was appointed to mediate between the opposing forces and to formulate laws that would bring about
stability. This man was Solon, and his appointment appears to have taken place in 594 BC. In addition to
being a political figure and a lawgiver, Solon was also a poet of considerable distinction, and we are
fortunate that a number of lengthy quotations from Solon’s poems survive, some of which are concerned
with his political and legislative reforms. He claims that he restrained the ambition of the wealthy as well
as the immoderate demands of the poor, steering a middle course that ensured justice for all Athenians.
Further, he repatriated many Athenians who had been sold abroad into slavery and who had been away
from Athens for so long that they no longer spoke the Attic dialect, and he made it illegal for such debt
slavery to occur in future.
“If some other man had held the whip-hand as I did, some greedy and devious man, he would not
have restrained the rabble. If I had been willing to go along, now with the wishes of one side, now
with what their opponents thought best, this polis would have seen the loss of many lives. For this
reason I kept my guard up on every side; a wary wolf I was, surrounded by hounds.” (Solon,
fragment 36.20–7)The distinguishing feature of Solon’s reforms was his restructuring of political power in Athens, which
caused him to be regarded in antiquity as the founder of Athenian democracy. He divided the citizen
population of Athens into four categories, distinguished by the quantity of produce that their land yielded.
Ownership of land was therefore, as at Sparta, the basis for participation in government. But, while in
Sparta all landholders were nominally of equal status, Solon’s categories acknowledged the unequal
distribution of wealth and were designed to apportion political power in accordance with wealth. This
was the provision that would have been acceptable to the more affluent members of the polis. So, for
example, only members of the highest property class were eligible to fill the most important state offices,
including that of treasurer, while members of the lowest class were not eligible for any state office.
Members of the lowest class, which included all those below hoplite status, were, however, eligible to
participate in and vote in the assembly of all Athenian citizens. Further, since the categories created by
Solon were based on wealth rather than birth, the possibility of upward (as well, of course, as
downward) mobility was built into the system. Ownership of land was not a requirement for citizenship,
as it was in Sparta and many other poleis, and the lowest class of citizens in Athens included many men
whose status would otherwise have precluded any participation in state affairs. Other measures
implemented by Solon that were acceptable to the less wealthy citizens involved the expansion of citizen
rights with regard to the judicial system, including the right of appeal “to the people” of a decision made
by an officer of the state. Of particular importance is the fact that Solon’s reforms were made public in
written form, and were thus available to all who could read (or had access to a person who was both
literate and trustworthy).
Other Persons: Slavery and Democracy
All of these “democratic” reforms were concerned primarily with the citizen body of Athens. It should not
be forgotten that there existed also a substantial body of non-citizens, including a large number of slaves.
Slavery is a universal feature of life in ancient Greece (and among ancient societies generally), although
the extent to which different poleis relied upon slavery, and the type of slavery found in different poleis,
could vary considerably. In Sparta, as we have seen, the vast majority of slaves were owned not by
individual citizens but by the Spartan state. There were also state-owned slaves in Athens: For example,
in the fifth century BC, law-enforcement authorities had at their disposal a squad of Scythian archers who