Revolutions and a New Order in Solonian Athens and Archaic Greece

Abstract

This chapter discusses the history of political and legal reform, mass revolution, and the reports of various people's governments in Greece during the archaic period. Its larger focus on Athens is influenced by the state of their evidence, meager in any case but more extensive for that city, and by Athens' importance in the history of democracy. Economic problems drove some dependent farmers to breaking point. Some were sold abroad into slavery. Solon's reforms also make clear that many non-Eupatrids were prospering, both at the highest economic levels and among “middling” residents of Attica. Greeks typically linked greater political status with greater wealth. It was difficult for prosperous non-Eupatrids to achieve such status under the oligarchy. The Eupatrids' oppressive domination extended well beyond economic injustice. In the same breath, Solon mentions their “love of money” and their “arrogance.”