Tyranny, as a style of government, in ancient Greece did not last long. But it did a lot of damage. It significantly weakened the economic mechanisms and curtailed the social freedoms of the Athenians. Radical measures were needed to deal with the crisis. Solon's laws were exactly the lever that returned the main city of Greece to the path of economic prosperity.

background

Agriculture was one of the strong productive forces of ancient Attica. But never was it in such a difficult position as in the 7th century. BC. The main cause of the crisis was usury.

According to the land was not alienable property, but the peasants could give themselves into slavery for a certain amount of money. If the debtors did not pay their debts on time, they became the owners of the creditors and had to give them a sixth of the harvest. Such debtors were called pelates or hectemors. Rapid impoverishment put the economy of Athens in a catastrophic situation.

short biography

Solon came from a wealthy landowning family.

By the time of his election to the popular assembly, he had already established himself as a poet and military leader. He laid the foundation for his popularity by winning Fr. Salamis. His elegies, which glorified courage, nobility, disinterestedness, inspired the Athenians for exploits. Solon was an enemy of excess and injustice - it is to him that the principle of "everything in moderation" is attributed. Although he found a person’s desire for prosperity and wealth to be normal and noble, in one of his early elegies Solon asked the muses to give him material well-being. But at the same time, the poet recognized that such well-being can only be achieved in an honest way, and wealth obtained by deceit and dishonest deeds is a sin that is severely punished by Zeus.

Political activity

In 594, Solon was invited to the post of archon. The purpose of this election was a series of economic and social transformations that could lead the country out of a protracted crisis. According to the laws, for such profound changes, the consent of the representatives of the people's assembly was required - it was it that represented the legislative bodies of the ancient city-state. The future of Greece and his native Athens, the archon saw without tyranny, but at the same time insisted on rigidly following the course of changes that would reset the social and economic sphere of life. These changes were supposed to reset the power and relations in the country. The essence of these changes was represented by the laws of Solon.

The most necessary condition for the transformation, according to Solon, was the abolition of debt slavery. The whole process was called seisahteya - release from debt. The essence of the necessary preliminary cases was as follows:

• all slaves who became such under the terms of self-mortgage received freedom;
• lands that have become the subject of pledge are returned to their owners;
• all cancelled;
• the measurement system was reformed - all weights and measures in Athens were brought to a single standard.

This process caused outrage in all sections of Athenian society. The poor were angry that they could not divide all the land of the rich, and the wealthy landowners were indignant because of the loss of a large part of the property. However, the inhabitants of Athens had no other choice - and they decided to continue to enforce the laws of Solon.

Social transformations

Athenian society was divided into four categories. The first of them, the most noble, were eupatrides - rich hereditary aristocrats of Athens. The second part was made up of horsemen, less well-born aristocrats. In the third, there were Zeugites - artisans and merchants, and the fourth, the most extensive, were the poor, but free people of Athens, the Feta - workers and peasants. The laws of Solon mixed these layers and presented to society their vision of social differences. From now on, only rich people had the right to enter the nobility - eupatrides had to have an income of at least 500 measures of grain per year, a quota of 300 measures of grain was set for horsemen, and zeugites could be considered as such, collecting 200 measures of grain per year. All the rest, regardless of birth, were considered free residents - fetes. So the laws of Solon laid the foundations of democracy in Athens, and from now on, birth in a noble family was no longer considered a privilege if it was not supported by the necessary capital. In addition, there was a real opportunity to get out of your circle thanks to the passage of the property qualification.

Electoral system

Solon's reforms made possible the next step towards a democratic society. From now on, the people's assembly (areopagus) could consist of representatives of all segments of the population. So for the first time, the poor could decide at the meeting some pressing issues and influence the government. In addition, each member of the people's assembly could be chosen as a judge. True, this position did not promise either great benefits or great influence - the most pressing issues were usually resolved at other councils. Along with the traditional Areopagus, another council began to operate - bule, or council 400. These legislative bodies included representatives of all four estates of ancient Athens - 100 people each. The new laws of Solon in Athens provided the bule with the right to preliminary consideration of all proposals received by the Areopagus. Thus, it was the council of 400 that determined the need for certain transformations in the state, and the Areopagus only approved such a decision by a majority vote. The Areopagus remained in charge of overseeing the observance of the law and the protection of the adopted provisions.

Changes in legislation

Solon was not afraid to make important changes in the legislative field of Athens. He repealed most of the legal norms established by previous tyrants and legitimized a new set of rules that changed relations in the judicial and civil spheres. He left only criminal law unchanged - the cruel laws of Draco, regarding criminal penalties for murder, adultery and theft, Solon found sufficient.

helia

As a concession to the demos, by the decision of Solon, new judicial orans were created, called Helia. The new court included representatives of all classes of Athenian society. This created a completely new legal order, radically different from all previous ones. For the first time in history, the judiciary began to work for all the free people of the country. People could count on free recourse to court without intermediaries, act as a witness or be defendant's lawyers. In addition, they were given the right to pursue their own enemies - previously only representatives of the nobility were allowed to do this. On the other hand, the new judiciary could deprive any person of Athenian citizenship. This could happen to those who did not have a firm civic position during times of unrest and civil strife. People deprived of citizenship were outside the law.

Solon's later life

According to legend, the laws of Solon were written on large wooden boards (kirbs). They were placed on a large shield, which turned around its axis. Over the past centuries, the tree has crumbled to dust, so it is still unclear which of the laws were actually established by Solon, and which were only attributed to him. Solon set a ten-year mandatory deadline for his laws and left Athens. According to some reports, the legislator was afraid of the anger of angry compatriots - after all, he compromised, not justifying the hopes of either the rich or the poor. In one of his elegies, he says that the poor hoped for a complete redistribution of land, and the rich - for the repayment of all debt. In the writings of Plutarch there is one remark attributed to Solon: "It is difficult in great deeds to make everyone happy."

Under the pretext of expanding trade relations, Solon visited Egypt, Lydia and Cyprus. Fragments of Solon's impressions from visiting the palaces of his contemporary, the legendary Croesus, have survived to this day. But political tension forced him to return to Athens. Several political parties began to fight for power, and Solon tried to resist the establishment of tyranny. In the end, the tyrant Pisistratus seized power in the state. After the victory of his political opponent, Solon remained in Athens, but did not live long. His ashes were scattered on Fr. Salamis.

The Significance of the Laws

The main thing in the laws of Solon is a successful attempt to equalize the rights of all citizens, putting aside questions of origin and tribal hierarchy. The decisive actions of this politician formed a new political and social order in the state. New criteria for social relations made it possible to form a new political elite - without reference to the old tribal traditions. Despite a good start, Solon's laws failed to completely eradicate the old prejudices. Only 90 years after the Solon reforms, a new politician, Cleisthenes, continued the democratic undertakings of his predecessor. Cleisthenes enjoyed the broad support of the demos, so he was able to finally undermine the dominance of the aristocrats and establish power in the state on new, democratic principles.

Athenian politician and social reformer, poet, one of the "seven wise men" of Ancient Greece

The main source of our information about Solon is Aristotle's Athenian polity, as well as the later biographies of Solon, compiled by Plutarch and Diogenes Laertes.

Origin and beginning of political activity

Solon came from a noble but impoverished family of Codrids. In order to improve his financial situation, he engaged in overseas trade in his youth. Returning to his homeland, Solon began to support the people in their conflict with the Eupatrides (Athenian nobility), although he himself belonged to their number.

War with Megara for Salamis

At the end of the 7th century BC. e. Athens fought Megara over the island of Salamis. The Megarians who owned the island interfered with the maritime trade of Athens, including the delivery of grain to Attica. The Athenians captured Salamis, but could not hold it. The protracted war did not benefit the wealthy landowners, who had enough grain from their fields. They decided to put an end to hostilities and issued a law forbidding, under pain of death, to raise the question of the war for Salamis in the popular assembly.

Then Solon became the head of the Athenian artisans, sailors and merchants - all those for whom the possibility of maritime trade and preventing an increase in the price of bread were extremely important. To circumvent the law, Solon pretended to be crazy, put a cap on his head (which was then prescribed for the sick), ran out to the agora, took the place of the orator and began to recite his poems to the assembled crowd of people. He urged:

Hurry to Salamis, let's fight for the desired island,
With this, we will remove the shame from ourselves and from Athens!

The people, inspired by Solon, forced the abolition of the law forbidding the recollection of Salamis. The war was resumed, and Solon was placed at the head of the army. Under his leadership, the Athenians managed to capture Salamis. About how the victory was won, Plutarch tells a number of legends.

Solon's reforms

Being elected in 594-593. BC e. Archon and aisimnet, Solon carried out a number of reforms. First of all, Solon repealed the cruel Draconian Laws, with the exception of those relating to murder.

The most important of the reforms was that Solon eliminated debt slavery and ordered the removal of all debt stones that had previously been installed on the land of the debtor. Peasants sold for debts into slavery abroad, he ordered to be found and redeemed at public expense. This reform was called sisachfia, literally translated "shaking off the burden."

Solon made a transformation of the political system. Before the reforms, all power in Athens belonged to the Eupatrides, the people did not take part in the government. Solon attracted not only eupatrides, but also wealthy people of simple origin to govern the state. He divided all citizens into 4 categories depending on their property status (pentakosiomedimni, horsemen, zeugits, feta). This division influenced service in the army and the opportunity to hold public office: citizens of the first three categories could occupy the highest positions, while the poorest citizens had the right to participate only in the people's assembly and in the courts.

The National Assembly became the supreme legislative power in Athens. For a preliminary discussion of the laws, a special Council of four hundred was created. The people approved or rejected the draft laws proposed to them. The election of senior officials also depended on the people's assembly. The protection of the laws and the supervision of their implementation were entrusted to the Areopagus.

The court under Solon began to be composed of all citizens. Any citizen could, himself or through an intermediary, prosecute the offender in court. Solon carried out the unification of weights and measures, carried out a reform of the Athenian calendar. Solon's laws were to be in force for a hundred years. They were written on special boards exhibited for public viewing in the city square.

Solon's reforms laid the foundations for Athenian slave-owning democracy.

Solon's Wanderings

After the reforms, Solon left Athens for 10 years. According to Plutarch, Solon first came to Egypt and lived in the Nile Delta, meeting with the priests, from whom he learned the legend of Atlantis. Then he moved to Cyprus to Philokipra, the king of the city of Epeia. Then Solon, at the invitation of the Lydian king Croesus, visited his capital, Sardis. Solon then returned to Athens.

Late years in Athens

32 years after the adoption of the laws of Solon, the tyranny of Pisistratus was established in Athens. The tyrant placed himself above the law, but did not dare to cancel the Solonian order. After the accession of Pisistratus, Solon retired to a foreign land, not wanting to obey the tyrant. Pisistratus, a former friend and relative of Solon, affably called him home, and the great sage eventually made peace with him and even gave him wise advice from afar, but remained to live on the island of Cyprus. After the expulsion of the Peisistratus family, the Athenians retained most of the saline laws. They revered Solon as the founder of Athenian democracy.

Solon's poetry

Solon is one of the first Attic poets who wrote elegies and iambs.

Sources

The earliest and most authentic source about Solon are his poems, from which a large number of fragments of various content have come down to our time. In total, 283 lines of more than 5 thousand lines have been preserved. There was probably a collection of Solon's poems in antiquity. Also modern sources are his laws. Most of them are given by Plutarch and Diogenes Laertes. Some laws are mentioned by Herodotus, Aristophanes, Lysias, Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Diodorus Siculus. In ancient times, more than 100 laws were attributed to Solon, but not all of them were published by him. The Solonovsky legislative code was written on wooden boards (kirbs) and put on public display. In the middle of the 5th century BC BC, according to Kratin, the kirbs were in very poor condition, and at the end of the century the laws were probably copied onto stone stelae.

Solon is briefly mentioned by some authors of the 5th century. BC e., for example, the comedians Cratinus, Aristophanes and Eupolis. The most famous are the stories dedicated to him in the History of Herodotus, especially the famous story about the conversation between Solon and Croesus in Sardis. At the end of the 5th century BC e. and in the IV century. BC e. among the intellectual elite, interest in the idea of ​​a “paternal state system” increased, which was associated, among others, with Solon. Accordingly, he is mentioned in the works of many orators, philosophers and publicists (Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Aeschines). Plato attributes the myth of Atlantis to him.

The activities of Solon occupied a large place in the works of attidographers, which have come down to our time in insignificant fragments. These works (mostly the work of Androtion) were probably used by Aristotle in his works. The account of Solon's reforms in the Politia of Athens is one of the most important sources about them. Plutarch also used the works of attidographers when writing a biography of Solon.

Early years. Origin

Solon, son of Exekestides, was born about 640 BC. e. in Athens. There is also a version that Solon's father was called Euphorion. Plutarch conveys both options, but prefers the generally accepted one. Some ancient authors (Diodorus Siculus, Diogenes Laertius) erroneously believed that he was born on Salamis. In terms of wealth, Solon belonged to the “citizens of the middle circle”, and came from a noble family of Codrids, which had previously been a royal dynasty.

From the poems of Solon

Many bad people get rich, but the good suffer in poverty.
But we will not take them from the bad ones in exchange for treasures
On virtue - it remains unshakable forever,
But money always changes its masters!

Since that branch of the Codrid family, to which he belonged, by the end of the 7th century. impoverished, he was forced to engage in maritime trade to improve his financial situation. Solon traveled a lot and got acquainted with the customs and mores of other states. Since there are contradictions in the sources regarding Solon's sea travels, some researchers question the fact of his trading activity.

Apparently, even before the start of Solon's political activities, he was known to his fellow citizens as a poet. He was the first Athenian poet, and besides, the political orientation of some of the poems was supposed to attract the attention of listeners. In his poems, Solon condemned the existing situation in the policy and put forward the idea of ​​​​eunomia (good law).

The situation in Athens before the start of Solon's political activities

At the beginning of the VI century. BC e. Athens was an ordinary Greek policy, differing from others only in its size. It was one of the largest in Greece, and in terms of population - the first in Hellas. After the completion of Sinoikism by the beginning of the 7th century. BC e. Athenian policy began to occupy the entire peninsula of Attica. At the same time, the policy included several cities - except for Athens, Eleusis, Marathon, Bravron and others.

Initially, the civilian population was subdivided according to the tribal principle. Gradually, a territorial division also appeared: each phylum was subdivided into three trittia, and each trittia into four navkraria. There were 48 navcraries in total, and they were the smallest territorial units.

The Eupatridian aristocracy played an exceptionally important role in all aspects of the life of early Athens. Most of the aristocrats fled to Athens at the turn of the 2nd - 1st millennium BC. e. from the Peloponnese conquered by the Dorians. Refugees were warmly received in Athens. One of these clans (Kodrids-Medontids) was the last royal dynasty. Throughout the "dark ages", their power was increasingly limited, until, finally, the monarchy was eliminated.

At the beginning of the 7th century BC e. the political system of the archaic Athenian polis was formed as a typical aristocratic republic. At the head of the state was now a college of nine archons, who held their post for a year. There was a certain division of functions between the archons. The archon-eponym was the supreme magistrate, the archon-basileus was the high priest, the archon-polemarch was the supreme commander in chief, the rest - thesmothetes - were in charge of judicial affairs. The Council of the Areopagus played a very important role in governance. It included former archons for life. The Areopagus exercised supreme control over the entire life of the policy. There was also a popular assembly in Athens, but it did not play a significant role until the 6th century. BC e.

The Athenian demos was dependent on the aristocracy. The growing enslavement of the demos caused him discontent. The internal political situation in Athens was characterized by civil strife. A sharp struggle unfolded between the aristocratic factions. In the foreign policy arena, the Athenians waged war with Megara for the island of Salamis. The interaristocratic struggle and the enslavement of the demos undermined stability and order in the Athenian polis.

Solon's Wars

War with Megara for Salamis

From the elegy "Salamin"

I come as a messenger from the desired Salamis,
But instead of a simple speech with a song, I will turn to you ...
After all, we will wait for the fact that everywhere, like a cry, will sweep:
"He comes from Athens, who surrendered Salamis to the enemies."
We will go to Salamis, we will fight for the desired island,
Let us take off the former shame and disgrace from our shoulders!

The first event known from sources, in connection with which the name of Solon is mentioned, is the military conflict between Athens and Megara for the possession of Salamis. The Athenians, tired of this war, forbade by law to offer citizens to continue the struggle for Salamis. Solon was depressed by this, and he pretended to be crazy, and then ran to the square and read his elegy "Salamin" to the mass of people, which spoke of the need to continue the war for this island.

Then he himself led an expedition to Salamis, which brought him complete success: a strategically important point in the Saronic Gulf was in the hands of the Athenians. It is not entirely clear in what status Solon commanded the Athenian militia. There was no position of strategist then, and, probably, he was elected archon-polemarch. True, it is known for certain that he was later an eponymous archon, and it is believed that the office of archon cannot be held twice. Most likely, the limitation of one term did not apply to the entire set of archon positions, but to each of them, taken specifically.

View of the island of Salamis

The Salamis Expedition, which became the brilliant beginning of Solon's political career, most likely dates from the time around 600 BC. e. But the war, apparently, continued for several more decades, taking on a sluggish character. Back in the 60s, Solon's second cousin Peisistrat led an expedition against the Megarians. In the end, the dispute over Salamis was submitted to the arbitration court of Sparta. During the discussion of this issue, Solon brought a number of complementary arguments of a different nature, having managed to defend the rights of Athens to the island. Solon referred to the Delphic oracles, in which Salamis was called the Ionian land, which should have brought him closer to Athens, and not to Megara (Athens was inhabited by Ionians, and the Megarians were Dorians). He also pointed out, to justify the Athenian claims, a passage from Homer's Iliad, according to which the king of Salamis, Ajax, placed his ships next to the Athenian ones. In addition, he referred to the fact that in the Salamis burials the corpses lie according to the Athenian, and not according to the Megarian custom, - facing west. In the end, Salamis was defended, and this island, included in the Athenian policy, repeatedly played an important role in its history.

First Holy War

Middle Greece

The next military-political event of Solon was participation in the First Holy War. Little is known about this conflict. According to the researcher W. J. Forrest, this was a war of some Greek city-states against the Phocian city of Kirra or Chrisa, which captured the Temple of Delphi. The most influential members of the anti-Crisean coalition were Thessaly and Sicyon, with Athens occupying a less influential position. According to tradition, the war lasted ten years (596-586 BC). Apparently, already in the first years of the war, the allies liberated Delphi. Eventually the Chrises were taken and destroyed.

Solon initiated the declaration of war against the Chrisams. On his advice, the members of the Delphic Amphictyony started a war. As a result of the war, relations between Athens and Delphi improved significantly, the Delphic priesthood began to support Solon in every possible way.

In 594 BC. e. on the initiative of Solon, the Alcmeonids were returned from exile. Apparently, Solon favored them, trying to make them his supporters.

Solon's reforms

Perhaps by this time Solon had already developed a plan for transformation. To proceed with their implementation, it was necessary to secure a highly authoritative religious sanction. The Delphic oracle gave Solon several divinations that approved of his plans. By 594 B.C. e. Solon was the most influential and authoritative Athenian politician. He could be considered by all social strata (aristocrats, people, merchants and artisans) as a compromise figure.

In 594 BC. e. Solon was elected eponymous archon. In addition, he was given some kind of emergency powers. According to Plutarch, he was appointed "conciliator and legislator", and according to Aristotle, in general, "the state was entrusted to him." Apparently, his emergency powers were expressed in the word "conciliator, arbitrator". Thus, his task was to resolve the conflict and reconcile the warring parties. At that time, the Areopagus appointed archons, but Solon was probably elected by the popular assembly due to a special situation.

From the poems of Solon

Which of those tasks did I not complete,
In whose name did I then rally the people?
About that everyone is better before the Court of Time
I could say the highest of the Olympians -
Mother black Earth, from which he took off then
I set a lot of debt pillars,
Slave before, now free.
To the homeland, to Athens, to the god-created city
I brought back many who were sold into slavery,
Who is false, who by right, from the need of others
Hopeless fled, already forgotten the speech
Attic - such is the fate of wanderers,
Others still, in the shameful slavery of those who were here
And trembling before the whim of the gentlemen,
I freed everyone. And this has been achieved
Law by power, combining force with law,
And so I did everything, as promised.

His first reform was sisachphia, which he considered his main merit. All debts were canceled, bonded debtors were released from slave status, and debt slavery was prohibited. Sisakhfia was supposed to significantly alleviate social tensions and improve the economic situation of the state.

Solon pursued a comprehensive economic policy that is characterized by protectionism against Athenian agriculture and support for handicraft production. Artisans from other cities who arrived in Athens were allowed to settle in the city. According to another law, parents who did not teach their son a trade did not have the right to demand that he support them in old age. He banned the export of grain from Athens and encouraged olive growing. Thanks to Solon's measures, olive growing subsequently developed into a flourishing branch of agriculture. The monetary reform of Solon involved the replacement of the former Aegina monetary unit with the Euboean one. This measure facilitated trade between Athens, Euboea, Corinth, Chalkidike, and Asia Minor, and contributed to the development of Athens' foreign trade.

Solon's social reforms were also important. The most important of them is the division of the entire civil collective of the policy into four property categories. The criterion for belonging to a certain category was the amount of annual income, calculated in agricultural products.

Solon, apparently, established helium. This innovation had the most democratic character. Solon granted the right to any citizen to initiate legal action in a case that did not directly concern him. If earlier in Athens there were only private claims and processes in which the injured person himself had to act as a plaintiff, now there are public claims and processes.

Solon also established another new state body - the Council of Four Hundred. Its members were representatives of four Attic phyla, 100 people from each phylum. The Council of the Four Hundred was an alternative to the Areopagus. The distribution of functions between them was not precisely defined. According to Plutarch, the Council of the Four Hundred prepared and preliminary discussed draft resolutions for the people's assembly, and the Areopagus exercised "supervision over everything and the protection of laws."

Solon issued a law on wills. Plutarch conveys the content of the law as follows: earlier “it was not allowed to make wills; the money and the house of the deceased had to remain in his family; and Solon allowed those who did not have children to deny their fortune to anyone who wants to. ” Solon introduced the institution of wills for the first time in Athenian history. In addition, a land maximum was introduced (prohibition to have land holdings in excess of the norm established by law).

The Solonovsky legislative code was written on wooden boards (kirbah) and put on public display. This vault was to replace the Draconian vault; only the draconian murder laws were still in effect. The new code of laws was supposed to remain in force for 100 years, but actually operated after that.

The reforms of Solon represent the most important milestone in the history of archaic Athens, the formation of the Athenian state.

Travel

From the poems of Solon

Yes, I gave the people the honor they need -
He did not reduce his rights, he did not give extra ones either.
I also thought about those I who had power and wealth
He was famous - so that no offense was caused to them.
I got up, covering both with my mighty shield,
And he did not give anyone the wrong to win.

After the end of the archonship, dissatisfaction with the reforms still grew. The aristocrats were unhappy that their rights were curtailed, while the demos considered the reforms not radical enough. On the other hand, the supporters of Solon advised to continue the reforms by establishing tyranny. However, Solon fundamentally did not want to become a tyrant. He decided to act differently - to temporarily leave the policy and go on a trip.

During his ten-year journey (593-583 BC), Solon visited various regions of the Eastern Mediterranean. He traveled to Egypt, Cyprus and Lydia. First, Solon visited Egypt, where he communicated with the priests. In Cyprus, Solon befriended King Sol Philokiper. Solon also visited the Lydian capital of Sardis. The meeting with King Croesus is mentioned in many ancient sources, but is impossible for chronological reasons. Croesus came to the throne around 560 BC. e., and Solon was in Sardis a quarter of a century earlier. The conversation between Solon and Croesus is described, in particular, by Plutarch:

Croesus asked him if he knew a person happier than him. Solon replied that he knew such a person: this is his fellow citizen Tell. Then he said that Tell was a man of high morals, left behind children who have a good name, property, which has everything you need, died with glory, bravely fighting for the fatherland. Solon seemed to Croesus an eccentric and a redneck, since he does not measure happiness by an abundance of silver and gold, and puts the life and death of a simple person above his enormous power and power. Despite this, he again asked Solon if he knew anyone else after Tell who was happier than he. Solon again said that he knew: these were Cleobis and Biton, two brothers who loved each other and their mother very much. When one day the oxen did not come from the pasture for a long time, they harnessed themselves to the wagon and took their mother to the temple of Hera; all the citizens called her happy, and she rejoiced; and they offered a sacrifice, drank water, but the next day they did not get up; they were found dead; they, having acquired such glory, saw death without pain and sorrow. “And us,” Croesus exclaimed already with anger, “do you not put us at all among the happy people?” Then Solon, not wanting to flatter him, but not wanting to irritate him even more, said: “King of Lydia! God gave us, Hellenes, the ability to observe the measure in everything; and as a result of such a sense of proportion, we also have a kind of timid mind, apparently, of the common people, and not royal, brilliant. Such a mind, seeing that in life there are always all sorts of vicissitudes of fate, does not allow us to be proud of the happiness of this moment and to be amazed at the well-being of a person, if the time has not yet passed when it can change. The future, full of all sorts of accidents, imperceptibly approaches everyone; whom God sends happiness for the rest of his life, we consider him happy. And to call a person happy during his lifetime, while he is still exposed to dangers, is the same as proclaiming a winner and crowning an athlete who has not yet finished the competition with a wreath: this is an incorrect business, devoid of any significance.

In reality, Solon was to be received by Croesus' father, King Aliattes. It is possible that the Athenian legislator communicated with Croesus himself, at that time the prince. There is an assumption that Solon dedicated one of his elegies to the prince, which could become a source of aberration for later authors.

Return to Athens. Death

About 583 B.C. e. Solon returned to Athens. Solon's laws continued to operate, and no attempt was made to repeal or change them during his absence. True, the civil unrest, which Solon hoped to end, continued for several more decades. Soon after the return of the reformer, the archon Damasius, intending to become a tyrant, did not resign for more than two years, and he had to be removed by force. The role of Solon in the events described is not mentioned in the sources, but he probably acted as a determined opponent of Damasius and, perhaps, took part in his overthrow.

Plutarch wrote that after his journey, Solon no longer took an active part in political life. However, later, in the 60s of the VI century. BC e. he participated in the arbitration court that dealt with the Athenian-Megarian dispute about Salamis.

Timeline of Solon's life

around 640 BC e. - birth of Solon
about 600 BC e. - Salamis expedition
596 BC e. - the beginning of the first Holy War
594/593 BC e. - archonship. Solon's reforms
593-583 BC e. - journey of Solon
560s BC e. - participation in the arbitration court on the issue of Salamis
560 BC e. - the coming to power of the tyrant Peisistratus. Solon is his opponent
about 559 BC e. - Death of Solon

In the same years, Solon's relative Peisistrat began to rise. He began his career in the ranks of Solon's reformers and later gained fame in the Salamis War. In 560 B.C. e. , having received permission from the popular assembly to recruit a detachment of bodyguards, with the help of this detachment he captured the Acropolis and established tyranny. Solon tried to counteract the growing influence of Pisistratus, but to no avail: the future tyrant was supported by the majority of the people. When Pisistratus, having wounded himself, declared that political opponents were trying to kill him, Solon understood his plan, but the people were not on his side. At a popular meeting, a certain Ariston made a proposal to give Pisistratus a detachment of bodyguards. Despite the opposition of Solon, the decision was accepted. When tyranny was established, Solon tried to convince his fellow citizens to oppose Peisistratus, but was unsuccessful. After this, Solon, according to some accounts, changed his position and became an adviser to Peisistratus. Solon was not subjected to any persecution during tyranny, although he acted at first as her implacable opponent. In addition, Solon soon died - in 560/559 BC. e.

Regarding the death of Solon, there are conflicting data in ancient sources. 5th century comedian BC e. Cratin and Aristotle wrote that Solon bequeathed to scatter his ashes over the Salamis he conquered. According to Valery Maxim, he died in Cyprus and was buried there. Elian wrote that Solon was buried at public expense near the Athenian city wall. This version is probably the most plausible. According to Phanius of Lesbos, Solon died at an advanced age in Athens the year after Peisistratus first came to power. The story of the scattering of the ashes of Solon over Salamis is probably just a legend. Solon was buried in one of the Athenian cemeteries, most likely at Keramika.

Personality

Personal life

Some authors wrote that in his youth, Peisistratus was Solon's lover. According to Plutarch, "Solon was not indifferent to handsome men and did not have the courage to fight with love," like a wrestler in the palestra "".

There is no reliable information about the descendants of Solon. Apparently, Solon simply did not leave behind any offspring. And in the subsequent history of Athens there is not a single figure who would erect himself in a straight line to him. However, lateral descendants of Solon are found, for example, the head of the "Thirty Tyrants" Critias and the philosopher Plato. They built their clan to the brother of the legislator - Dropid.

Political views

From the elegy "Blessing"

Benevolence everywhere gives rise to order and harmony.
It has the power to put a chain on the wrong people,
Smooth out irregularities, humiliate arrogance, weaken arrogance,
Evil deceit flowers dry up to the roots,
Straighten out the curvature of affairs, and moderate excessive pride,
And dissenting deeds along with angry enmity
Put a quick end forever, and then it starts
Wherever people live, reason and order reign supreme.

The reforming activity of Solon combined the desire for the necessary transformations and healthy conservatism. In his early poems, he condemned the situation in the policy (in particular, the desire of aristocrats for unfair enrichment, civil unrest, enslavement of the demos) and put forward the idea of ​​​​eunomia (good law). The idea of ​​eunomia is of Delphic origin. For Solon, goodness meant just laws and the conscious obedience of citizens to these laws.

Solon fundamentally hated tyranny. After the reforms, Solon's supporters advised to continue the reforms by establishing tyranny, but he refused. In the era of the Elder tyranny, when tyrants came to power in many Greek cities, the voluntary rejection of autocracy was a unique case. He argued his refusal by saying that this would cover his name with shame and could destroy him and his family. In addition, he was opposed to violence.

Religious views

The worldview and religious views of Solon are reflected in his poems. He was a deeply religious person. Researcher I. E. Surikov summarizes the data from Solon's poems:

Solon firmly believes in the good leadership of the gods, in their power over human destinies. If happiness and wealth are given to man by the gods, then they will be strong, reliable, long-term. The same thing that people have achieved against the will of the celestials, with their own arrogance, in the long run will certainly entail retribution from Zeus. Of course, the lord of Olympus is sometimes in no hurry to punish, and this can create an illusion of impunity for the villains. However, sooner or later, justice will prevail: if the one who has done a bad deed does not atone for him during his lifetime, this atonement will fall on the shoulders of his children and more distant descendants. Thus, Solon expresses firm confidence in the fact of the suffering of the innocent for the crimes of their ancestors, fully recognizes the idea of ​​​​collective responsibility of the clan ... one should not see the gods as the cause of troubles and failures ...: only the people themselves are to blame for their misfortunes, enjoying vain dreams, having too high an opinion about themselves and only after some trials fall upon them, coming to an understanding of the need for a reasonable measure in everything.

poetic gift

Apparently, even before the start of political activity, Solon was known to his fellow citizens as a poet. He was the first Athenian poet, and besides, the political orientation of some of the poems was supposed to attract the attention of listeners. A large number of fragments of his works of various content have survived to our time. In total, 283 lines of more than 5 thousand lines have been preserved. There was probably a collection of Solon's poems in antiquity. In any case, ancient and Byzantine authors had a much larger number of Solon's verses than modern researchers. The elegy “To Myself”, for example, has come down to us in full only in the “Eclogues” of the Byzantine writer Stobaeus (5th century AD), and from the elegy “Salamin”, which had 100 lines, three fragments have been preserved, numbering a total of eight lines.

Notes

Literature

Sources

• Aristotle. Athenian polity
• Valery Maxim. Memorable deeds and sayings
• Herodotus. Story
• Diogenes Laertes. About the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers
• Diodorus Siculus. Historical Library
• Kratin. Fragments
• Plutarch. Comparative biographies. Solon
• Solon. Fragments
• Phanius of Lesbos. Fragments
• Eliane. colorful stories

Research

• Buzeskul V.P. Solon // History of Athenian Democracy. - St. Petersburg. : IC "Humanitarian Academy", 2003.
• Karpyuk S. G. Laws of Draco and Solon - the prologue of democracy // Lectures on the history of Ancient Greece. - M .: Scientific and publishing center "Ladomir", 1997.
• Kuzishchin V.I. Chapter VIII. Formation of the polis system in Attica // History of Ancient Greece. - M .: Higher School, 1996. - ISBN 978-5-7695-7746-8
• Lentsman Ya. A. Slaves in the laws of Solon: On the question of the reliability of the ancient tradition // Herald of ancient history. - 1958. - № 4.
• Lentsman Ya. A. Reliability of the ancient tradition about Solon // Ancient World: a collection of articles in honor of Academician V.V. Struve. - M .: Publishing House of the East. lit., 1962.
• Lurie S. Ya. Solon and the beginning of the revolution in Athens // History of Greece. - St. Petersburg. : Publishing house of St. Petersburg University, 1993. - 680 p.
• Sergeev V.S. History of Ancient Greece. - St. Petersburg. : Polygon, 2002. - 704 p. - ISBN 5-89173-171-1
• Surikov I. E. Solon and Delphi // Studio historica. -Volume III. - M .: MGPU, 2003.
• Surikov I. E. Chapter II. Solon: singer and creator of "good law" // Antique Greece: politicians in the context of the era: archaic and early classics. - M .: Nauka, 2005. - S. 212-271. - 351 p. - ISBN 5-02-010347-0
• Surikov I. E. Legislative reforms of Draco and Solon: religion, law and the formation of the Athenian civil community // Odysseus. Man in history. 2006. - M .: Nauka, 2006. - S. 201–220.
• Tumans H. Birth of Athena. The Athenian Road to Democracy: From Homer to Pericles (8th-5th Centuries BC). - St. Petersburg. : Humanitarian Academy, 2002.
• Frolov E. D. The Birth of the Greek Polis. - St. Petersburg. : Publishing house. house of St. Petersburg State University, 2004. -

At the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC, the struggle between the people and the nobility in Athens became very acute. The Athenian aristocrats (eupatrides), using the cruel laws of Draco, mercilessly turned the poor into debt slavery and even sold them outside of Attica. One of the prominent citizens, the winner of the Olympic Games, Cylon, made an attempt to seize the sole tyranny, promising to carry out reforms in favor of the people, but his coup was brutally suppressed. Led by the Alkmeonid family, the nobility interrupted all the participants in the “Kilon Troubles”, defiantly violating the oath given in the name of the gods to save their lives. Troubles brought the Athenian state to the brink of death. Trade and fishing came to a halt, industry was stagnant, the people were in distress, and debt slavery laws were mercilessly enforced. A muffled ferment arose among the people and threatened to turn into open rebellion; with the impoverishment and irritation of the people, there were bloody clashes, there were many murders and theft. Finally, one of the most distinguished eupatrides, Solon, a man who passionately loved his homeland, managed to convince his brothers in class that stubborn resistance to the demands of the people would lead to the fall of both their dominion and the state. The Alcmaeonids, hated by the lower classes, agreed to submit to what would be decided by the commission on their case, composed of 300 Eupatrides. The commission found them guilty of violating their oath to the gods and decided that they should be exiled. They retired; the people shunned them as they walked through the streets of the city into exile. And even the bones of those guilty of insulting the shrine of the Alcmeonids, who died during these years, were thrown out of the Attic soil, as defiling it.

The expulsion of the Alcmeonids was the first concession of the Eupatrides to the people, the first step towards reconciliation with them. Solon became the hope of the people. The eupatrides could be annoyed at the eupatrides, who spoke out in favor of the demands of the people, but they had to listen, his advice with respect, because his position in their estate was very high: Solon was very noble and very rich. Like his father, Exekestides, also a man of noble character, he used his wealth to help those in need. He possessed great experience and extensive knowledge; he traveled a lot: he was in Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor, everywhere he talked with enlightened people, increasing his knowledge of life. Solon was an ardent patriot and a man who did a lot of good - all this gave great authority to his words. A descendant of the ancient Athenian king Kodra, according to the disinterested desire for the good of his homeland, Solon became the defender of the oppressed people; the most selfish, arrogant, cruel of the eupatrides could not help but succumb to the influence of the words of such a person.

Solon was born in 639. He was 39 years old when he accomplished the first of the great deeds of his noble desire to serve the good of the motherland. He was a man of strong character, brilliant, inquisitive. In his youth, Solon stubbornly engaged in gymnastics, studied music, studied, became an excellent person, developed both physically and morally. The Athenian youths of the following centuries learned by heart the aphorisms with which Solon expressed the results of his reflections on life. They were contained in the verses of Solon, written in the style of an elegy. Fragments of these teachings of the Athenian sage have come down to us. Solon expounded in them his thoughts about the course of a person’s life, about the aspirations and duties of a person at different ages, about the precariousness of all human calculations, about the inequality of conditions, the dissimilarity of the character of people and their fate. Solon condemned the greedy desire for excessive wealth, mourned the poor, told violators of justice about the wrath of Zeus: Zeus is long-suffering, but when crimes exceed the measure of his patience, he strikes the lawless like lightning in a spring thunderstorm, and punishes children for the evil deeds of their fathers. Better than vain greed is the enjoyment of modest wealth. Treasures do not pay off death. In Solon's elegies there is the same cheerfulness of spirit, the same restraint of character, the same harmonious balance of spiritual forces, as in his life. Solon said that one should enjoy both love and wine and the gifts of the muses; that a man is happy who has healthy children, who has both fast horses and hunting dogs, who is visited by guests from a foreign land; he wishes to be pitied when they hear of his death; - Solon loved life and its joys, but he loved wisely; in his elegies we constantly see a man who has chosen as his motto the saying: "Abstain from excess."

Solon in the fight for Salamis

Shortly before this, the inhabitants of Megara took away the island of Salamis, important in its position, from the Athenians. As long as Salamis remained in the power of the enemy, Athenian trade could not resume, the commercial and industrial class of the population could not be delivered from the plight. It was necessary that the Athenians by a courageous deed regain confidence in their forces, free themselves from the blockade that hampered their activities. But it was forbidden on pain of death to propose a resumption of hostilities against Salamis, since previous attempts to do so had ended in grave failures. However, Solon found a way to overcome this prohibition. He pretended to have lost his mind, pushed himself into the crowd during a public meeting and began to recite with ardent enthusiasm the elegy "Salamis", written by him to excite the Athenians to the cause he had conceived. This elegy was memorized by Athenian youths of the following centuries. Solon vividly described to the Athenians the humiliation in which they were. Soon, when meeting with an Athenian, other Greeks will say: "This is an Athenian, this is one of those who fled in the Salamis war." The Athenians doomed themselves to shame. The crowd understood what thought Solon was suggesting with these reproaches, and when he exclaimed: “To arms! Fight for Salamis! Let's take back our dear island, let's break the shameful yoke! - 500 people came out of the people and said that they were following him into battle. The expedition sailed on two ships and fishing boats; the attack was unexpected, the matter was decided by the first attack; the Megarians were defeated, Solon offered them a free pass, and they left the island. Its lands were distributed to the Athenians who wished to settle on it. The blockade of the Athenian marinas ceased, the Athenians again became the masters of their sea and could now look people in the eyes without shame. True, after some time, taking advantage of the discord of the parties in Athens, the enemy again captured Salamis. But Solon gave this case to the court of the Spartans, and by their verdict the island was returned to the Athenians.

Cleansing of Athens by Epimenides of Knossos

First of all, it was necessary to save the Athenians from the feeling that weighed on them that the gods were angry with them for insulting the sanctuaries by executing accomplices in the rebellion of Cylon. In Attica there were after that crop failures, contagious diseases; they were considered sent as a punishment to the people from the gods, and his spirit was oppressed by fear. With such a depressed mood of the Athenians, which continued even after the expulsion of the Alcmeonids, it was impossible to heal the disasters produced by strife; therefore, Solon called to Athens the priest-soothsayer, the Cretan Epimenides of Knossos, who enjoyed the greatest respect among all the Greeks, so that he would reconcile the gods with the Athenians who had angered them with sacrifices and rites of purification.

Epimenides of Knossos was a pious man with a deep moral sense, an impressive character, and a powerful gift for words. It was said about him that, as the eastern prophets and saints did, he spent some years in a hermitage, eating only fruits and roots; that for many years he lay in a cave, embraced by a deep sleep, and received revelations from Zeus of Crete. He was friends with Solon and willingly accepted his challenge to come to Athens, to reconcile the people with the gods. He erected new altars in Athens, made sacrifices on them, performed purification rites, solemn processions. Thus, Epimenides, with the participation of Solon, cleansed the hill of Ares, the temples, and the whole city from defilement; the people felt reconciled with the gods and received faith that they would be merciful to him. The government wanted to reward Epimenides of Knossos, offered him a whole talent; he refused, and returning to his homeland took only a branch from the olive tree of Athena. The Athenians erected a statue in his honor; he was depicted sitting and thinking. Later generations told legends about him, full of miracles, and giving his life a supernatural duration.

Emboldened by their reconciliation with the gods, the Athenians felt confidence in their forces and became able to act courageously. They showed this by soon after undertaking, at the suggestion of Solon, a holy war against the city of Crissa in defense of the Delphic oracle; their allies were Sicyon and the Thessalians. By destroying Crissa, cursed by the Amphictyons, they gained the gratitude of the Delphians and the support of the influential Delphic oracle. The head of the Alcmaeonid family, Alcmaeon, the son of Megacles, who, along with other exiles, received permission to return to his homeland, acted very energetically in this war and, with his zeal for the Delphic temple, removed a kind of curse from it. Having later won the victory in the chariot race in the Olympic Games (572), he acquired a new honor for his family and his fatherland.

Laws of Solon

Solon acquired such gratitude, such confidence of the Athenian people, that he could easily seize the supreme power in his own hands and restore the old rule of the Codrids on new foundations. Tyrants then ruled in many states of Greece. None of them was so comfortable in this position as Solon, who had such great governmental talents and rendered such services to his homeland. The approval of the people would have justified or at least excused his usurpation. But Solon preferred the glory of a legislator to the splendor of dominion; the greatness and good of the fatherland were dearer to him than personal ambition.

“My spirit commands me to inspire the men of Athens what boundless evil bad laws produce,” says Solon in one of his elegies. “But good institutions lead to good and order. They put fetters on the feet of the wicked, equalize the steepness, suppress violence, uproot the seed of calamity, silence arrogance, calm strife. Where good order reigns, there laws are reasonably arranged for the benefit of people.

Having received the necessary powers from his fellow citizens, Solon, around 594 BC, embarked on reforms that changed the entire face of the Athenian state. Solon's laws can be divided into economic and political. As a legislator, Solon represented the interests of the rural and mainly prosperous urban demos and the Eupatrides who joined him, whose main interests were already concentrated not in land ownership, but in trade. Solon published his laws, relying on the active support of the popular assembly.

Solon's main economic reform was the abolition of debt slavery. (For more details, see the article “Abolition of debt slavery (sisachphia)”) Greek historians call it “sisachphia” - shaking off the burden, that is, removing debt stones from the mortgaged land plots of the poor. Before the laws of Solon, eupatrid creditors, giving a loan to a poor neighbor, placed a stone pillar on his land plot with an inscription indicating the amount of the debt. In the event of a failure of the debtor, this debt stone served as the basis for the transfer of the land plot into the hands of the creditor. In the future, by taking loans secured by personal freedom, bad debtors fell into debt slavery and could even be sold abroad. Solon with his laws canceled the debts of the peasants, returned to them the mortgaged land plots and abolished debt slavery for all eternity. Moreover, he undertook a search for debtor slaves sold beyond the borders of Attica, redeemed them and returned them to their homeland. Solon described his legislative activity in verse, fragments of which have come down to our time in quotations from Aristotle and other ancient authors.

Aristotle also attributes to Solon the law on the introduction of a land maximum, according to which it was impossible to acquire land in any amount. However, we do not know the dimensions of the maximum. In addition, this law did not apply to the already established large landholdings. At least, the sources do not tell us anything about its application. But it is important that after the reforms of Solon, Attica for a long time turned into a country of medium and small landownership.

Solon banned the export of cereals from Attica, but allowed the export of olive oil. He issued laws that encouraged the cultivation of vineyards, orchards and orchards and regulated the right to use wells and irrigation systems in general.

Collection of olives. Ancient Greek amphora, ca. 520 BC

In order to develop the crafts and trade of Athens, Solon published a law according to which a son could refuse support to his aged father if he had not taught him any trade in his time, and issued a law against idleness. Before Solon, local and even generic measures, as well as coins, were in use. Solon introduced uniform measures and carried out a monetary reform, according to which the heavy Aegina talent was replaced by a more common one in those areas with which the Athenians especially traded, and a somewhat lighter Euboean talent.

The economic laws of Solon were supplemented by political ones. He abolished the genocracy that existed until that time (“genos” - clan) - the power of the tribal aristocracy - and replaced it with timocracy (“time” - price, value) - a power based on property qualification, thus depriving the aristocracy of the privileges associated with the remnants of the tribal building. All citizens of Attica were divided into four categories according to the property qualification (for more details, see the article “Division of citizens into four property classes”). The income from agriculture was taken as the basis of the qualification. Solon attributed to the first category all citizens who received from their land an income of at least 500 medimns of a bulk or liquid product (medimn is a measure of volume; at different times it ranged from 41 to 52.5 liters). They were called pentakosiomedimny, that is, five-hundred-dimensional ones. The second category included citizens who received income from their land in the amount of at least 300 medimns. They were called horsemen, as they had to serve in the cavalry on their own warhorse. In the third category, according to the laws of Solon, citizens were recorded who received income from their land in the amount of at least 200 medimns. They were called zevgits (“zevgos” - a team), that is, they had their own team of oxen. They were required to serve in the infantry militia and have their own heavy weapons. Solon attributed to the fourth category citizens who had an income of less than 200 medimns. They were called feta. In military service, they performed auxiliary functions and were lightly armed infantry. It was the duty of the wealthiest class of Athenian citizens, the Pentacosiomedimni, to equip warships and keep them in good repair.

Solon issued laws to weaken the aristocratic council of elders - the Areopagus. He removed from his competence the preparation of cases for discussion in the national assembly. To prepare these cases, Solon created a new state body - bule (Council of Four Hundred). He was elected at the meetings of the old four tribal phyla (tribes), into which Attica had been divided since ancient times, 100 bulevts from each phylum.

As a result of Solon's reforms, the popular assembly began to play a much more active role in the life of Athens. It discussed current political affairs. The archons were chosen by lot from among the candidates previously nominated by the phyla. Officials had to report to the people's assembly in their activities. The people's assembly was called ekklesia, that is, the assembly of those called, since the heralds shouted in advance about the day of its convocation, who walked around the country for this purpose. (For more details, see the article “The Council of the Four Hundred (Bule) and the National Assembly (Ecclesia) under Solon”).

Established a new Supreme Jury Court As already mentioned, the assessment of a citizen by his origin was replaced by an assessment by property qualification. Archons could be elected only from among the first property category - pentakosiomedimns. Only citizens of the first three categories could be members of the bule. And only in the ekklesia (people's assembly) and gelie (jury trial) could citizens of all four property categories take part.

The laws of Solon were aimed at limiting the power of the tribal aristocracy - Eupatrides and at weakening tribal traditions. After the seizure of the land plots seized by them at different times for debts from the Eupatrides, the abolition of debts and debt slavery, and the return of land plots to the peasants, many small owners appeared, whom the Eupatrides could no longer enslave. The introduction, according to one of Solon's laws, of freedom of wills also stimulated the development of private ownership of land, weakened and canceled the remnants of tribal ownership of land, which until then had constituted the main basis of the power of the Eupatrides. The ban on the export of grain also infringed upon the interests of the Eupatrides, who, before the laws of Solon, were the main producers of wheat and barley. The laws that stimulated the development of crafts and trade strengthened the position of the middle strata of the urban demos. The census reform of Solon fragmented the tribal aristocracy - eupatrides into different property categories and the various rights and obligations arising from this. But in general, Solon's legislation was a compromise. He left his legislative and control functions behind the Areopagus, left intact the old tribal division of Attica into four tribal tribes - phyla, although the tribal principle of dividing the territory was violated in Attica even before the reforms of Solon. To collect funds from the entire population for the construction of warships, it was divided into 48 territorial districts - navkrarii.

Eupatrides, for the most part, rich people, and according to the qualification reform of Solon, they could hold leadership positions. The relatively low level of the Attic economy is reflected in the fact that the laws of Solon established the property qualification not in money, but in natural products. Nevertheless, Solon's reforms were of great importance for the further socio-economic and political development of Athens and Attica.

The results of Solon's activities

The reforming activity of Solon in Athens took probably ten years of time (probably 594-584 BC). His laws (thesmoi) were carved in the ancient Greek way of writing on wooden boards (the lines went alternately from left to right and from right to left, making the bends of one continuous line, like the furrows of a cornfield; this manner of writing was called "furrow-like", bustrophedon). The boards with the laws of Solon were placed in the Acropolis under the protection of Pallas Athena, and now everyone could learn all the laws for himself. This completed the great work of reforming institutions and drafting laws. State life received a solid new foundation. Solon could be pleased with the way he fulfilled the duty he had assumed. By his just resolutions, he eliminated the discord of estates and political parties, delivered the villagers and poor townspeople from poverty and slavery, entrusted the protection of the independence and good of the homeland to the free owners of the land; he did everything possible to maintain the old forms of social life and to strengthen religious customs. Solon granted privileges to the nobility, which were to persuade these old families, who had hereditary governmental experience, in favor of new institutions, and at the same time he invested elements of progressive development into the state organization that he had transformed. Solon revived with a new spirit the old forms that constrained society with their dead immobility, modified them in accordance with the new needs of the people; he turned the barren field into a verdant field. He preserved the heritage of antiquity, but renewed it, made it capable of growth. However, although Solon did his best to preserve antiquity, he gave the state life such a character that it had to disappear. New generations turned their activities to the development of those elements of his legislation that were new, and they soon grew so much that they suppressed everything that remained of antiquity in the laws of Solon. But even in times of the most complete development of democratic institutions, the Athenians continued to love their past, proudly called Solon the founder of those institutions that the state had in their time. They liked to give their democratic institutions a character of antiquity and legitimacy, naming Theseus and Solon as their founders. The legislation of Solon, with all subsequent changes, really remained a solid foundation for the state structure of Attica.

Solon, with his laws, legalized those naturally developing socio-economic and political relations that were not given a course by the eupatrides who were in power before Solon. Solon's reforms were carried out most of all in the interests of the middle class and did not please many Eupatrides. The activities of Solon were also dissatisfied with the poorest layers of the demos, who demanded a wide redistribution of land with the withdrawal of part of it from the Eupatrides. But Solon did not go for it. Solon's census reform limited the rights of poor citizens.

Departure of Solon from Athens

Soon Solon was opposed by both the extreme representatives of the old nobility, infringed by him, and the lower strata of the demos, who found his reforms insufficient. Solon decided to retire for some time from the state, the head of which he had been for several years; he needed rest from his long labor. Solon wanted to satisfy his curiosity by traveling through the east; but the main motives for his departure were different: he wanted to give the new laws time to take root without the personal support of his personal authority; he wanted to get rid of the demands so that he would make changes in them. Taking from the citizens a promise to keep his laws for ten years, without changing anything in them, Solon retired from the fatherland. It is said that Solon, during his ten years of voluntary exile, visited the famous king in Asia Minor Lydia, Croesus, visited Egypt, listened to the stories of the learned Sais and Heliopolis priests about ancient times. He was in Cyprus, where later they honored the memory of this sage, who advised their king Philokipra to move to a beautiful coastal plain; the king obeyed and founded a new capital, named Solami - in honor of Solon. But Solon still had to experience many severe griefs - he was to see his homeland again tormented by the fierce contention of the parties, the most essential parts of his great cause destroyed. Returning from Cyprus, he found the Athenian state in a very agitated state. Some of the influential Eupatrides were at enmity among themselves; each was looking for allies, and soon three parties were formed: they were grouped around three strong Eupatridian clans, the Alcmeonids, the Philaides and the Peisistratids; each of them, led by a noble ambitious man, sought to seize all power in his own hands.

Solon during and after the seizure of power by Peisistratus

Returning to his homeland, Solon found that the enmity between the parties threatened the state with troubles. The parties, along with a political character, also had a geographical one; because Attica was threatened with disintegration into different states. Solon tried to turn the leaders of the parties away from their ambitious plans, urged the people to leave discord and maintain the existing order. Alcmeonides Megacles, the leader of the Paralias - that was the name of the party of merchants and sailors who lived along the western coast - did not please the common people, because he behaved arrogantly. The Philaeides Miltiades and Lycurgus, the leaders of the Pedaean party, noble people who owned large estates on the plain of Cephisus, were representatives of outdated principles, reactionaries alien to modern aspirations; so they weren't particularly scary either. But the more dangerous was the energetic Peisistratus, whose ambitious plans were ready to be helped by the Diacrians, harsh, strong, warlike settlers of the central, mountainous strip and eastern coast of Attica. In vain, Solon in his political poems warned citizens against the “cloudy words of an eloquent cunning man”, condemned “simpletons going where the fox leads them”, not noticing the “black meaning under flattering words”: in the elections of members of the government council in 560, adherents of Pisistratus won . Solon came with a spear and shield to the people's assembly and began to prove to the people that Pisistrat wanted to become a tyrant; Peisistratus' adherents told the people that this old man had gone mad. Solon exclaimed: “Soon my madness will become clear to the citizens, the truth will be revealed to them. As a calm sea is covered with waves from a storm, so the ship of the state will capsize from the pressure of the strong and the people will fall under the dominion of a tyrant before they have time to come to their senses. And so it turned out in practice. One day Peisistratus arrived in a chariot to the assembly of the people; he was covered in blood; he showed the people the wound; it was inflicted on him, he said, by enemies; his life is in danger from them. Solon understood this deception and, recalling the Odyssey episode (Song IV, verses 224 et seq.), exclaimed: “With a bad thought you play the role of Odysseus, son of Hippocrates; he wounded himself to deceive his enemies, you wounded yourself to deceive your fellow citizens. Everything was in vain. The government council proposed to the people, and the people agreed to allow Peisistratus, for their own safety, to have a detachment of bodyguards, 50 soldiers. He gathered a detachment more numerous and unexpectedly took possession of the Acropolis.

At the news of this, the leaders of the opponents of Peisistratus, Megacles and Lycurgus, fearing for their lives, fled from Attica. Solon urged the citizens to overthrow the "grown and strengthened tyranny." But his words were in vain; he laid down his weapons in the street, calling on the gods to witness that he “defended the fatherland and the law with all his might,” and submitted to the inevitable. The Alcmeonides went into exile, Lycurgus abstained from interfering in affairs, Miltiades went to Thracian Chersonesos. But Solon remained in Athens. Peisistratus showed great respect for him, asked for his advice; but he, rejecting all the courtesies of the usurper, refused to give advice to the tyrant. He told the citizens: “Having undergone misfortune due to your unreasonableness, you should not shift the blame on the gods. You yourself gave him strength; you gave him bodyguards and were rewarded for that with the shame of slavery.

Solon began to write a poem about the fabulous island of Atlantis; its material was probably the stories he heard from the Egyptian priests; but it was not brought to an end either by himself or by Plato, who was a descendant of his brother by mother.

Around this time, the Dolonki, a Thracian tribe that lived on the Thracian Chersonese, were strongly pressed by the Absinthians, who lived to the north of this peninsula. They sent their ancestors to Delphi to seek advice from the oracle. He told them that they should make the Greek who first invited them their king, on their way back, to rest with him. When they came to Athens on their way back, Miltiades, the son of Kypsel, sitting under a shed in front of his house, saw them walking with spears in their hands; by their clothes, he realized that they were foreigners, called them and invited them to rest with him. They told him the oracle's answer to them and invited him to become the king of their people. Miltiades, who did not like to live under the rule of Peisistratus, accepted their offer. Accompanied by many citizens of the aristocratic party, he sailed with dolonks to Chersonesos to establish a Greek state in the country of the barbarians. He built a wall across the isthmus, from sea to sea, to protect the peninsula from attacks by the Thracians. Chersonese became a good anchorage for Athenian merchant ships; otherwise the Megarians would have completely taken possession of the Hellespont. Solon approved of Miltiades' enterprise, and probably at his request the Lydian king Croesus stood up for Miltiades when the citizens of Lampsacus captured the founder of the Athenian colony on the Hellespont. Croesus threatened to "cut down like a pine" Lampsacus (originally called Pitiussa, "pine city"), and the Lampsacians freed Miltiades. He died in 525; Chersonesos Athenians began to honor him as a hero. His nephew Stesachorus, who succeeded him, was killed in 518 by one of the citizens of Lampsacus. The Dolonci recognized Miltiades III, the younger brother of Stesachorus, as their king.

Approval of the idea of ​​Miltiades to go to Chersonese is the last, as far as we know, case of Solon's participation in public affairs. Seeing the futility of his appeals to the Athenians to overthrow the tyrant, he sadly retired from political activity. In the circle of old and young friends, he quietly lived out the rest of his days in his house, tirelessly expanding his knowledge until his death. He died at the age of 80.

There is a legend that Solon went with Miltiades to Chersonesus, that he then lived for some time in Sardis and died in Cyprus, with one of his friends. If we accept this tradition, then the legendary meeting of Solon with Croesus turns out to be chronologically possible. But we do not have reliable evidence that Solon left Athens - According to an older story, his ashes were scattered on the island of Salamina.

Athens. Legislation of Solon

The writing of laws could not fully satisfy the Athenian peasantry and the trade and craft strata of the demos.

The situation of the rural population in Attica in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. was extremely difficult both financially and legally. This is evidenced by our main sources - Aristotle's "Athenian polity" and Plutarch's "Biography of Solon". Despite the well-known schematism and one-sidedness in the coverage of events, the very fact of the ruin of the Attic peasantry is beyond doubt. The main scourge of the village was usury, which intensified the dispossession of the peasants.

The land at that time was inalienable tribal property. It could not be sold, bequeathed at will, or repaid for debts. However, the Eupatrides, who were engaged in usury, found a way to circumvent these ancient regulations. They gave loans to community members secured by land and set up debt pillars with the name of the lender on the pledged plots. If the community member did not pay his debt on time, the land actually passed into the possession of the creditor, although it continued to be formally considered the property of the kind to which the debtor belonged. The community member continued to work on his land, but he gave a significant part of the harvest to the creditor - the actual owner of the land. Such debtor peasants were called pelates, or hextemors-six-dollars, since they had to give to the eupatrid owner either one-sixth or five-sixths of the harvested crop.

Aristotle reports that in Attica, on the eve of the salt reforms (beginning of the 6th century BC), a mass of small landowners was indebted to the rich Eupatrides. The debtors worked the land from the rich or took money on the security of personal freedom. Lenders, according to the harsh customs of debt bondage, had the right to enslave a faulty debtor and his family members and sell them outside of Attica. “It must be borne in mind,” says Aristotle in the Athenian polity, “that in general the state system (in Athens. - Ed.) Was oligarchic, but the main thing was that the poor were enslaved not only themselves, but also children and wives . They were called pelates and hektemors (six-dollars), because on such lease terms they cultivated the fields of the rich. All the land in general was in the hands of a few. At the same time, if these poor people did not pay rent, they could be taken into bondage both themselves and their children ”(II, 2).

The Eupatrides, who had concentrated political power in their hands and did not want to part with tribal orders, were opposed not only by the enslaved six-dwellers. The trade and handicraft strata of the population were also burdened by the political domination of the aristocracy. There was also a split among the Eupatrides themselves. The main source of enrichment for some aristocrats is maritime trade, and not agriculture, and they are willing to block with trade and craft circles, since they have common interests with them. Thus, the dominance of the Eupatrides causes discontent among all elements of the emerging policy, among them some of the "noble" who for some reason broke away from their class. In such conditions, it became clear to the most far-sighted group of Eupatrides that it was possible to keep power in their hands only at the cost of some concessions.

Aristotle testifies to the extent to which the situation in Athens was tense: “In view of the fact that such a state order existed and the majority of the people were enslaved by a few, the people rebelled against the nobles. The turmoil was strong, and for a long time some fought against others; finally, they jointly elected Solon as mediator and archon and entrusted him with the organization of the state ... ”(Aristotle. Athenian polity, 5. Per. S. I. Ruddig).

Approximately 25 years after Draco, in 594 BC. e., Solon appeared on the political arena. Solon was one of the figures who gained fame not only in Attica, but throughout Greece. It is no coincidence that he was ranked among the seven Greek sages. A descendant of the royal family of Medontides, Solon traveled a lot, visited all the most interesting places in Greece and Asia Minor. He had a philosophical mindset and poetic talent. The samples of his poems (elegies) that have come down to us reveal an extraordinary poetic talent in their creator. To correct his upset state, Solon, as the Eupatrides often did, was engaged in trade. According to Plutarch, he sought to get rich. “I really want to be rich, but I don’t want to get fat from ill-gotten gains.”

To the homeland, to Athens, the God-created city

I returned many sold into slavery...

The historical significance of the abolition of debt bondage, both in Attica and in other Greek policies where similar reforms were carried out, was that the further development of slavery was no longer due to a reduction in the number of free members of the community, which undermined the foundations of its social and economic life, but through the importation of foreign slaves.

In addition to sisachphia, according to Aristotle's Politia (II, 4.4), Solon issued a law restricting land ownership. However, it would be wrong to think that Solon, in his legislation, sought to undermine the economic power of the Eupatrides. It was this legislator who first allowed the alienation of land in Athens. Plutarch in the Biography of Solon writes: “Solon also became famous for the law on wills. Previously, this was impossible, but the property and household had to remain in the family of the deceased; he granted the right to everyone to give his property to whomever he wants, unless he has legitimate children, he ... made the property the property of the owners ... ”(Solon, 21).

Now the land could be mortgaged and alienated legally under the guise of a will. Thus, tribal ownership of land was replaced by private ownership. Permission to alienate land not only in fact, but also formally opened the way for the concentration of land and, above all, brought benefits to large landowners-eulatrids. By this, Solon gave the aristocracy the opportunity to reward themselves for the losses that they had to bear at first in connection with his agrarian reforms. To encourage the cultivation of horticultural crops and at the same time lower the price of bread, Solon allowed the export of olive oil abroad and banned the export of grain. This dealt a blow to grain speculation in Athens and improved the material situation of the urban population.

For preliminary consideration of cases submitted for discussion by the people's assembly, Solon established a council of four hundred (boule); 100 people were selected into it from each of the four phyla into which the population of Attica was divided. Aristotle writes on this occasion: “He further established a council of four hundred one hundred from each phylum, and appointed the Council of the Areopagites to protect the laws; as before, he (the Areopagus) had oversight of the state order, and he was obliged not only to monitor most of the most important state affairs, but, among other things, to bring the guilty to justice ... ”(Athenian polity, IV, 8) . Thus, the power of the Areopagus - the stronghold of the rule of the aristocracy - was not shaken.

It should be noted that, according to contemporaries, Solon's reforms were of a half-hearted, compromise nature. Neither the demos nor the Eupatrides were satisfied with them. The masses demanded the redistribution of land. Solon in one of his poems answers the discontented demos:

Who came to rob was full of great hopes

And I expected to find great wealth here,

I expected that, caressing gently, I would show a stern disposition.

But then they were mistaken, and now, angry for

Everyone is throwing sidelong glances at me, as if at an enemy.

There is no need: what I promised, I did with the help of the gods,

And I worked hard. I don't like it either...

By force to rule tyranny, as in the pastures of relatives

Give the poor and the noble an equal share

The political struggle sometimes escalated to such an extent that it was impossible to elect the highest magistrates - archons (hence the emergence of the concept of anarchy, which literally meant "time without an archon"). Aristotle writes: “In the fifth year after the reign of Solon, they could not choose an archon due to turmoil, and further in the fifth year, for the same reason, there was anarchy. And after that, after the same period of time, Damasius, elected archon, ruled for two years and two months, until he was removed from office by force ... In general, there were constant disagreements in mutual relations, and some of them put forward the cancellation of debts as the beginning and reason (they were just people who were ruined by it), others were dissatisfied with the state order, since the change made in it turned out to be serious, and some - out of mutual rivalry ”(Athenian polity, 13. Per. S. I. Radzig).