Solon of Athens

Most history books explain that Democracy began in ancient Greece, in the days of the so-called Seven Wise Men or "Seven Sages." These men were the intellectual giants of their time, and enjoyed reputations as prophets who had an understanding of nature and the gods. Ancient doxographical writings contain fantastic, semi-mythic, and often times humorous, anecdotes about the Sages, who had been idealized in the minds of men over the centuries. Of the accounts, that found in Plutarch's Life of Solon, and those scattered throughout The Histories of Herodotus, seem to be the most substantial.

While much of Solon's political thought is compatible with modern day democratic ideas, at that time Athens was in no way what we would call a Democracy. Solon, however, made important contributions to politics and is a major figure in the history of Western civilization.

Solon was elected ruler, or “archon,” of Athens in the year 594 – 593 BCE. One of the Solon’s first official actions was to limit how much land a single owner could obtain. Solon’s law had a two-fold effect:

1) The wealthy would have a more difficult time sustaining power in government, (for representation was based on land-ownership)

2) There would have been more land available for the rising low and middle class citizens and thus greater opportunities were within their reach.

Solon also enacted his most famous legislation, the “shaking-off of burdens” or in Greek the seisachtheia. As the name implies, this was an act which nullified all debts that had not been paid, also, more importantly, Solon liberated people who had been forced into slavery in order to pay off a debt. At first, this might seem like an abuse of power, and one would expect the nobility to be upset, however the amount that the wealthy had to forego with the enactment of the seisachtheia was comparatively little considering the state of the polis as a whole.


Solon’s plan did not stop there though, the invention of coined money was an advancement which Solon used to help stabilize the economy. He standardized the weights and measures of coinage in order to to regulate costs, and the new agora constructed under Solon’s guidance facilitated sales. Solon’s reforms were a vast improvement over the previous system (which was instated by the infamous Dracon); finally, there were a set of reasonable laws founded on the ideals of justice and freedom. But Athens was not the picture perfect democracy which the 4th century politicians and philosophers painted it to be, for economic and social class still dictated politics. Despite this tradition, Solon utilized the concept of Justice to promote a healthy sense of unity amongst the Athenians.