 Chapter 7 of Hellenic History, this is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Emmanuela. Hellenic History by George Willis Botsford. 7. Athens from Monarchy to Democracy. First, Monarchy and Aristocracy. Introduction While the Lechidemonians were creating a great military state, Athens was developing along entirely different lines. Having touched upon health civilization during the Middle Age in connection with the general condition of Hellas, we shall now follow her separate history from that period to the reforms of Pleasiteness. Unification of Attica, about 1700. In the Mesinian Age, Attica, as a tradition and archeology concurrent teaching, was occupied by several independent kingdoms. The most favorable position among them was held by Athens. Its acropolis, about four and a half miles from the coast, formed the natural military and political center of the Jeffistus Basin in the heart of Attica. By conquest and negotiation, the kings who occupied this citadel gradually extended their sovereignty over the entire country. Though doubtless the work of a century of two, the unification is represented in tradition as the achievement of a single king. When the Zeus came to the throne, he, a powerful and wise ruler, improved the administration of the country in other ways. And, in particular, he dissolved the councils and separate governments and united all the inhabitants of Attica in the present city, establishing one council and town hall, Pritaneion. They continued to live on their own lands, but he compelled them to resort to Athens as their metropolis, and henceforth they were all inscribed in the role of citizens. Among the last steps in the process were the annexation of Eleusis, about 700, and nearly a century later the acquisition of Salamis by Solon, the dynasty of Demedontide, ending in 713-712. Although the names of many kings are embedded in Attic myth, we can only be certain that the last ruling dynasty was that of Demedontide. For the government of this period we have nothing more than the survival of institutions. It is reasonable to assume as elements of the constitution a king, council of nobles and popular assembly, like the Homeric, yet with functions more definitively fixed by the force of Minoan tradition. The king's Colacrete, joint carvers, had charge of the perquisites which came to him from sacrifices, and in time this humble function developed into the office of treasurer. The king and his nobles, in heavy armor, rode to war in chariots, and for the defense of the coasts his well-to-the-citizens built galleys provided with a submarine ram for attacking hostile ships. From kings for life to the senile kings, 753, 752. The transition from monarchy to aristocracy was gradual, and though no ancient writer informs us, we may be sure that it was brought about by the council of nobles, who alone benefited by the change. It must accordingly have been this body which, about the middle of the 8th century, reduced the life tenure of the royal office to a single decade. Although the incumbent was a still-termit king, the monarchy in fact seized it, the supreme power passing to the council. This point, therefore, begins the period of the aristocracy. Aristocracy 753, 752, to about 650. As the decennial kings proved incapable of efficient military leadership, the office of Polemarch, war arcane, was instituted, probably to lead the army in a conflict with Eleusis. No long time afterward, the Medontide were deposed, and the royal office was thrown open to all the nobles. Then, about 700, the office of Arcane was instituted. During the earlier and less known period of its history, this magistracy must have been vested with large powers, but gradually it was deprived of them, till, in the 4th century, its only civil function was the care of widows and orphans and of their states. King Polemarch and Arcane, however, in addition to the duties above mention, performed extensive priestly functions. Anual offices, 683, 682, the Tasmothethe. As the decennial magistrates proved too strong and independent to serve the interests of the ruling power, all offices were made annual in 683, 682, and at the same time, Arcane superseded the king as a head of the state. In this way the government became informed, as well as in fact a republic. At the same date, or shortly afterward, were instituted the six Tasmothethe, that they might record the customary laws and keep them from the trial of offenders. They had charge of all public documents and acted as judges in the capacity of protectors of the law. It was not till the time of Solon that the Arcane, King Polemarch and Tasmothethe were brought together in one board that of the nine Arcans. The Council of Noobes, afterward named the Council of the Aeropagus. The aristocracy was now at the summit of its power. The assembly of citizens, which had occupied only a third place in the government, fell into practical destitute. The elective power resided in the council, who called up men and on its own judgment assigned them according to their qualifications to the several offices of the year. It provided the administration and watched it rigorously over the lives of the citizens, with power to punish for immoral as well as for lawless conduct. The members of this body were powerful lords, recruited annually from those who had worthily filled the nine magistracies described above. Social classes, the Upatrits. The privileged class were called Upatrits, sons of noble fathers. The young large tracts of land, equipped themselves with heavy armor and constituted the effective military force. They had recently discarded the chariot and had adopted the custom of riding to war on horseback. Arriving on the battlefield, they dismounted it to engage in combat. There were, too, a few hoplites, heavy infantry, unprovided with horses. In addition to military and administrative services, the Upatrits filled the prized hoods, which assured them rich livings as well as a powerful instrument for governing the commons. The commons, Georgi and Demiurgi. Below the Upatrits were the Georgi, farmers, who originally owned the lands they killed, but who in the 7th century were more gauging their estates and folding into slavery for debt. Still lower in the social scale were the Demiurgi, skilled workmen. Their numbers during the 7th century were about slowly increasing in Attica, which lagged behind Corinth, Aegean and other neighbors in industry. Family and gents, genus, fratri and tribe. The unit of society was the family, which, as elsewhere in Greece, was monogamic. Whatever its rank, the family worshipped Ancestral Apollo and household Zeus. The nobles formed larger associations of kingsmen, known as Gentes, bound together for the worship of a reputed ancestor for social intercourse and mutual helpfulness. The Demiurgi had their trade unions patterned after the Gentes. All three social classes belonged promiscuously to the fratris, brotherhoods, which were groups of families assumed to be related in blood. The fratri had its annual reunion in the autumn at the feast of the Apaturia, of the old fathers, evidently the spirits of the dead. On this occasion the members who worshiped the Zeus and Athena of their fratri introduced the young children to the association and celebrated the marriages of their members. Several fratris composed the tribe and four tribes made up the state. Second, the democracy of the heavy infantry, about 650-694, the phalanx and the new territorial organization. For the overthrow of the aristocracy and the establishment of a more liberal form of government, the ground was prepared in the growing need of an improved military system. This requirement was met by the introduction of the Dorian phalanx. As the Apatrites were too few to constitute a phalanx, they had to recruit the heavy infantry from the common landowners. His income would enable them to equip themselves with a panoply. This undertaking was made possible for Athens by the rise of industrial cities in her neighborhood, which diminished the cost of armor. A chensus was introduced to determine who were to be thus liable. In order to ascertain where every man lived and what property he owned, Ethelwau Territory Organization was necessary. The earlier organization, of which we know little, had to be adjusted to the enlarged territory. Attica was accordingly divided into four districts, named after the four tribes. Each tribal district comprised three smaller areas known as thirds, trittis, which were subdivided each into four naval townships. Now Claris. The four chensus classes. Mailing with a view to military service, the people were divided into four classes. The Pentecostiomedimni, whose estates free from encumbrance, yielded annually at least 500 a genetan medimni of grain, form the highest class. We may assume that they included many eopatrites and a few commons. They held the higher offices and commons and evidently furnished for military service each two horses, one for himself and the other for his squire. The next lower class comprised the simple knights he pays, who furnished each a single horse with necessary equipment and whose obligations and privileges were in general inferior to those of the Pentecostiomedimni. This distinctive feature of the system, however, is to be found in the third class, zeugite, yoketmen, members of the phalanx of heavy infantry. The fourth class comprised the poorer folk, employed only as light troops, as squires for the knights or in the case of very poorest, totally exempt from military duty. All the classes were undoubtedly defined in terms of produce from their estates, although for this period we cannot ascertain these definitions. The phalanx, commanded by the polymark, comprised four tribal regiments each under a general. These institutions were created probably about the middle of the 7th century. The Assembly, Ecclesia, the Council of 401 and of the Aeropagus. The reform of the army bore immediate political fruit. On the principle prevailing in Hellas that the military class determined the character of the government, the heavy infantry constituted of themselves an assembly for the election of magistrates and for the transaction of other important business. In this way, the aristocratic council lost its appointive power. In connection with the revival and reconstitution of the Assembly was created a new council of 401 members, which represented the tribes and most probably the Naucarys. Beyond its function of preparing bills to be offered to the Assembly, we may infer that it possesses some administrative duties. Now, for the first time, it became necessary to distinguish the older aristocratic council by name. As fourth, it was known as the Council of the Aeropagus, because it convened on that hill for the transaction of certain judicial business to be explained below. The Aeropagites, retaining large powers of supervision, were still the chief governing institution. As political privileges were graded on the basis of property and the franchise limited to those who could furnish a panoply, we may describe the constitution as a democracy of the heavy infantry. Silo's coup d'etat, perhaps 632 or 628. No long time after the adoption of these reforms, in a period of political and social unrest, a powerful noble named Silo set the acropolis and attempted to make himself tyrant. But the heavy infantry, gathering from the country, besieged the conspirators in the citadel. When their provisions were exhausted, Silo stole through the besieging lines. His starving followers took refugee at the great altar of Athena on the acropolis. Hereupon the chiefs, Britaneis of the Naucaris, promised the suppliants their lives if they would submit to trial. They agreed. Yet, not having full confidence in the promise, they tied the threat to Athena's image, and holding one end of it went down to the tribunal. When they came near the shrine of the Furies, they clapped at the east end of the Aropagus, the threat by which the goddess gave them her protection broke. And then the Archon, mega-class, and his supporters, stoned and watched them, permitting only a few to escape. Mega-class belonged to the powerful gents of the Alcmaeonide, whom the state dared not punish for the crime. In popular beliefs, this sacrilege brought the course of impurity upon the entire gents. Draco's codification of the criminal law, 621. It may well be that this event suggested a clearer formulation of the criminal law, and a reorganization of the courts. In 621, accordingly, Draco was commissioned as Thesmotete, with extraordinary power to codify the criminal law, which thus far had remained an oral tradition. Homicide. The usages of Attic law, as we know it in later time, prove that in the remote past the Athenians, like the Homeric Greeks, were accustomed to the blood feud, and to the acceptance of compensation for injury and homicide. There existed father Inartica, probably as a Minoan inheritance, centuries to which this layer might flee, while making terms with the kingsmen of the slain. Taking advantage of this condition, Draco made use of this sanctuaries as places of trial for the various classes of homicide. Accusations were still to be brought by the near king, assisted by the furtory. But henceforth the state alone had power over the accused to punish or requite. All prosecutions came before the king, who determined the appropriate court for the trial according to the nature of the offense. The idea, not found in Homer, that homicide brought pollution upon the der, survived Inartica from the Minoan age. The trial took place accordingly near the century, under the open sky, that no pollution might come to the accuser from being under the same roof with the accused. Courts for the trial of homicide. Cases of willful murder came before the older aristocratic council sitting on the Aropagus. The punishment was death, with confiscation of property. Another court was death of the Ephete, who were nobles above fifty years of age. They sat near the Palladion, a shrine of Pallas Athena, at Faleron, for the trial of accidental homicide. The penalty in this case was temporary exile, followed by purification from the religious guilt. At the Dauphinion, a shrine of Apollo and Artemis near Athens, the Ephete tried any who confessed to homicide but claim that he did the deed in self-defense or on another justifiable ground. There was no penalty, but at least in some cases purification was required. If a man, when in exile under sentence of the Ephete, was accused of willful murder, he was liable to trial by the same court at the Freato, a place on the coast. The accused was not permitted to pollute the land by his presence, but pleaded his cause in a boat moored near the shore, while the Ephete heard him from the beach. The penalty was the usual one for willful murder. A still strange religious idea is illustrated by the court consisting of king and the tried kings, sitting at the Britaneion, town hall within the city. Here were tried cases in which the Dau was unknown. Also the killing of a person by a falling object have convicted the object that brought the deed was solemnly carried as an oxious thing beyond the border of the country. Character of the draconian laws In the definite provision for mitigating circumstances in homicide and in the total suppression of the blood feud and compensations by the establishment of courts with full competence to try and punish offenders, draco contributed vastly to the benevolence of law and to domestic security and peace. The Athenians of after time looked back to him with great reverence and thought of his ordinances as the product of a wisdom higher than that of a man. Whoever made them originally whether heroes or gods did not oppress the unfortunate but humanely alleviated the miseries so far as they could with right. His reputation suffered but slightly by the discovery in the fourth century of his law of theft. Then long obsolete which fixed the penalty of death for stealing a cabbage or an apple. The people were starving and in keeping with the severity of the times this penalty had been retained in the court in the interest of the landowners. Trial of the Akmeonide After the adoption of these measures the faction of Cylon, recovering strength brought the Akmeonide to trial for sacrilege before a court of 300 nobles. Although the actual perpetrators of the crime were dead a verdict of guilty was found. In punishment the remains of the dead were cast beyond the border and the gents was condemned to perpetual exile. As the whole city seemed polluted by the rank and piety Epimenides, a cretin, was called in to purify the community. Third The reforms of Cylon, 594 Oppression and revolt of the Cummins Cylon In an earlier chapter we touched on the economic decline of the Arctic peasantry and noticed the fact that most of their farms were more gauged to the rich and that many free men were in slavery for debt. Dracula's reforms did not touch the economic condition which daily became more insupportable or check the magistrates in their career of embezzlement, plunder and judicial oppression. The newly constituted assembly and the phalanx however served as the nucleus of a popular organization. In the spirit of free men the masses revolted against their oppressors. Civil war broke out and the blood of citizens was spilled. At this crisis Solon came forward as a mediator. He was a man of the highest nobility though of moderate fortune a merchant, a poet and sage. Under his military leadership and inspired by his martial verse the Athenians had rested Salamis from the Megarians. Thus he had won a reputation which strengthened his appeal to the two parties to lay aside their differences. They joined in electing him archon and legislator Thesmosete 4594 with absolute power. Abolition of securities On entering office Solon proclaimed an abolition of all securities on land and person. Of this work he himself says In the just fullness of time the mighty mother of the Olympian gods even black earth most excellent will bear me witness that I removed the mortgage pillars which stood in many places she who was formerly in slavery but now set free. To Athens our country the violent founders I restored many men who had been sold one illegally and other under the law some whom hard necessity had faucet in textile who in their many wanderings had forgot the attic tongue others held ear in unseemling slavery and trembling under their masters caprices I set free. This I did by my power uniting force with justice. The future safety of the commons To secure the liberty of the commons for the future he provided the mortgaging of persons for curbing the avarice of the rich he limited by law the amount of land which the individual might acquire as the large landowners were shipping their grain to the thriving industrial centers in the neighborhood of Attica thus reducing the masses to salvation Solon forbade the exportation of all products of the soil except olive oil of which there was a surplus more stimulating were his laws for the encouragement of industry he had touched a heavy fine to idleness and compelled every man to teach his son a trade as there were too few artisans to serve as models for the rest and make a beginning of industry he offered the citizenship to skilled workmen of other countries on the condition of their settling permanently in Attica in the same liberal spirit citizens were permitted to marry non Athenian women and the children of such unions had full social and political rights another law after were adopted by the Romans encouraged the formation of corporations for the transactions of various kinds of business coinage a father impetus was given to commerce by the adoption of a native coinage the Euboic standard was chosen for the purpose undoubtedly to facilitate trade with the cultures and the retria and their many colonies family law in his reform of family law Solon aimed to free the individual from kin and gents with the object of attaching him more closely to the state his enactment that anyone who wished it might go to law in defense of an injured person tended to substitute neighborly friendliness and governmental protection in place of the old tire of blood he read of war wheels were unknown and in lack of children the estate passed to the nearest of kin Solon however enacted that in case a man had no children he might will his estate to whom so ever he pleased this law freed property from the control of the kin and granted the individual more complete possession of his own these regulations gave a freeer scope to the individuality of the citizens and placed them in a better position to serve the state criminal law in his revision of the criminal code of draco he lightened excessive penalties but left the laws of homicide substantially untouched recognizing the harshness of previous judicial decisions he decreed an amnesty to all who were in exile accepting those condemned for homicide or attempted tyranny under this edict they returned to their homes the four census classes and magistrates among his first constitutional measures was a revision of the definitions of the four census classes for the medinus he substituted the lighter matron wet and dry measure so as to include in the reckoning oil and wine as well as grain a pentacos medinus was accordingly one who produced 500 measures wet and dry in the state he posed 300 to 500 at zeugite 200 to 300 a theta less than 200 through this reform many must have been advanced from lower to higher ratings the treasurers were to be drawn exclusively from the highest class the archons from the first and second the zeugites were eligible to the council of 400 and the thetas, disbarred from all individual offices and boards, were now admitted to the assembly, ecclesia council of 400 assembly and supreme court the council of 401 dropping the odd number seems to have remained in other respects the same the assembly was made more democratic by the admission of the thetas so long instituted the supreme court the eliea to which men about 30 years from all four census classes were eligible its function was to receive appeals from the judicial decisions of the archons and to try the retiring magistrates for misconduct in office in case anyone accused them constitutional balance the widening of the franchise to include the thetas and the establishment of the eliea made the government more popular in the absence of pay for public service however the citizens could rarely attend the assembly in large numbers and few could sit in the eliea these bodies were therefore practically controlled by the world to do the high property qualifications of the magistrates and the supervisory power of the thetas left unimpaired by Solon were strong aristocratic elements we have from himself an estimate of his constitutional reform I gave the commons as much power as suffice it neither detracting from their honor nor adding their tomb those who possess it might and were illustrious in wealth and I planned that they should suffer nocturnes seemingly in other place he says thus the commons would best follow their leaders neither given too much reign nor yet oppress it the rich and noble were to fill the offices the commons were to have only enough power to check them and preserve their own liberty fourth the tyranny 560 510 factional strife 593 560 few were satisfied with Solon's reforms the shoremen containing many fishermen and traders were inclined to obey by his arrangements but men of the plain eupathrites with large estates were irritated by his concessions to the poor whereas the inhabitants of the hills including the turbulent shepherds were disappointed in their expectation over the distribution of property these factions firstly contended with one another Paisistratus in time the leadership of the hills fell to Paisistratus a distant relative of Solon smooth of speech courteous in bearing a master of political trickery he enjoyed too a brilliant military reputation gained in a war with Megara about 570 565 in the belief that his political adversaries sought his life the assembly voted him a personal guard with which he sized the acropolis in 560 and made himself tyrant by secombination of the two rival factions caused his retirement into exile but finally gaining complete supremacy he maintained it with the aid of mercenaries his Germany 560 510 Paisistratus is an excellent type of the statesman his hand lay heavily on the noble Solon those of the class who were too independent of spirit or too ambitious to submit were forced into exile there are indications that he confiscated the estates of such persons and divided them in small farms among the poor to the needy country people he gave seeds and work animals for stocking their farms the number of cultivators it greatly increased by such encouragements the expulsion of idlers from the city thus supplementing Solon's emancipation of deptor slaves Paisistratus founded the numeros thriving agricultural class which remained prosperous long after his family has assisted to rule his tax of one tenth after were reduced to a twentieth on the produce was barred soon only to the most sterile farms seeing on the slope of Imitus a certain man digging and working among the rocks with the stake he bade his servant ask what was produced in the place the other replied only ashes and paints and of these ashes and paints Paisistratus must have his tenth the man answered without knowing him but Paisistratus pleased with his candor and his love of work made him exempt from all taxes commerce exports from all that we can learn his policy must have been rural rather than industrial a wide exportation of wine olive oil and toilet ointments is proved by the great number of attic vases of this period found in various parts of the ancient world from Etruria to Egypt Asia Minor and the shores of the Black Sea they are of the black fissure type characterized by paintings in black glaze on a red background produced during the rule of Paisistratus shortly after the accession of Hippias this class gave away to the more highly developed red fissure style which too was widely diffused by trade potters shops accordingly were increasing in size and in the number of hands employed relations with other states commerce must in fact have derived great encouragement from the treaty relations which Paisistratus established with many states from Thessaly to Lecedemon and the peace thus guaranteed was an additional basis of prosperity the colonists of Sigeum on the Hellespont he found it over at least reinforced it and appointed the son to govern it under the tyrant's patronage Milciades and eminent Theopatrid conducted a colony to the Kersones on the European side of the Hellespont both settlements with great dependencies of Athens in brief it is not too much to regard Paisistratus as the creator of Athenian diplomacy and of a place of dignity and influence for his city among the states of Ellas enforcement of Solon's loaves at home he enforced the existing loaves and constitution taking care only to secure the machinery the election of kingsmen or partisans to the chief offices the masses were attached to him by his benefits to them and many of the nobles by the social attractions of his court Hippias 527 510 and Hipparchus when Paisistratus died of old age in 527 his sons Hippias and Hipparchus continued his policy the former, as the elder and as a man of statesmen like character managed political affairs while the more cultured brother attended to direction of public works and acted as patron of literature and art Public Works the most useful public works of the Paisistratide as the his termed were a subterranean aqueduct which broke the supply of fresh water to the city from the upper valley of the Elisus and a system of roads which radiated through Attica from the altar of the 12 gods in the marketplace their extensive building of temples their enlargement of religious festivals by the addition of new features the patronage of artists and poets with the general effect in the social happiness, the taste the intelligence of the citizens will be touched upon in the following chapter Archer tyranny 514 510 an epoch was made in the character of the tyranny by the assassination of Hipparchus in 514 the perpetrators of the deed were two young nobles Harmonius and Aristogaiton the motive in stirring up a conspiracy against the tyrants was an insult offered them by Hipparchus in an affair of love the plot failed Hippias escaped and the assassins with several accomplices were put to death throughout Aoteinian history the murderers of Hipparchus were celebrated in song as tyrannicides and their descendants were decreed special privileges forever far from overthrowing the tyranny however their conspiracy served to change good to bad Hippias now became suspicious and harsh a tyrant in the unfavorable sense of the word the downfall of tyranny 510 to the emigrant nobles these conditions offer the favorable opportunity to attempt a return their leaders were the Alcumione who had won the favor of the Delphic Apollo by their magnificent rebuilding of his temple after its destruction by fire by means of the oracle accordingly they were able to win the lechidemonians to their aid whenever the authorities at Sparta sent to consult it the answer always was Athens must be set free at this time the Peloponnesian League reached the borders of Attica and the command of Apollo was strengthened by lechidemonian ambition with the force of Peloponnesians King Cleomenes of Sparta joined the Alcumione and their faction in besieging Hippias and the Acropolis the children of the besieged were taken in an uptent to steal through the lines to save them Hippias surrendered on condition of returning from the country in this way the tyranny came to an end in 510 fifth the establishment of democracy 508 501 affection oligarchy 510 509 the downfall of Hippias for the emigrant nobles who, on their return began to rule in lordly style revising the citizen lists they struck off the names of a multitude whose ancestors had been enrolled by Solon and Peisistratus their object was not only to secure political control but to recover their confiscated estates opposition to Cleaistanis as head of the nobles and their adherents was made by Izagoras a friend of Hippias the struggle between the two men for supremacy was carried on in the political clubs without the cooperation of the people the election of Izagoras to the archonship 458 proved his superior strength the Rupon Cleaistanis with such constitutional forms as then existed appealed to the disfranchised masses promising them restoration of their political rights on condition of their helping him oust Izagoras from office the people responded and in spite of the interference of Cleaomenis they ultimately triumphed Izagoras was forced to exile and Cleaistanis was given full power probably estes mutete to fulfill his promise the thoroughness with which he accomplished his task proved him a statesman and notwithstanding his earlier oligarchic tendencies in the depth of his art a lover of democratic freedom the deems the growth of the rural population under the tyranny with the great increase in the number of villages rendered the 48 Naucaris inadequate as a local organization Cleaistanis accordingly began his reforms with the division of all Attica into more than 100 deems townships differing greatly in extent and population and centering as a rule in existing villages all who resided in a deem at the time of its institution were enrolled as members hence as Athenian citizens this provision included not only the recently disfranchised but also many alien residents and emancipated slaves the franchise was thus more widely extended than ever before the feminis so enrolled remained members of the original deem irrespective of residents the deem had a complete local organization including Denmark Treasurer, Priests and Priests attending to the service of the local gods common property and revenue and an assembly of members whose resolutions were binding on the townsmen in so far as they did not conflict with the laws of the state in the township the citizens were trained in politics and administration which helped fit them for the part in the larger government of the state it was, in fact, the nursery of the democracy the traitors the deems were grouped in 30 traitors in such a way as to make the letter approximately equal in population in one or two cases a traitors contained a single large deem but generally a greater varying number each traitors, therefore was a definite district it had no communal life but served merely as a connecting link between the township and the tribe in the creation of this district Clayston has provided further than 10 should lie near the shore 10 in the hills 10 in the plain the tribes File of the traitors he composed 10 tribes File drawing by lot for each tribe a traitors from the shore plain and hills respectively the result was that in the map of Attica which we can reconstruct only for a later time some tribes were made up of traitors which did not touch one another whereas other tribes continued though irregular districts there were local changes after Clayston's however and it may well be that he consistently separated the traitors of a tribe one object of the peculiar arrangement of townships was by distributing the local factions among all the tribes to break up their sectional organizations and put to an end the mutual antipathies by the same arrangement too Clayston has succeeded in making the tribes approximately equal not only in population but in economy to the end of the burdens of military service and taxation might be distributed evenly among them another object of far reaching importance was to make the tribes politically equal had some of them being wholly near Athens and others wholly removed the nearer tribes would have controlled the rest but the location of some themes of every tribe in Athens or its vicinity secured an approximately equal representation of all the tribes in the assembly largely on this condition rested the success of the democracy each tribe had its board of supervisors its worship of the eponymous hero treasurer and communal property assembly of members and other institutions each performed its share of the unpaid public services such as the building and repair of fortifications or the equipment and training of lyric choruses the four older tribes were abolished the Nauclaris superseded by the Dames lingered on a few years although the gentess of nobles remained their influence was greatly curtailed the older citizens retained their fratris and new fratris seemed to have been instituted for those who were newly admitted the central government the council of 500 the organization of the central government was adjusted to the new tribes the council of 400 was increased to 500 50 from each tribe distributed among the Dames in proportion to their population for official purposes Pleistones divided the year into 10 equal periods corresponding to these 10 tribal delegations and enacted that the delegations should take their turns each for a tenth of the year in managing the current business the council the 50 members on duty were termed Preetanes and that period was called a Preetani the Preetanes while dispatching routine business on their own responsibility reported the more serious matters for the consideration of the entire 500 of the business thus laid before it the council disposed finally and incorporated those of greater weight in bills for presentation to the assembly henceforth too in the supervision of administrative offices it undoubtedly gained ground at the expense of the Aeropagus the council of the Aeropagus the council of the Aeropagus now containing many friends of Hippias could no longer be trusted as the sole guardian of the constitution who persecuted a citizen for treason or political conspiracy still had the privilege of bringing the accusation before that body or he might under a new statute bring the accuse before the popular assembly while the authority of the Aeropagus remained legally untouched in all other respects it was in fact necessarily blessed by the increasing vitality of the 500 of the assembly the assembly and the Helia the magistrates the membership of the assembly was greatly enlarged by the extension of the franchise and these citizens were encouraged by the reform to take a more active interest in public affairs the popular court Helia seems to have remained unchanged the Archons were still the chief magistrates and the generals who commanded the tribal regiments under the polymark were increased to 10 in addition to the small funds belonging to the several shrines of Attica there were two chief public treasuries that of Athena under the treasurers Tamiye of the goddess and the Demosion state treasury under the Colacrete placed and instituted the board of 10 receivers Apodecte who under the supervision of the 500 received all incoming monies and assigned them to the appropriate treasuries it was a step towards the unification of public finances Ostracism Pleistines introduced a peculiar institution termed ostracism the word is derived from Ostracon piece of pottery which was the form of ballot used in the process once a year if the assembly so resolved the citizens met and voted against any of their number whom they judged dangerous to the state after the ballots were cast the Archons counted the whole number of Ostraca for if the entire number of voters was less than 6000 the ostracism was without effect next they counted the number of times each name occurred and that man against whom most votes were recorded was sent into exile for 10 years in other words a quorum of 6000 was necessary to secure the validity of the act and in case of such a quorum a plurality of votes decided the question as to the person to be vanished such an exile though inconvenient was considered an honor for understanding the purpose and effect of ostracism it is important to notice that from of old Evans had been afflicted with factional strife, renew it after the fall of the tyranny these struggles sometimes took the form of civil war which ended in the banishment or the massacre of the weaker party through ostracism clased and has replaced civil war by voting in the settlement of fashion strife and required the banishment of the leader of the weaker faction rather than the sacrifice of his entire following that a man who had committed no crime should be sent into exile was indeed unjust and yet it was far just and more humane than the banishment or massacre of an entire political party merely because it chances to be the weaker marketplace panics and governmental buildings the extraordinary meetings of the ecclesia for the voting of ostracism were held in the marketplace were doubtless the people had gathered in assembly even under the kings henceforth however other sessions of the whole people were usually held on the panics a hill nearly west of the acropolis but in most respects the marketplace remained the seat of political life on its border the party of paceness erected a council chamber for the 500 a rotunda for the britainese a king's porch and other governmental buildings in this way the new democracy began to stamp its character upon the architecture of the city the reorganization completed 501 the surveying of the deems whose boundaries were marked by stones and the completion of the intricate local arrangements on which the entire constitution rested was the work of several years we are not surprised therefore to learn that the institution of the new council and the reorganization of the army under the ten generals were completed as late as 501 the constitutional balance regarding the constitutional reforms as a whole we may say with growth that they preserved but at the same time modified and strengthened it all the main features of solon's political measures it was a democracy though held in check by strong conservative balances as democratic elements may especially be mentioned the lessening of the old patrits and tyrannist influence the broadening of the civic franchise and the energizing of the political and patriotic spirit in the deems and the fence in the 500 assembly and helia a spirit soon to manifest itself in prodigious military, artistic it is the most prominent conservative or aristocratic checks were the prevalence of country life which prevented the majority from taking the part in public affairs granted them any constitution the absence of pay for public service which the buried the poor from continuous participation in offices and in both assembly and courts the high property qualifications for magistrates and the great powers of the council now modestly holding itself in the political background but soon to regain gradually supervision of government and people though we may speak of claseness as the founder of democracy the government was far less democratic than it became in the following century End of chapter 7 chapter 8 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Wes Freeman chapter 8 intellectual awakening 750 to 479 part 1 social and literary progress correlation of activities 750 to 479 the alphabet and writing it was due in part to increasing intelligence that about the middle of the 8th century the Greeks entered upon an era of industrial development colonial expansion and political progress these movements on the other hand interacting upon one another afforded so powerful a stimulus to the mind that we may describe the period thus beginning as one of intellectual awakening the means of accumulating knowledge essential to great progress was the employment of the alphabet for the preservation of literature while adopting the Phoenician alphabet the Ionians modified it to fit the peculiarities of their language as its use extended over Greece it differentiated according to dialect into various systems for a long time however it seems to have been restricted to the writing of names on lots and perhaps mercantile accounts then it extended to inscriptions on gifts dedicated to the gods lists of priests who officiated in succession to temples and of magistrates after a limit had been placed on the tenure of office the earliest documents involving connected discourse were laudatory epitaphs treaties between states and laws probably the Homeric hymns were long preserved orally we cannot be sure of a written literature before the 7th century the Rhapsodists the Iliad and the Odyssey as stated in an earlier chapter were mainly Iolic dominated by Indo-European ideas not long after their composition the Homeridae sons of Homer the Genes of Chios were journeying through Ionia and the rest of Hellas chanting them at the courts of the great and in popular gatherings from the staff, Robdos which these singers waved in marking time the Rhapsodists many were the minstrels however who made no claim to dissent from their poet the cycle about 750 to 600 under the Homeric inspiration Ionic poets of the 8th and 7th centuries composed various epics forming a group known as the cycle these poems are lost we know them through scant fragments still preserved and through their extensive use by attic dramatists of later time from these sources we learn that the Ionians of the period unlike the Homeric Greeks were essentially Minoan they practiced magic, believed in ghosts worshipped the dead and had traditions of human sacrifices they believed further in religious pollution incurred by homicide and in the power of cleansing such guilt by ceremonies of purification especially with the use of swine's blood in dress and armor also they were heirs of the decadent Minoan civilization an intense life of increasing complexity 750 to 479 life in Ionia during this period however was anything but stagnant the change from rural to industrial economy the growth of cities and of a leisurely class as well as contact with the entire Mediterranean world afforded by colonization and commerce brought this country distinctly to the foreground of Hellenic civilization the abolition of kingship and the rise of aristocracies and tyrannies involving these factional struggles added to the intensity of life to express these complex conditions the old epic verse of Combe's stately meter the dectilic hexameter proved wholly inadequate it gave way accordingly to new and varied measures which would better exhibit the play of individual or communal thought an emotion characteristic of the new era the elegy Calenas about 650 the first variation from the epic verse is found in the algebraic pentameter whose spirit may be either meditative or emotional accompanied by the pipe and lent itself equally to the expression of political and social thought religious devotion and martial fire the first great master of the elegy was Calenas of Ephesus about the middle of the 7th century when the savage Samarians from north of the Black Sea ravaging the Ephesian territory he roused his countrymen to battle with the following song sit ye in quiet how long stir up the fierce spirit within you have ye no feeling of shame youths for the dwellers around why thus remiss do you think ye are sitting in blissful contentment peace given while dread war holds all our dear native land now in the moment of death hurl your last spirit the foe the key and esteemed who fights in the foremost of Lancers guarding his country his home guarding his dear wedded wife fighting with foes for death comes but once and whenever it may be fate cuts the thread of our life each must go quick to the front grasping his spear in his hand and under his shield his untrumbling heart pressing panting for fight mingling and deadliest fray fate hath decreed that from death shall be by no prudence escaping doomed are all mortals to die saving no sons of the gods often the den of the battle the hurling of Lancers surviving sees man the terror of death stalking into his home weaklings are dear to no state nor in death by the people lamented warriors the great and the small mourn when they face their fair doom longing intense fills all hearts in the land for the stout-minded hero dying in liberty's cause living they hold him divine just like a tower of defense in the eyes of the people appearing works he the deeds of a host striving alone in his might Terteas of Lhasa Diamond in its patriotic ideal and martial spirit this poem is akin to the elegy of Terteas already cited in fact the letter poet must be regarded as a pupil of the Ionians along with the elegy Terteas used other forms of verse as did also Solon of Athens who lived but shortly afterward Archaeologus a greater personal intensity distinguishes the poetry of Archaeologus the first Greek hence the first European of whose private character we are in a position through the fragments of his verse to obtain clear though fleeting glimpses in addition to composing elegies he was the first great master of the iambic a measure adapted to energetic expression giving utterance to the whole range of human passions from love to sarcasm and hate his stormy life was typical of the age and of his social class the son of an aristocratic father and slave mother in youth he was forced by poverty and want to leave his native peros and join a colony his countrymen Thaisos but he had no love for this new home this woeful island that stands with wild wood bristling like a donkey's back no fair land or lovely or deer with his fellow colonists he probably exploited the gold mines of the island and certainly he fought with them against the Thracians on the neighboring mainland having thrown away his shield and fled in this battle a most disgraceful act afterward boasted of it vaunts some Thracian white of the beautiful shield I abandoned all uninjured by scars grudgingly left by the brook body and soul I have rescued what matter the peace may go begging sooner new buckler I'll find better by far than the old a soldier of fortune he could not remain long in Thaisos because as he admitted he was too insolent abusing friend and foe alike and doubtless prudence for bad his return to Peros hence he became a wanderer over sea and land a poet soldier of fortune as he tells us I am a companion of the lord of war and I know the lovely gift of the muses more drastically he writes bread for me baked is the gain of my spear in my spear is the vintage ismaris yields to my call on lance while I drink he seems a pirate from these words there were seven dead men trampled under foot and we were a thousand murderers these quotations are from his elegies in an iambic poem he teaches a lesson in moderation the gold of rich king geys stirs in me no hate no slave of envy am I I do not emulate the wondrous deeds of gods of the tyrant's might such things unworthy lie beyond my eyes dear sight a tempestuous spirit in love as in hate he reveals the same tempestuous spirit jilted by Naobali so reads the tale he lost no time and sad lament but with his biting iambics drove her and her sister to hang themselves this man of muscle and redundant mental power and in his priceless mercenary career the pleasures that came his way giving deadly presence to his foes or inspiring distressed friends with hopeful courage wrote verses that placed him second to Homer establishing him as the unequaled artist of personal song Iolean culture Alsace about six hundred to five fifty passing on from the seventh to the sixth century we return from Ionian lands to the home of the Ioleans who created the Homeric poems and who and Lesbos kept cultural pace with their southern neighbors Mytolene the chief lesbic city trading with Egypt enjoyed the imported refinements of the Orient less devoted than the Ionians however to commercial and the useful arts the race gave itself wholeheartedly to social enjoyment to the lyre and song Lesbos Iolean culture was the island of over mastering passions the personality of the Greek race burned there with a fierce and steady flame of concentrated feeling here the poems of Alsace mere shreds as they now are lead us into the midst of civil strife the monarchy had yielded to aristocratic factions through whose struggles for supremacy scheming leaders of the populace made their way to tyranny nor was the poet himself clear from the imputation of seeking supreme power against his adversary Marcellus he thus declaims this man this raving idiot here with rank supreme and power great will quickly overthrow the state already is the crisis near the poet's first exile Zeus is angry at the motherland the usurpation of the tyranny by Marcellus in the failure of a conspiracy to dislodge him drove the poet into exile at Pyrrha a small but independent town in the island there he apostrophizes his sorrowing fatherland what purpose or intent is in thee, my country that thou hast been so long time distraught be of good cheer for the son of Cronus himself did tell thee that thou hadst no need to fear warfare howsoever it should seize thee nor should neighbor foeman the far-bounded sea maintain for long the woeful conflict of the far-flung spear unless thou shouldst of thyself send to far all the best of thy people to sunder them from thee for it is men that are a city's tower in war but alas thou no longer doest the father's will and a swift fate hath overtaken thee now I make this prayer for thee that I may no longer see the daylight if the son of Cleonax or Yonder Splitfoot or the son of Archeanax be suffered more to live by one whom his dear sweet native land in factious strife as old as itself together have done away soon the death of the tyrant probably by violence permitted the return of the poet's faction Petakis, dictator Nysimnates sometime afterward the establishment of a popular government at Mytolene again forced Alsaius and his friends into exile to guard against their armed return the lesbians appointed their ablest man Petakis, dictator of him the people saying as they ground their barley grind mill grind for Petakis himself is grinding ruling mighty Mytolene Petakis himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the despotism of the many but having accomplished his task he restored the independence of the city his generous amnesty recalled the nobles from banishment and Alsaius passed the remainder of his days in peace during the long period of seditions the poet had encouraged his friends by songs of party strife from which quotations have been made above a wide range of interests in addition to Marshall and political themes he wrote on a great variety of subjects including travel, nature, love, drinking and other topics his poems were personal lyrics sung among friends to the accompaniment of the liar his favorite stanza named Alsaiic after him and probably his invention is fairly represented in the following translation of a convivial song for a wintry evening Zeus hails the streams are frozen a mighty storm is raging high and now the forest thick the ocean whore grow clamorous with the Thracian tempest's roar but drive away the storm and make the fire hotter and pile the logs and faggots higher pour out the tawny wine with lavish hand and bind about thy head a fleecy band it ill befits to yield the heart to pain what profits grief or what will sorrow gain Vakis bring us wine delicious wine and sweet exhilaration balm divine the taste of after ages preferably cited his drinking songs with the result that they abound among his extant fragments we are glad to learn therefore from a Latin critic that he contributed greatly to the improvement of morals with much of the genius versatility and fire of Archelocus the Lisbic poet with a more amiable disposition both open to us an invaluable insight into the life and character of their times and both exerted a determining influence on the literature of after ages women in society and in literature 7th and 6th centuries in these times the domain of literature was not monopolized by men in fact the social and intellectual development of women 7th and 6th centuries has a unique place in the history of the world it is true that under oriental influence the upper class Ionians segregated their women among them wives never ate with their husbands or called them by name Hesiod the crabbed parsimonious Boeotian farmer who regards women as a beast of burden quotes a myth which attributes the origin of all sin and suffering as a mere deceitful girl straightway did the glorious lame one fashion the likeness of a modest maiden as the son of Cronus willed and the goddess grey eyed Athena girdled and arrayed her the goddess graces and lady persuasion hung chains of gold about her the fair-trust hours crowned her with flowers of spring all manner of adornment did palace Athena bestow about her person and in her breast the messenger the slayer of Argos put lies and cunning words in a deceitful soul as Zeus the thunderer willed also the messenger of the gods gave her speech and he named this woman Pandora for that all the dwellers in Olympus had bestowed on her a gift to be the bane of men that live by bread it was she who opened the jar containing ten thousand evils which forthwith flew out among men to distress them forever contempt for women such beliefs tended to degrade women in society a tone of utter contempt pervades the poem of Simonides of Amorgus which compares various types of women to different animals the tattler is like a dog who goes about retailing news nor can her husband make her stop even with threats though in a rage he should knock out her teeth with a stone though he speak to her gently even when she is sitting in company with guests the dainty and extravagant woman resembles a horse who will do no mean or servile work she will not touch the hand mill or sieve or sweep the house or sit by the fire for fear of soot she bathes carefully twice a day or thrice and anoints herself with toilet oils always she wears her tresses and her arms shaded a comely thing is such a wife for others to behold but an evil to him who weds her unless he be a tyrant or king who with such things adorns his fancy all however were constrained to praise the ideal wife and mother in the poem of Simonides she is like a bee fortunate he who wins her hand for she alone to censure gives no cause to increase dear to her loving spouse she grow with old the mother she of children fair and famed distinguished she among good women all a grace divine doth play about her form general freedom of women their luxuries and their education generally outside of Ionia women went about freely in the streets on foot or in carriages and meagled with men in social life those of the wealthy class dyed their hair painted their faces and wore luxurious jewelry and dresses the Doric peplos a woollen garment fastened at the shoulders with large deadly pins was relatively simple at first it was worn on all the greek mainland but at some time in our period the Athenian women changed to the Ionic keton of linen either sewn or fastened with small pins down the arm all of dress admitted of great elaboration over the keton of either form the lady threw a mantle epilema, hi-mation ongoing out by combinations of bright colors by costly embroideries and sparkling jewelry the wealthy lady produced a brilliant effect at the same time the custom of large dowries had arisen with the result that marriage was coming to be regarded as a business transaction early legislators attempted to check the luxury and the personal liberty of women and Salon in addition restricted the dowry to 3 hi-macia and a few cheap articles of household furniture notwithstanding his efforts the high-born women of his country suffered but little restriction during the next century and a half while throughout Hellas those of the middle and lower classes remained as free as ever the liberty and power of the Laconian have been sufficiently considered in Boeotia, Argos Sisyon and Lesbos there were women who received a remarkable education as is evidenced by the poetesses of these localities the 6th century along with the early 5th was in fact the most brilliant period at least till recent times in the intellectual history of women Sappho and her friends early 6th century Sappho herself belonged to an aristocratic family which stood high in the politics and society of Lesbos she was influential enough to suffer banishment with her relatives for political causes and in time appreciation of her genius grew till her native country honored her by stamping her image on its coins in a society which could not separate loveliness of form from perfection of character she became the center of a literary circle since a school of beautiful brilliant girls they too were composers of music and song in this circle it was a disgrace to be illiterate she who writes not, declares Sappho will go down ignobley in Hades' realm yea, thou shalt die and lie dumb in the silent tomb nor of thy name shall there be any fame in ages yet to be in rose that on Piaria blows thou hest no share but in sad Hades' house unknown and glorious mid the dim shades that wander there shalt thou flit forth and haunt the filmy air relations between Sappho and her girlfriends undoubtedly the circle represents an effort of highly gifted women to rise above the home drama existence a like of drudgery and fashion to the nobler life of the mind and heart between Sappho and her girlfriends there was the warmest attachment the following poem is referenced to a pupil who deserted her for another instructor so my Atheist has not come back and in sooth I wish I were dead yet she wept full sore to leave me behind and said alas how said our lot, Sappho I swear it is all against my will I leave thee to her I answered go thy way rejoicing and remember me for thou knowest how fond I was of thee if thou rememberest not I am feigned to remind thee how dear and beautiful was the life we led together for with many a garland of violence and sweet roses mingled hast thou decked thy flowing locks by my side and with many a woven necklace made of a hundred blossoms thy dainty throat and with many a jar of myrrh precious and royal kinds hast thou anointed thy fair young face before me and reclining upon the couch hast thou satisfied thyself with dainty meats and sweet drinks Nasidika who now lives in Sardis here is elsewhere she glorifies the beauty of form and the pleasures of sense another poem addressed to a girl still with her was doubtless to be sent to a former pupil Nasidika now living in Sardis most probably the wife of a Lydian Grandee at this our beloved Nasidika dwells in far off Sardis but she often sins her thoughts hither recalling how once we used to live in the days when she thought thee like a glorious goddess and loved thy song the best now she shines among the dames of Lydia as after sunset the rosy fingered moon beside the stars that are about her when she spreads her light on the briny sea an eek or a flowery field while the good dew lies on the ground and the dainty enthrisk and the honey lotus with all its blooms and often times when our beloved wandering abroad calls to mind her gentle at this the heart devours her tender breast with pain of longing and she cries aloud for us to come hither and what she says we know full well thou and I for night the many-eared calls it to us across the dividing sea summary of Sappho's interests here are interesting glimpses of women's literary life of social relations between Lesbos and Lydia of telepathic sympathy added to a delicate appreciation of natural beauty in the night the sea and flowers often elsewhere our sympathetic touches of nature as when she speaks of spring's messenger the deep-voiced nightingale or refers to the spot where all around through branches of apple orchards cool streams call while a down from the leaves a tremble slumber distilleth with all of her love of flowery fields cool streams and singing birds her interest centers in human beings their sorrows joys loves and marriages in the beauty of her thoughts in melodious verse and intensity of feeling she scarcely has an equal in literature with the Athenians of later time who could not appreciate freedom and high intelligence in women gave her a bad reputation and their judgment prevailed till modern scholarship succeeded in vindicating her character choral lyrics the poems of Sappho like those of Alsace were personal lyrics meanwhile other poets were engaged in composing choral lyrics which were essentially public the kind of ode was sung by a group of persons appropriately dressed and trained who accompanied the song with a rhythmic movement or dance the equipment and training involved expense born by a wealthy person or more commonly by the state the ode was expected to express accordingly not the feelings of the writer alone but of the whole community in Greece there was no sharp distinction such as now exists between society and state the citizens were mostly known to one another and the reunions of kinsmen neighbors, fratris and of the entire community and festivals were not only social but religious and civic functions these circumstances explain the existence of a form of poetry which was at one and the same time religious, social and civic arising from unpolished folk songs they gradually developed an artistic character in the hands of skilled composers they were most at home in the Doric states especially in Lhasa Diamond where the government aimed to regulate communal life so to speak in a harmonious rhythm among a people delicately sensitive to sights and sounds the patriotic and moral appeal was made less to the intellect than to the eye and ear the best known among the earlier masters of choral song was Alkman of Lhasa Diamond whose poems have already been cited he is most celebrated and celebrated for his parthenia choral songs for girls there were similar odes for grown women boys and men respectively presented at the religious festivals of the state the form of ode which contained the germ of the drama will be spoken of in other connections whereas the treatment of Pindar the greatest of choral lyricists with his contemporary Bacchilades belongs to a later period End of Chapter 8