It can be argued that Solon is one of the most important social and political figures to be
found in the scenes of history. Greatly respected by the people of Athens in his own time, he
stepped in and quelled a period of high unrest and injustice. His influence was not limited to his
lifetime, however; it continues to this day.
Athens in the early sixth century B.C. was a study in divisions. Three distinct political
parties promulgated their agendas with ever increasing adamance. The Hill was comprised
largely of city dwellers, the proponents of radical democracy. Supporters of complete oligarchy
were the landed elite, those of The Plain. Standing as moderates between the two were the men
of The Shore. According to Plutarch, some even considered tyranny as the only solution to the
growing friction despite a general abhorrence for the practice. Another all too apparent demarcation was that dividing
the wealthy from the poor. Plutarch describes some portion of the thetai as Hectemorioi, or "sixth-part men", who acted
as tenant farmers paying one-sixth of their annual produce as rent to the landholder. This does not seem particularly
exorbitant such that it would foster noteworthy resentment. Others have suggested that the Hectemors were rather resident
laborers who retained only a sixth part of the fruits of their labors, a condition more consistent with the reported discontent.
Woodhouse questions this assertion since Plutarch insists that the Hectemors were saddled with debt, yet if a portion of the
harvest was the obligation it seems unlikely that the individual farmer would incur debt. It is possible that the Hectemorioi
were small landowners mortgaged to wealthy individuals for a portion of their income. In any event, this indebted group was not content.
Possibly the most egregious practice, to Solon's mind and many others, was that of debt slavery. A man might obtain a loan by
securing the transaction with his wife, his children, or even himself. Upon default that person set forth as security was bound
to labor for the creditor, or could be sold to another Athenian or even marketed elsewhere. This separated families and
made renegade expatriates of many who were unwilling to satisfy the terms of the contract.
The condition of law altogether was unjust and deplorably harsh. The archon Draco had established a code of written laws,
the first in Athens, but those laws still favored the rich and influential and their penalties were almost invariably death,
even for relatively minor offences.
About 635 B.C. the wife of a lesser aristocrat called Excestides was delivered of a son they named Solon. Solon's mother was
related to Pisistratus and the two cousins became close friends into young adulthood, but grew politically estranged as time passed.
Solon pursued a successful mercantile career, enjoying travel and seeking knowledge, a predilection that earned him substantial prestige.
He was active in politics at home, opposing inappropriate legislation and participating in military campaigns. He was instrumental
in the victory over the Megarians at Salamis, a triumph that further increased his prominence.
In 594 the beleaguered Athenian people elected Solon as Archon Eponymous and empowered him as a quasi-tyrant to reform the political
and legal institutions of the state. Due to his status as an aristocrat and a wealthy merchant the privileged upper classes expected him
to preserve the rights of property, while the oppressed poor saw him as an opponent of unjust exploitation. Solon's view of legal form
can be summarized by his remarks to Anacharsis while entertaining the visitor in his home. Solon told his guest that "...men abide by
their agreements when neither side has anything to gain by violating them." His pragmatic, if a bit cynical, approach to legislation
served him and his community well; during the single year of his archonship the Athenian political and cultural landscape was irrevocably altered.
The landless downtrodden looked to the Archon for sweeping redistribution of property, but such democratic/socialist action was not forthcoming.
Solon did eliminate debt structures that led to the forced servitude of the unfortunate and reduced or canceled many liabilities.
Both sides were initially displeased, the rich thinking he went too far and the poor considering it not far enough. Solon also lost some
credibility when his friends used inside information to purchase indebted land and profit from the debt elimination that followed,
but the Archon made a gesture of forgiving a debt owed to him and regained his respectability. Eventually the opposed classes saw the wisdom
of the reform as exiles were repatriated and those sold into slavery were recovered at state expense.
Solon also addressed the problems of economy facing Athens by recognizing the limitations of Attic agriculture. Grain production potential
was minimal, so he forbad the exportation of wheat. He implemented programs to encourage and subsidize the planting of export crops such as
olive trees and grapevines to which the land and climate were eminently suited. Trade crafts were stimulated, in part by the enfranchisement
of resident aliens who came to Athens with desired skills. This also increased the size and influence of the middle class, moderating the
fiscal disparities that existed before.
Some other reforms of special interest were as follows:
-Public extravagance was outlawed in dress, comportment, and mourning for the dead as a means to discourage conspicuous waste.
-Water sharing was encouraged, but only for those who had first made the effort to obtain their own.
-Law allowed those with no son to will their property to whomever they liked. Property could truly be private as opposed to clan-controlled.
It is interesting to note that offences against women entailed rather meager penalties under Solon's laws. Plutarch muses upon the possibility
that money was tight and the fine was more substantial than it might seem. For comparison, the penalty for rape was equal to the prize
awarded to the victor of the Isthmian games.
Government was restructured such that the Ekklesia was made subordinate to a new body, the Boule', which restricted when and about what the
larger body might debate. This was an obvious means to limit the purely democratic nature of the public forum and institute republican
protections for the constitution. The Boule' excluded the Thetes, who were involved in the Ekklesia. The archons and thesmothetai
retained their responsibilities- the Archon Eponymous still presided as chief magistrate, the Archon Basileus continued to oversee religious
and homicide cases, and the Polemarchon was the war leader. These high offices were limited to one term of one year only as before but were
no longer confined to the Eupatrid clan. Any citizen of the highest class, the Pentakosiomedimnoi, could now aspire to such a position.
Administration of justice prior to Solon had been under the purview of the Areopagus, a body comprised of ex-archons and therefore controlled
by the aristocracy. The new Archon proceeded to set up popular courts of large juries charged with the judgement of cases involving
civil and most criminal law. Oversight of murder and attempted murder cases, as well as those involving religious law, remained with the Areopagus.
This change placed daily justice in the hands of the people while reserving some traditional judgement to experienced officials.
The laws were physically recorded in monument form and placed for public display. Extant sources indicate two types of constructs used for
this purpose. Structures called axones were erected in the Prytaneion while more durable kyrbeis were to be found in the Stoa Basileus.
The exact form these objects took is a matter of some debate, but it would seem that an axon was comprised of two stout vertical wooden beams
crossed by a wooden lintel. Between the upright members were suspended three horizontal beams set to spin on pivots, each beam having four
faces on which the text of the law was inscribed. It could be viewed by turning the beams to expose each face in succession. Descriptions of
a kyrbis are more uncertain, but they appear to have been constructed of stone, or more likely of bronze, in the shape of an obelisk about
1.5 meters tall. Plutarch suggests the possibility that there were functional differences between the two types as well as physical ones-
the kyrbeis being the repository of divine law while axones served the temporal plane. This distinction is supported by the location each was
reported to have occupied, the Prytaneion being the place of civil responsibility; the Stoa Basileus was the seat of religious authority.
Having established some measure of peace among the contentious Athenians Solon exacted an oath from the council of the Areopagus and his
fellow archons to the effect that the reforms would remain in place and be faithfully executed for 100 years. He then escaped the
constant barrage of supplicants seeking his ear by engaging in a ten year sabbatical. He spent time in Egypt and helped to found a new city
on Cyprus, Soli, named in his honor. An apocryphal story is related by Plutarch concerning a visit by Solon to the court of Croessus at
Sardis. The great host tries to impress his guest with his wealth and puissance, but Solon is unmoved. He tells Croessus of three men of
lesser means but greater wealth since each had died with the honor of their contemporaries, and warns the tyrant of praising a man's fortune
while he yet lives. Solon is even credited with setting Aesop straight regarding a matter of wisdom on the same visit.
Upon Solon's return to Athens he found the state again in turmoil, and his once friend and old nemesis Pisistratus right at the heart of it.
Solon tried to persuade the would-be tyrant to follow the laws as established, but popular support was with Pisistratus and by 546 he was firmly
in power. Solon did finally relent in his disdain for his cousin and eventually became one of his counselors. The tyranny apparently continued
to function, for a while at least, within the framework of Solon's reforms even after his death during the archonship of Hegestratus, about
two years after Pisistratus was established.
In 454 B.C. the Roman Senate commissioned a study of Solonian Law and sent a delegation to Athens for that purpose. Upon their return the
Decemvri was established, a body of ten men empowered, much as Solon had been, to reform Roman government and establish a code of just law.
The Twelve Tables became the constitution of the Republic, based in no small part upon the example of Solon. It is this chain of events that
served as the inspiration for the Constitution of the United States and our own republican form of government.
Unfortunately, Solon had neglected to, or was unable to, provide a sturdy infrastructure within which his laws might continue to operate.
Within only a few generations Athens had degenerated into tyranny and hopeless democracy. Solon's own words, coming to us through his poetry,
harshly criticize the populist tendencies of the Athenians that eventually led to their downfall:
If you have grievous sufferings through your own wrongheadedness,
charge not the gods with having assigned you this lot. You yourselves
have raised up these men by giving means of protection, and it is through
this that you have gained the evil of servitude. Each separate man of you
walks with the tread of a fox, but in the mass you have the brain of an
idiot; for you look to the tongue and the words of a wheedler, and never
turn your eyes to the deed as it is being done.
-by Mark Whitney
REFERENCES
Freeman, Kathleen. The Work and Life of Solon. Arno Press. New York (1976).
Plutarch. The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives. Penguin Classics Edition. Penguin
Books. London (1960), pp. 43-76.
Stroud, Ronald. The Axones and Kyrbeis of Drakon and Solon. University of California
Publications: Classical Studies Vol. 19. UC Press. Berkely,CA. (1979).
Wallace, R.W. “The Date of Solon’s Reforms”. Am. J. of Ancient History. Vol.8 No.1 (1983).
pp.81-89.
Welch, Robert. “Republics and Democracies”. The New American Magazine. Vol.15 No. 3.
Feb.(1999).
Woodhouse, W.J., Solon the Liberator. Oxford University Press. London (1938).