The Governments of Greek City-States

For most of history, humans have been ruled by either a monarchy - leadership by a single person - or an oligarchy - leadership by a select few. This was as much the case in Ancient Greece as anywhere else. Yet the Greek city-states were different.

Around the time of the Bronze Age collapse, city-states across Greece overthrew their kings and established constitutional governments. While some city-states retained the position of the king, the king's power was greatly reduced, often purely religious or even symbolic. More importantly, the king's power derived not from a divine right to rule but from the constitution.

Location of Athens in Greece

Though constitutions might be mythologized, and some, like the Spartans, might consider their constitution sacred, for the most part, constitutions were still considered to be works of men, and therefore could be changed and adapted to meet the needs of the city-state.

The coups that overthrew Greek monarchies mostly stemmed from the nobility, who, like Achilles in 'The Iliad,' refused to accept a subservient role to anyone. As such, it is no surprise that most Greek states took the form of oligarchy, rule by a few powerful aristocratic families.

However, the vying of these aristocratic families could paralyze the system of government and even lead to civil war. To counter this effect, most Greek constitutions made room for a temporary, absolute ruler. They called this position a tyrant. In times of crisis or civil war, Greek city-states would elect a tyrant to steer the state until his term ended or the crisis had passed. Understandably, several tyrants refused to relinquish their positions of absolute power at the appointed time, and some ambitious noblemen did not wait to get elected to seize power. Thus, the city-states of Greece were forever in flux between the monarchic rule of tyrants and the oligarchic rule of the aristocracy.

Around 590 BCE, the Athenians were in the middle of an economic, social, political and moral crisis. On the economic side, Athens had grown to such a scale that it was barely able to feed itself. Small farmers found themselves buried in debt, represented by a stone pillar erected on the debtor's field called a horos.

On the social side, the only way for a poor person to obtain a loan was for him to put himself and his family down as collateral. As a result, more and more people were finding themselves in debt slavery.

On the political side, the vying of aristocratic families was tearing the city-state apart. The city of Athens was run by nine archons. These archons were elected for one-year terms by a council of former archons called the Areopagus. Archonships were available only to members of the aristocracy. These aristocrats used their position and power to benefit only their own family. The only political body capable of calling these people to task was the Areopagus. Since the only check on aristocratic power was other aristocrats, the needs of the rest of the population went unnoticed.

Solon's Government

Stone pillars called horos were placed on the fields of debtors

To overcome these problems, the city of Athens elected a man named Solon to serve as tyrant. Solon acted decisively. To solve Athens' economic woes, he encouraged the planting and export of olive oil, and forbade the sale of other foodstuffs abroad.

To solve the social problems, Solon abolished debt slavery and declared it illegal for one Athenian to own another. He also went a step further and wiped the slate clean, canceling all former debts and doing away with the hated horos. Yet it was Solon's political solutions that really made an impact.

To undermine the power of aristocratic families, Solon changed the qualifications for political power from lineage to wealth. You no longer had to be of a noble family to run for office, so long as you were rich. This did not disenfranchise the aristocratic families, as they were usually wealthy, but it did extend political power to a much larger group.

To ensure that the poor had a voice in politics as well, Solon expanded membership to the Athenian general assembly. He allowed all citizens of the realm to vote, whereas before the vote had been limited to the citizens of the city of Athens itself. He also gave the general assembly real power. He gave them the final decision of electing public officials and created a council of citizens to act as judges. Finally, the citizens of Athens had a way to call their politicians to account.

Having completed his reforms, Solon relinquished his power and left the city, making the Athenians promise to hold to his system for 10 years before making any changes. Yet in less than five years, the Athenian aristocrats had managed to undermine this system once again, and Solon's cousin Peisistratos seized control. Though Peisistratos ruled fairly, shared wealth and power and generally tried to protect the poor from the rich, his son, Hippias, was not so benign and began a reign of terror.

Cleisthenes' First Democracy

In 510 BCE, Cleisthenes, the son of a prominent aristocrat and political leader, with the help of the Spartans, drove Hippias from Athens. Like Solon, Cleisthenes was more interested in reforming the system than in holding power. His program of reform and justice for the common people upset the aristocratic families. Under the leadership of Isagoras, the aristocrats drove Cleisthenes and his allies from the city, again with the aid of Spartans.