THE RISE OF ATHENS
To Peisistratos
ATTICA
ATHENS
 Relatively crappy soil,
perfect for olives!
 Excellent port(s)
 Geographically
determined large polis
 Good red clay
 Silver mines
 Mt Penteli
 Where the Dorian and
Ionian worlds meet
 And of course the most
important: Autochthonoi
Athenians with pretty
slender legs ;)
SYNOIKISMOS
EARLY ATHENIAN SOCIET Y
 Aristocratic familial social system: Four tribes divided into
three phratres
 Eupatrids, well-born, on top of the heap.
 Hippeis, cavalry, next
 Zeugitai – the ones conjoined
 Thetes, po' trash
 683, The College of Archons: Eponymous, Polymarch, Basileus
 Areopagus
 Thesmothetes – judges
CYLONIAN AFFAIR, 632
(Not from Battlestar Gallactica)
Olympic victor
Attempted coup; he takes the Akropolis.
Megacles, one of the Alcmaeonidae, leads the opposition with
archons in tow. Lock the Cylonians in the temple.
 Megacles cuts the rope to a well
 Miasma- The Curse of the Alcmaeonidae
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DRAKON
 Code of Draco, 621
 Published law code, shows decline in power of Aristocracy
 Similar to Hammurabi
594, SOLON
 Debt enslavement crisis: Attic farms turn multiple bad crops.
 Hektemoroi, basically sharecroppers. Horoi are mortgaged
farms.
 Sole archon because of his sophrosyne, self control and
moderation.
 Cancels all debts
 Changes coin weights from Pheidonian to Euboic for easy
trade East. Encourages olive and grape production…only!
 Of fers citizenship to foreigners of extraordinary ability, opens
the city to Metoikoi (metics).
 Establishes social classes based on agricultural output.
 Established boule of 400. Ekklesia of all citizens, Pnyx. Court
of appeal.
EFFECTS OF SOLONIAN CONSTITUTION
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Moderate approach made everyone mad
10 year, self-imposed exile
De facto anarchy with powerful locals vying for power
The strongman in favour of demotic privilege from the east,
beyond Mt Penteli from Marathon down to Laurion emerges…
PEISISTRATOS
 War hero vs Megara
 Solon warns the people after his return…but everyone wants it
 Peisistratos asks the assembly for a bodyguard for his safety,
which he promptly uses to take the Akropolis
 561-56 he rules, but driven out, so of f to other tyrants to
learn
 Comes back rich & smart, gets rid of his wife (?), marries
Megacles' daughter, needs a great entrance into the city…
MEGACLES EVENTUALLY GETS MAD
 Peisistratos wants a clear succession for his first children
 Deinomache complains to her father
 They drive out Peisistratos again
 So, he regroups and invades Attica
 Battle of Pellini
 So kids, if you want something and don't
get it, keep trying
PUBLIC WORKS OF PEISISTRATOS
 He actually governs well and fairly, Ur Parthenon, Olympian
Zeus
ADMINISTRATION OF PEISISTRATOS
 Reinstates archons, ekklesia, & law courts and adds circuit
judges to bench. Circuit justice is genius! The people love it
and it keeps local aristocracy out of touch.
 'Peisistratos did not (seek to) change the constitution, but to
dominate it.' - Kagan
 He makes sure his people are in charge of civic institutions.
 Exiles those he finds dif ficult: eg Alcmaeonidae
 Medici parallel?
 Somehow, the large farms of aristocrats are broken up
 Readily lends cash to farmers. Did they buy land back?
 Athenian agriculture blossoms ;) when it hadn't before
 5% tax. Popular in lower classes, not so much the aristocracy.
 The farmer from Hymettos – the Souda
527, DEATH OF PEISISTRATOS
Hippias and Hipparchos
514, Tyrannicides kill Hipparchos
Hippias becomes paranoid and becomes 'tyrannical'
Meanwhile the Alcmaeonidae (previously thrown out, again)
make nice with Delphi
 'First, free the Athenians'
 511-10 King Cleomenes
 Hippias flees to Persia
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SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
T YRANNY IN ATHENS
 Economic expansion: Olives and grapes; each oikos is reunited
with its kleros; Athenian pottery from Sicily – Ukraine.
Overtake Corinth as primo pottery purveyors
 Diminution of aristocratic power: judges, land allocation.
Athens become undisputed center of Attica.
 Continuation of the archons, experience of self government by
the non-aristocratic under tyranny. Ultimate irony that tyranny
leads to democracy in Athens.