation of the mineral resources of Attica. A rich vein of silver was discovered at the mines of Laurion. This meant that by the start of the second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) in which Xerxes, the son of Darius, tried to conquer all of Greece, Athens had at its disposal an enormous amount of wealth. Rather than give all this to the citizens of Athens, Themistocles proposed that it should be used to construct an Athenian navy of 200 triremes. This enabled Athens to become a sea power and led to Athens' victory against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.
See Histories of Herodotus Book VII § 144
The advice of Themistocles had prevailed on a previous occasion. The revenues from the mines at Laurium had brought great wealth into the Athenians’ treasury, and when each man was to receive ten drachmae for his share, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to make no such division but to use the money to build two hundred ships for the war, that is, for the war with Aegina. [2] This was in fact the war the outbreak of which saved Hellas by compelling the Athenians to become seamen. The ships were not used for the purpose for which they were built, but later came to serve Hellas in her need. These ships, then, had been made and were already there for the Athenians’ service, and now they had to build yet others. [3] In their debate after the giving of the oracle they accordingly resolved that they would put their trust in the god and meet the foreign invader of Hellas with the whole power of their fleet, ships and men, and with all other Greeks who were so minded.
Comment
Silver, lead, and perhaps copper mines in Attica, from which the state drew an annual revenue. Apparently when this exceeded the usual amount the general public received a largess. Even if the population numbered 30,000 (cp. Hdt. 5.97) ten drachmae per head would be only 50 talents; far too small a sum for the building of 200 ships; Herodotus cannot mean more than that the Laurium money was a contribution towards a ship-building fund.
Delian League and Athenian Empire
Ancient Greek Drama
How much was the dramatic performances in an arena like the Athenian City-Dionysia festival was what theatre historians call "popular entertainment" or "bread and circuses", and how much it was a necessary education for the masses on how their city-state functioned is open to dispute. The great Athenian dramatic festival known as the City Dionysia was very probably established during the tyranny of Peisistratos as a competitive event.
The Athenians before they invented democracy they had invented tragedy. Drama became a highly subtle, clever piece of propaganda. In democracies, elected political leaders in office must necessarily explain and justify their courses of action to an electorate. Theatre and drama through tragic productions provided an ideal platform to be able to do this. Indeed tragedians were to co-operate with the democratic leaders as did Aeschylus with Pericles.
During the time from the late 470s BC from the time| when Themistocles was ostracised and the reforms of Ephialtes in 462 BC the Athenian political scene was dominated by the Areopagus, a traditional court comprised of ex-archons. This period is known to historians as The Areopagite Constitution. During this time Athens was dominated by a political leader called Cimon. He was opposed by another called Ephialtes After the downgrading of the role of the Areopagus, and so fell Cimon.
Cimon [Kimon], ca 510 – 450 BC was an Athenian statesman and general in the first half of the 5th century BC. He was the son of Miltiades, the victor of the Battle of Marathon. He became a celebrated military hero in his own right and was elected to the rank of strategos after his participation and role at the Battle of Salamis.
He played a key role in creating the Delian League, the powerful Athenian maritime empire after the failure of the Persian invasion of Greece under Xerxes I in 480–479
As admiral of the trireme fleet he destroyed the Persian fleet at the Battle of the Eurymedon river in 466 BC.
Then there occurred one of the great turning points in the political history of Athens. The Democratic cause was on the rise in Athens, led by Ephialtes, who may have been poor but who was also was also considered incorruptible. He resented the traditional powers of the Areopagus, one of which was "Guardianship of the Laws and Constitution of Athens". This power allowed the Areopagus to interfere in the decisions of the lower Democratic institutions (The Boule (Council of 500) and the Assembly (Ekklesia)) whenever it liked, declaring any measure that they might pass as void on the grounds of it being unconstitutional. Ephialtes resented this.
Many of the rich, members of the Areopagus and/or their families, abused this power. Corrupt and unprincipled they got themselves elected to high positions in the government of Athens, namely the archonships, through bribery and other corrupt means. Ephialtes succeeded in undermining the reputation of Cimon and the Areopagus by several successful prosecutions of those of the rich who had committed such abuse using their wealth. And now that Cimon was away supposedly allied with Sparta attempting to put down the revolt of the Helots, Ephialtes seized this opportunity and began to pursue a campaign against the Areopgaus and its traditional powers. Among his team of prosecutors was a young lawyer called Pericles.
The rejection by Sparta to come to the aid of Athens outraged them provoking hostile relations between the two city-states. This rejection rejection brought disgrace upon Cimon which carried over to his fellow aristocrats in general. The climate for democratic reforms was ripened. A citizen of Athens called Ephialtes saw his chance and seized the opportunity in 461 BC by convincing the assembly to pass laws which limited the power of the Areopagus.
Ephialtes' reforms set up a revised system for the judicial courts. The decisions in these courts were to be decided by huge juries of male citizens over thirty years of age who had been selected randomly for each case. The reforms made it almost impossible to influence or bribe these citizen jurors because a) all trials had to be concluded in a one day sitting, and b) the juries themselves very large numbers of persons, from several hundred persons to several thousand.
There was no overall judge to direct the cases and jurors, nor lawyers to influence the proceedings, only an official to keep order and stop any fights from occurring.
Having heard the speeches and evidences brought by the accusers/plaintiffs and the defendants, who either spoke of their own behalf, or their friends and supporters spoke up for them, jurors made up their own minds. The accuser and accused were expected to speak for themselves before the court. However they could hire someone to write their speeches for them. A Majority vote by the juros decided the case. There was no opportunity for an appeal once a decision had been reached.
That same year Pericles succeeded in eliminating Cimon using Ostracism on the grounds that Cimon had betrayed his city by giving aid to Sparta, Athens' enemy.
The reforms of the Council of the Areopagus by Ephialtes (and Pericles) in 462 BC: an Athenian named Ephialtes promptly seized the moment in 461 B.C. and convinced the assembly to pass measures which limited the power of the Areopagus. More importantly, his reforms set up a judicial system of courts manned by male citizens over thirty years old chosen by lot for each case. The Areopagus was the one last traditional bastion of conservatism remaining in Athens. It had held onto powers which included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. Public officeholders were now to be paid for their work. Ephialtes also reduced the property qualifications required for holding a public office. New rules defining citizenship of Athens were introduced. However Ephialtes was not live long after these reforms came into being, for soon afterwards he was assassinated, more or less certainly because some oligarchs resented the changes he had made. After that the political leadership of Athens passed to his deputy, Pericles.Pericles [ca. 495 – 429 BC) was the prominent Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age – specifically that period between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
Pericles is primarily remembered for the following: Delivering a famous oration extolling the virtues the Athenian Democracy, which was recorded by Thucydides. and the rebuilding of the Acropolis and the Parthenon using monies from the treasury of the Delian League,. Generally speaking the otehr mebers of the Delian League were none too pleased with Athens about this/, for this was money meant to be used to build triremes and for the joint defence of the city-states of the Delian League.
Aeschylus
This was the period when Aeschylus' plays were being produced. Here are their dates
The Persians (472 BC) - set after the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis and Xerxes' return to Persia. Pericles as a liturgy funded the production of this play by Aeschylus' for presentation at the Greater Dionysia festival . This honour demonstrated that he was one of the wealthier men of Athens. The play helped to show that Pericles, the young politician, supported Themistocles, the hero of Salamis, against his political opponent Cimon, whose faction had succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized shortly afterwards.
Seven Against Thebes (467 BC) - about the siege of Thebes.
Suppliants (unknown date but possibly ca. 463 BC) - about the Danaids myth.
Oresteia (458 BCE) - a trilogy about the aftermath of the Trojan War comprising Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers (Choephori), and The Furies (Eumenides).
Prometheus Bound (c. 457 BCE) - this play is in disputed whether it truly was the work of Aeschylus. It deals with Zeus' punishment of the Titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gifted it to humanity.
,
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War was the war between the city-states of Athens and Sparta 431 to 405 BC and their allies.
The causes of the Peloponnesian War were several and various, but the main one was the rapid rise in the Athenian Empire following the successes of the Persian Wars and the success of Athens' commerce and its democracy. These threatened Sparta which was ruled by a traditional oligarchy. Athens was also pursuing ambitious policies in the Greek region. This did not help matters. The imperial ambitions of the Athenian city-state upset Sparta, threatening it. The tribal and linguistic differences between the Athenians [Ionians] and the Spartans [Dorians] only exarcerbated the situation.
The prime and immediate cause was the ultimatum was sent by Sparta to Athens: Sparta told Athens it would attack it if it did not lift its economic sanctions on the Megarans. The Athenians, unilaterally had banned the ships of Megara from its port and those of its allies. This was called the Megarian Decree. Megara kad been an ally of Sparta for a long-time and this blockade was widely resented, as it was seen as an attempt by Athens to make Megara completely dependent upon it.
Megara defected from the Spartan-dominated Peloponnesian League (c. 460 BC) to the Delian league due to border disputes with its neighbour Corinth and it became one of the causes of the First Peloponnesian War (460 – c. 445 BC). By the terms of the Thirty Years' Peace of 446–445 BC Megara was returned to the Peloponnesian League after successfully revolting from the Delian league.
Pericles persuaded the Athenians to ignore Sparta's Ultimatum.
by Sparta, the Athenians control of the Delian League and their naval alliance,
There was a truce between the warring sides lasting 6 years between The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC)
In 451 BC, when Cimon returned to the city, his ostracism over, the Athenians were willing to have him negotiate a truce with Sparta. Cimon arranged a five-year truce, and over the next several years Athens concentrated its efforts in the Aegean.
[Peace of Callias 449 BC]
In the end Sparta won the war after completely destroying the Athenian fleet with financial help from Persia.
Coinage arrived in the Greece mainland and its city-states around the mid 6th century BC. Coinage enabled some families to become hugely rich as it enabled them to accumulate their wealth year after year, unlike the wealth that might be stored in agricultural produce in barns or other storehouses, which can rot. The discovery of the silver mines at Laurion made it possible for vast quantities of coins to be minted.
Under the tyrant Pisistratus Athens began a systematic exploitation of the mineral resources of Attica. A rich vein of silver was discovered at the mines of Laurion. This meant that by the start of the second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) in which Xerxes, the son of Darius, tried to conquer all of Greece, Athens had at its disposal an enormous amount of wealth. Rather than give all this to the citizens of Athens, Themistocles proposed that it should be used to construct an Athenian navy of 200 triremes. This enabled Athens to become a sea power and led to Athens' victory against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.
See Histories of Herodotus Book VII § 144
The advice of Themistocles had prevailed on a previous occasion. The revenues from the mines at Laurium had brought great wealth into the Athenians’ treasury, and when each man was to receive ten drachmae for his share, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to make no such division but to use the money to build two hundred ships for the war, that is, for the war with Aegina. [2] This was in fact the war the outbreak of which saved Hellas by compelling the Athenians to become seamen. The ships were not used for the purpose for which they were built, but later came to serve Hellas in her need. These ships, then, had been made and were already there for the Athenians’ service, and now they had to build yet others. [3] In their debate after the giving of the oracle they accordingly resolved that they would put their trust in the god and meet the foreign invader of Hellas with the whole power of their fleet, ships and men, and with all other Greeks who were so minded.
Comment
Silver, lead, and perhaps copper mines in Attica, from which the state drew an annual revenue. Apparently when this exceeded the usual amount the general public received a largess. Even if the population numbered 30,000 (cp. Hdt. 5.97) ten drachmae per head would be only 50 talents; far too small a sum for the building of 200 ships; Herodotus cannot mean more than that the Laurium money was a contribution towards a ship-building fund.
Delian League and Athenian Empire
Ancient Greek Drama
How much was the dramatic performances in an arena like the Athenian City-Dionysia festival was what theatre historians call "popular entertainment" or "bread and circuses", and how much it was a necessary education for the masses on how their city-state functioned is open to dispute. The great Athenian dramatic festival known as the City Dionysia was very probably established during the tyranny of Peisistratos as a competitive event.
After the conflict with Persia had ended, Themistocles continued his pre-eminence among Athenian politicians. However, he aroused the hostility of Sparta by ordering the re-fortification of Athens, and his perceived arrogance began to alienate him from the Athenians. In 472 or 471 BC, he was ostracised, and went into exile in Argos. The Spartans now saw an opportunity to destroy him, and implicated him in the alleged treasonous plot of 478 BC of their own general Pausanias. Themistocles thus fled from Greece. Alexander I of Macedon (r. 498–454 BC) temporarily gave him sanctuary at Pydna before he traveled to Asia Minor, where he entered the service of the Persian king Artaxerxes I (reigned 465–424 BC). He was made governor of Magnesia, and lived there for the rest of his life. He died in 459 BC,
In 464 BC the area around Sparta suffered a huge earthquake. In the general turmoil that followed the helots and various Messenian subjects of Sparta revolted; Sparta invoked the assistance of other Greek cities to put down the rebellion. They were obliged to Sparta's aid in accordance with various alliance agreements. Sparta sought Athens', help because of their reputed experience in siege operations. Athens sent approximately 4,000 hoplites under the leadership of Cimon, but this contingent was sent back whilst those from other cities were allowed to stay. The Spartans were worried that the Athenians might switch sides and support the helots The Athenian democracy had been entertaining political notions of a revolutionary character This fact alone posed a threat to Sparta's oligarchic regime.During the time from the late 470s BC from the time| when Themistocles was ostracised and the reforms of Ephialtes in 462 BC the Athenian political scene was dominated by the Areopagus, a traditional court comprised of ex-archons. This period is known to historians as The Areopagite Constitution. During this time Athens was dominated by a political leader called Cimon. He was opposed by another called Ephialtes After the downgrading of the role of the Areopagus, and so fell Cimon.
Cimon [Kimon], ca 510 – 450 BC was an Athenian statesman and general in the first half of the 5th century BC. He was the son of Miltiades, the victor of the Battle of Marathon. He became a celebrated military hero in his own right and was elected to the rank of strategos after his participation and role at the Battle of Salamis.
He played a key role in creating the Delian League, the powerful Athenian maritime empire after the failure of the Persian invasion of Greece under Xerxes I in 480–479
As admiral of the trireme fleet he destroyed the Persian fleet at the Battle of the Eurymedon river in 466 BC.
Then there occurred one of the great turning points in the political history of Athens. The Democratic cause was on the rise in Athens, led by Ephialtes, who may have been poor but who was also was also considered incorruptible. He resented the traditional powers of the Areopagus, one of which was "Guardianship of the Laws and Constitution of Athens". This power allowed the Areopagus to interfere in the decisions of the lower Democratic institutions (The Boule (Council of 500) and the Assembly (Ekklesia)) whenever it liked, declaring any measure that they might pass as void on the grounds of it being unconstitutional. Ephialtes resented this.
Many of the rich, members of the Areopagus and/or their families, abused this power. Corrupt and unprincipled they got themselves elected to high positions in the government of Athens, namely the archonships, through bribery and other corrupt means. Ephialtes succeeded in undermining the reputation of Cimon and the Areopagus by several successful prosecutions of those of the rich who had committed such abuse using their wealth. And now that Cimon was away supposedly allied with Sparta attempting to put down the revolt of the Helots, Ephialtes seized this opportunity and began to pursue a campaign against the Areopgaus and its traditional powers. Among his team of prosecutors was a young lawyer called Pericles.
In 463 BC Pericles, a lawyer now one of the principal figures of the democratic cause prosecuted Cimon, the leader of the conservatives, on a charge of bribery and whom he also accused of neglecting Athens' interests in Macedon. Although Cimon was acquitted on this occasion Pericles' succeeded in demonstrating that their major political opponent was vulnerable.
In 462/1 BC Cimon [Kimon] persuaded the Ecclesia in Athens to support his proposal to send to Sparta 4,000 hoplite troops to put down a rebellion by Sparta’s helots. The helots had risen up against their masters in the aftermath of the huge earthquake which had struck the Peolopennese in 470 BC. The Ecclesia approved this and 4,000 hoplites were sent to Sparta. Ephialtes, Cimon’s rival, seized his chances. With now a large proportion of Athens’ rich and wealthy citizens now absent and away from the city on this campaign enabled Ephialtes to put forward proposals to the People’s Assembly for a massive reform of the Areopagus and its powers. Duly the Ecclesia passed these reforms :
A very definite set of powers which the Areopagus held was Guardianship of the Constitution and Fundamental Laws of Attica [Athens]. The Areopagus because it had this constitutional role this gave it the right to overrule and veto any measure passing through the Council of 500 [Boulé] or the Ecclesia as being unconstitutional. Ephialtes persuaded the Ecclesia to pass new laws which limited the powers of the Areopagus to do this He left it with only powers to deal with cases of homicide or some aspects of sacrilege. Following this reform there began a new era of "radical democracy" in Athens.
In 461 Ephilates had Cimon ostracised and sent into exile away from the city of Athens. Later that same year Ephialtes was found assassinated by some unknown killer in suspicious circumstances. This left Pericles, his deputy. being able to take over as political leader of Athens.
Age of Pericles [461-429 BC]A very definite set of powers which the Areopagus held was Guardianship of the Constitution and Fundamental Laws of Attica [Athens]. The Areopagus because it had this constitutional role this gave it the right to overrule and veto any measure passing through the Council of 500 [Boulé] or the Ecclesia as being unconstitutional. Ephialtes persuaded the Ecclesia to pass new laws which limited the powers of the Areopagus to do this He left it with only powers to deal with cases of homicide or some aspects of sacrilege. Following this reform there began a new era of "radical democracy" in Athens.
In 461 Ephilates had Cimon ostracised and sent into exile away from the city of Athens. Later that same year Ephialtes was found assassinated by some unknown killer in suspicious circumstances. This left Pericles, his deputy. being able to take over as political leader of Athens.
The rejection by Sparta to come to the aid of Athens outraged them provoking hostile relations between the two city-states. This rejection rejection brought disgrace upon Cimon which carried over to his fellow aristocrats in general. The climate for democratic reforms was ripened. A citizen of Athens called Ephialtes saw his chance and seized the opportunity in 461 BC by convincing the assembly to pass laws which limited the power of the Areopagus.
Ephialtes' reforms set up a revised system for the judicial courts. The decisions in these courts were to be decided by huge juries of male citizens over thirty years of age who had been selected randomly for each case. The reforms made it almost impossible to influence or bribe these citizen jurors because a) all trials had to be concluded in a one day sitting, and b) the juries themselves very large numbers of persons, from several hundred persons to several thousand.
There was no overall judge to direct the cases and jurors, nor lawyers to influence the proceedings, only an official to keep order and stop any fights from occurring.
Having heard the speeches and evidences brought by the accusers/plaintiffs and the defendants, who either spoke of their own behalf, or their friends and supporters spoke up for them, jurors made up their own minds. The accuser and accused were expected to speak for themselves before the court. However they could hire someone to write their speeches for them. A Majority vote by the juros decided the case. There was no opportunity for an appeal once a decision had been reached.
That same year Pericles succeeded in eliminating Cimon using Ostracism on the grounds that Cimon had betrayed his city by giving aid to Sparta, Athens' enemy.
The reforms of the Council of the Areopagus by Ephialtes (and Pericles) in 462 BC: an Athenian named Ephialtes promptly seized the moment in 461 B.C. and convinced the assembly to pass measures which limited the power of the Areopagus. More importantly, his reforms set up a judicial system of courts manned by male citizens over thirty years old chosen by lot for each case. The Areopagus was the one last traditional bastion of conservatism remaining in Athens. It had held onto powers which included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. Public officeholders were now to be paid for their work. Ephialtes also reduced the property qualifications required for holding a public office. New rules defining citizenship of Athens were introduced. However Ephialtes was not live long after these reforms came into being, for soon afterwards he was assassinated, more or less certainly because some oligarchs resented the changes he had made. After that the political leadership of Athens passed to his deputy, Pericles.Pericles [ca. 495 – 429 BC) was the prominent Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age – specifically that period between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
Pericles is primarily remembered for the following: Delivering a famous oration extolling the virtues the Athenian Democracy, which was recorded by Thucydides. and the rebuilding of the Acropolis and the Parthenon using monies from the treasury of the Delian League,. Generally speaking the otehr mebers of the Delian League were none too pleased with Athens about this/, for this was money meant to be used to build triremes and for the joint defence of the city-states of the Delian League.
Aeschylus
This was the period when Aeschylus' plays were being produced. Here are their dates
The Persians (472 BC) - set after the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis and Xerxes' return to Persia. Pericles as a liturgy funded the production of this play by Aeschylus' for presentation at the Greater Dionysia festival . This honour demonstrated that he was one of the wealthier men of Athens. The play helped to show that Pericles, the young politician, supported Themistocles, the hero of Salamis, against his political opponent Cimon, whose faction had succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized shortly afterwards.
Seven Against Thebes (467 BC) - about the siege of Thebes.
Suppliants (unknown date but possibly ca. 463 BC) - about the Danaids myth.
Oresteia (458 BCE) - a trilogy about the aftermath of the Trojan War comprising Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers (Choephori), and The Furies (Eumenides).
Prometheus Bound (c. 457 BCE) - this play is in disputed whether it truly was the work of Aeschylus. It deals with Zeus' punishment of the Titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gifted it to humanity.
,
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War was the war between the city-states of Athens and Sparta 431 to 405 BC and their allies.
The causes of the Peloponnesian War were several and various, but the main one was the rapid rise in the Athenian Empire following the successes of the Persian Wars and the success of Athens' commerce and its democracy. These threatened Sparta which was ruled by a traditional oligarchy. Athens was also pursuing ambitious policies in the Greek region. This did not help matters. The imperial ambitions of the Athenian city-state upset Sparta, threatening it. The tribal and linguistic differences between the Athenians [Ionians] and the Spartans [Dorians] only exarcerbated the situation.
The prime and immediate cause was the ultimatum was sent by Sparta to Athens: Sparta told Athens it would attack it if it did not lift its economic sanctions on the Megarans. The Athenians, unilaterally had banned the ships of Megara from its port and those of its allies. This was called the Megarian Decree. Megara kad been an ally of Sparta for a long-time and this blockade was widely resented, as it was seen as an attempt by Athens to make Megara completely dependent upon it.
Megara defected from the Spartan-dominated Peloponnesian League (c. 460 BC) to the Delian league due to border disputes with its neighbour Corinth and it became one of the causes of the First Peloponnesian War (460 – c. 445 BC). By the terms of the Thirty Years' Peace of 446–445 BC Megara was returned to the Peloponnesian League after successfully revolting from the Delian league.
Pericles persuaded the Athenians to ignore Sparta's Ultimatum.
by Sparta, the Athenians control of the Delian League and their naval alliance,
There was a truce between the warring sides lasting 6 years between The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC)
In 451 BC, when Cimon returned to the city, his ostracism over, the Athenians were willing to have him negotiate a truce with Sparta. Cimon arranged a five-year truce, and over the next several years Athens concentrated its efforts in the Aegean.
[Peace of Callias 449 BC]
In the end Sparta won the war after completely destroying the Athenian fleet with financial help from Persia.
The Thirty Tyrants of Athens
In the Spring of 404 BC Athens surrendered to the Spartans. Peace talks were held in Sparta. Sparta's proposed that Athens should be meted out with the same punishments that it had served on Melos and Skione, where after sieges of those cities the Atenians had put all the adult males to death and enslaved all the women and children. Sparte said that would be handing control of Attica on a plate to the Thebans. Instead Sparta imposed a caretaker government on Athens one mirrored on its system of government. This was known as the rule of The Thirty Tyrants.
Theirs was a reign of terror. The members of this government were all Laconophiles. They came from the wealthy elite, admired oligarchy and hated democracy. Their abused their power sentencing some to death and executing them just to be able to lay their hands on their wealth. Such corruption was intolerable, even to Sparta, who allowed Athens' democrats to return from exile and restore the former constitution.
Trial and Execution of Socrates - 399 BC
The Trial of the Alcmeonidae and the Cleisthenean Constitutional Reforms
George Willis Botsford
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
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Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
DOI: 10.2307/310488
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Land Tenure in Attica and Solon's Seisachtheia
Author(s): N. G. L. Hammond
Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 81 (1961), pp. 76-98
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/628078
Ephialtes, the Areopagus and the Thirty
Lindsay G. H. Hall
The Classical Quarterly
Vol. 40, No. 2 (1990), pp. 319-328
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/639092
Politics and the Oresteia
C. W. MacLeod
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Vol. 102 (1982), pp. 124-144
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
DOI: 10.2307/631132
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Greek Tyrants and the Persians, 546-479 B. C.
M. M. Austin
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Reciprocity and Ritual : Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-State: Seaford, Richard - Internet Archive
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Rhodes, P. J. (1979). ΕΙΣΑΓΓΕΛΙΑ in Athens. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 99, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.2307/630635 https://www.jstor.org/stable/630734
Gagarin, M. (1981). The Thesmothetai and the Earliest Athenian Tyranny Law. Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), 111, 71–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/284120 https://www.jstor.org/stable/284120
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Mogens Herman Hansen (1989). The Athenian Ecclesia II: A Collection of Articles, 1983-1989. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-7289-058-6.
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David M. Carter (2007). The Politics of Greek Tragedy. Bristol Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-904675-16-7.
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Loren J. Samons, II (5 January 2016). Pericles and the Conquest of History: A Political Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-11014-4.
Lara O'Sullivan (23 October 2009). The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317-307 BCE: A Philosopher in Politics. On Nomophulakia and the Role of the Areopagus in the Guardianship of the Laws: BRILL. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-90-474-4123-6.
Jan F. Brouwer (2012). Classical Greek Ritual Theater. The development of classical Greek theater from cyclic and calendar rituals: Lulu.com. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-105-87867-1.
Kurt A. Raaflaub; Josiah Ober; Robert Wallace (15 October 2008). Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-520-25809-9.
Josiah Ober (1996). The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 0-691-00190-1.
Christopher Carey (12 January 2017). Democracy in Classical Athens. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-4742-8637-4.
David M. Pritchard (29 November 2018). Athenian Democracy at War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-108-42291-8.
Thomas N. Mitchell (2019). Athens: A History of the World's First Democracy. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-24660-5.
Aspects of Athenian Democracy. University of California Press.
Aristotle; Xenophon (28 October 2010). Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26605-6.
F.G. Kenyon (ed.) (2003). Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-261-3.
Josiah Ober (1996). The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00190-1.
Eric W. Robinson (15 April 2008). Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-75219-7.
Xenophon; Petch James A (11 November 2018). The Old Oligarch; Being the Constitution of the Athenians. FRANKLIN CLASSICS TRADE Press. ISBN 978-0-353-39380-6.
Hugh Bowden (5 May 2005). Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82373-9.
Alex Gottesman (2 October 2014). Politics and the Street in Democratic Athens. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-04168-4.
William Swinton (1874). Outlines of the World's History: Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern. History of Greece: Ivison, Blakeman,. pp. 73–.
Mogens Herman Hansen (1999). The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles, and Ideology. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3143-6.
Mogens Herman Hansen (1997). The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community: Symposium August, 29-31 1996. Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. ISBN 978-87-7304-291-5.
Mogens Herman Hansen (2000). Polis & Politics: Studies in Ancient Greek History. Volume 1. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-7289-628-1.
Mogens Herman Hansen; Mogens Herman Hansen (1996). More Studies in the Ancient Greek "polis". Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06969-4.
Mogens Herman Hansen (1983). The Athenian Ecclesia: A Collection of Articles 1976-1983. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-88073-52-2.
Mogens Herman Hansen (1989). The Athenian Ecclesia II: A Collection of Articles, 1983-1989. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-7289-058-6.
Kostas Vlassopoulos (2007). Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-18807-4.
David M. Carter (2007). The Politics of Greek Tragedy. Bristol Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-904675-16-7.
Michael Gagarin; David Cohen (12 September 2005). The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-82689-1.
Loren J. Samons, II (5 January 2016). Pericles and the Conquest of History: A Political Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-11014-4.
Lara O'Sullivan (23 October 2009). The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317-307 BCE: A Philosopher in Politics. On Nomophulakia and the Role of the Areopagus in the Guardianship of the Laws: BRILL. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-90-474-4123-6.
Jan F. Brouwer (2012). Classical Greek Ritual Theater. The development of classical Greek theater from cyclic and calendar rituals: Lulu.com. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-105-87867-1.
Kurt A. Raaflaub; Josiah Ober; Robert Wallace (15 October 2008). Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-520-25809-9.
Josiah Ober (1996). The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 0-691-00190-1.
Christopher Carey (12 January 2017). Democracy in Classical Athens. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-4742-8637-4.
David M. Pritchard (29 November 2018). Athenian Democracy at War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-108-42291-8.
Thomas N. Mitchell (2019). Athens: A History of the World's First Democracy. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-24660-5.
Aspects of Athenian Democracy. University of California Press.
Aristotle; Xenophon (28 October 2010). Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26605-6.
F.G. Kenyon (ed.) (2003). Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-261-3.
Josiah Ober (1996). The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00190-1.
Eric W. Robinson (15 April 2008). Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-75219-7.
Xenophon; Petch James A (11 November 2018). The Old Oligarch; Being the Constitution of the Athenians. FRANKLIN CLASSICS TRADE Press. ISBN 978-0-353-39380-6.
Hugh Bowden (5 May 2005). Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82373-9.
Alex Gottesman (2 October 2014). Politics and the Street in Democratic Athens. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-04168-4.
William Swinton (1874). Outlines of the World's History: Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern. History of Greece: Ivison, Blakeman,. pp. 73–.
Horos stones — A dead man fell from the sky
Theorica - Wikipedia
Greek political theory (1965 edition) - David Grene - Open Library
The Cambridge Ancient History: Kylon and the Massacre of his Followers - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History: Draco - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History : Draco's Law of Debt - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History : Solon's Reforms - Internet Archive
Ancient Greece Timeline - History
Theorica - Wikipedia
Greek political theory (1965 edition) - David Grene - Open Library
The Cambridge Ancient History: Kylon and the Massacre of his Followers - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History: Draco - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History : Draco's Law of Debt - Internet Archive
The Cambridge Ancient History : Solon's Reforms - Internet Archive
Ancient Greece Timeline - History
Greek Theatre Timeline - Ancient History Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek Government - Ancient History Encyclopedia
Draco's Law Code - Ancient History Encyclopedia
Solon - Ancient History Encyclopedia
The Cambridge Ancient History - Wikipedia
A short history of the ancient world : Smith, Charles Edward, 1905-1959 - Internet Archive
Relevant Volumes
- III.III: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C.
- IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean C. 525 to 479 B.C.
- V: The Fifth Century B.C.
- VI: The Fourth Century B.C.
- VII.I: The Hellenistic World
Cambridge University Press
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Tragic Honours and Democracy: Neglected Evidence for the Politics of the Athenian Dionysia
Peter Wilson
The Classical Quarterly
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Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20616659
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Clara M. Smertenko
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
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DOI: 10.2307/625989
https://www.jstor.org/stable/625989
ΝΟΜΟΦΥΛΑΚΙΑ and the Areopagus
G. L. Cawkwell
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
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Duane W. Roller
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Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436111
Peter Wilson
The Classical Quarterly
New Series, Vol. 59, No. 1 (May, 2009), pp. 8-29
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20616659
The Political Sympathies of Aeschylus
Clara M. Smertenko
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Vol. 52, Part 2 (1932), pp. 233-235
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
DOI: 10.2307/625989
https://www.jstor.org/stable/625989
ΝΟΜΟΦΥΛΑΚΙΑ and the Areopagus
G. L. Cawkwell
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Vol. 108 (1988), pp. 1-12
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
DOI: 10.2307/632626
https://www.jstor.org/stable/632626
Plots and Politics in Aeschylus
C. D. N. Costa
Greece & Rome
Vol. 9, No. 1 (Mar., 1962), pp. 22-34
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/640741
Maximilian Braun, Die Eumeniden des Aischylos und der Areopag. Classica Monacensia Bd. 19. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1998. Pp. 261. ISBN 3-8233-4878-7.
The Role of Ephialtes in the Rise of Athenian Democracy
Lesley Ann Jones
Classical Antiquity
Vol. 6, No. 1 (Apr., 1987), pp. 53-76
Published by: University of California Press
DOI: 10.2307/25010858
Who Murdered Ephialtes?Duane W. Roller
Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte
Bd. 38, H. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1989), pp. 257-266
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436111
Aeschylus, the Alkmeonids and the Reform of the Areopagos
Loren J. Samons II
The Classical Journal
Vol. 94, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1999), pp. 221-233
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3298367
The Oresteia and Cimon
John R. Cole
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
Vol. 81 (1977), pp. 99-111
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
DOI: 10.2307/311113
https://www.jstor.org/stable/311113
The Oresteia and Cimon
John R. Cole
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
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Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
DOI: 10.2307/311113
https://www.jstor.org/stable/311113
Roy, J. (1999). “Polis” and “Oikos” in Classical Athens. Greece & Rome, 46(1), 1–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/643032
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James Stuart; Nicholas Revett; Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America (2008). Antiquities of Athens: Measured and Delineated by James Stuart, FRS and FSA, and Nicholas Revett, Painters and Architects. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1-56898-723-1.
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The History of Ancient Greece Podcast
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The family in classical Greece : Lacey, W. K. - Internet Archive
The School of History : Athens in the Age of Socrates : Munn, Mark Henderson - Internet Archive
The Archaic Athenian Agora - Gateway to Classical Athens
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The History of Ancient Greece Podcast
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Thucydides https://bbc.in/2HaHjZR
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Pericles https://bbc.in/33z9NUF
The Ancient Greeks: The Crucible of Civilization - Ep1, Revolution - YouTube
The Ancient Greeks: The Crucible of Civilization - Ep.2: Golden Age - YouTube
The Ancient Greeks: The Crucible of Civilization - Ep.3: Empire of the Mind - YouTube
Bettany Hughes - The Ancient Worlds 6 of 7 - Athens The Truth About Democracy - YouTube
Why Socrates Hated Democracy? - YouTube
Introduction to Ancient Greek History with Professor Donald Kagan (Yale University)
24 Lectures on YouTube
Lectures on Ancient Greece - Audio
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