The birth of democracy in Athens. The reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes

Many of its achievements, modern European civilization owes to Ancient Greece. After all, it was there that the theater, pedagogy, philosophy, sport and, of course, democracy appeared for the first time. The main center of all advanced in the world in the ancient period of history was the capital of modern Greece. Therefore, the emergence of democracy in Athens had a particularly great influence on the further development of mankind.

Prehistory

As you know, in Ancient Greece, the polity-city-states prevailed, of which Sparta and Athens were the largest. There were no sharply divided groups of residents - winners and losers, as there were no enslaved, and these state formations were formed by peaceful mergers with some weaker neighbors. Despite this, there was a division according to the class feature, which could not but arouse indignation among the impoverished strata of the population. Over time, the contradictions between aristocracy and demos became more and more obvious. A revolution was brewing, which only the cardinal revision of the existing state system could prevent .

Who was Solon

To reconcile all the contradictions was possible to one of the representatives of the noble family of Codrids, who was previously royal. His name was Solon, and he subsequently went down in history as one of the Seven Wise Men of Ancient Greece. Before coming to politics, he was known to the Athenians as an excellent poet and thinker, and then became famous as a successful military leader. In 594-th year BC. At about the age of 34-35, Solon was chosen as the archon-eponym, that is, the chief of 9 collective rulers, and placed extraordinary powers on him. As it turned out, the sage Solon had long been preparing for reforms in his home policy, and he immediately embarked on reforms. A few decades later, his business was continued by Cleisthenes, and it was the transformation of these politicians that predetermined the course of the development of human society for millennia ahead.

Solon Reforms

It is believed that the birth of democracy in Athens began long before Solon. However, it was he who created the laws that she began to rely on. First of all, he announced a syshphia canceling all debts, land plots returned to the owners, and it was forbidden to take loans on bail. In addition, at the expense of the Athenian treasury, the residents of the policy, sold for foreign purposes, were repatriated and returned to their homeland. Solon also established the maximum rate of land tenure, that is, no citizen could buy up plots above the space set and become a super-large landowner.

Authorities

The highest state bodies in Athens during the reign of Solon were the Areopagus, the National Assembly and the Boulle. The last was a completely new organ and consisted of four hundred people. By the way, many researchers believe that it was his appearance that meant the birth of democracy in Athens. In the Bula, all laws and issues were discussed in advance, which were then considered in the People's Assembly. Although Ecclesia existed in Athens and other polis in Greece and earlier, under Solon, it became a truly functioning body, and it was convened much more often. Moreover, the archon issued a decree according to which in the period of civil strifes every free man who reached the age of majority was obliged to take an active position in society, otherwise he was threatened with deprivation of civil rights.

The birth of democracy in Athens (world history): the reforms of Cleisthenes

The final formation of the political system of Athens, based on the free will of the people, occurred at the end of the 6th century BC. E. The author of the new reforms was Cleisthenes, who was chosen archon, with the same authority as was once given to Solon.

He divided the territory of Attica into 3 districts: directly Athens, the coastal strip and the flat territory. Each of them, in turn, was divided into 10 thirds. In addition to territorial, Cleisfen also carried out electoral reform. According to the new laws, 10 fils were formed, which included citizens of three tritties, one from each district. Phil was nominated from its number of 50 people to participate in the Council of 500. Thus, Cleisfen, as contemporaries wrote, "mixed" the Athenians. This meant that now they had elected the authorities no longer based on territorial or tribal grounds, but on the basis of personal preferences.

Ecclesia at Cleisthenes

All important decisions in Athens during this period were made by a collectively renewed ecclesia, which exercises legislative, judicial and executive power. The main issues resolved during such general public assemblies were:

• Election of officials;
• The decision to amend existing laws and the adoption of new ones;
• Ostracism regarding individual citizens;
• A decision on the most important national issues relating to war and peace, the conclusion of allied treaties, the expenditure of state money,

An interesting detail: before every "meeting" of the People's Assembly, the presiding officer was supposed to hang out posters about the issues that were to be considered in the city. In addition, in order to ensure the impartiality of the Council 500, each filleted its activity for only 1 month per year.

Helium

The birth of democracy in Athens was marked by the emergence of a new type of legal proceedings, which also became a collective one. The cases were decided by the so-called Helium - a jury trial, which consisted of 6,000 people. In parallel, there existed Areopagus - the court of elders, consisting of aristocrats, which with the advent of democratic bodies began to lose its influence and importance.

Ostracism

The birth and development of democracy in Athens made possible the emergence of a completely new phenomenon in the history of mankind. They became ostracized. Once a year the ecclesia had to answer such an important question: "Is there a citizen among the people who is able to seize power and become a tyrant?" If the National Assembly believed that such a person is, then another meeting was scheduled to hold a procedure of a kind of voting on clay skulls. If a person potentially "dangerous" for democracy received a majority of votes against himself, he was expelled from the policy.

Now you know how the birth of democracy in Athens took place (the reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes) and you can compare it with the modern analogue.