Solon
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Solon looks sad (Greek: Σόλων, ca. 638 BC–558 BC. Pronounced sŏ'lōn) was a famous Athenian lawmaker and Lyric poet.
What a sad sack Solon was
Life and Political Ordinances
He was the son of Execestides. He first worked as a foreign trader, and his abilities as a poet had him lauded as one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
In the mid-590s BC he worked to promote renewed conflict against Megara over Salamis. In 594 BC he was made eponymous archon of Attica, in order to subdue the civil disorder that was rampant there. He introduced a set of ordinances, seisachtheia, that did much to improve conditions. His ordinances were such a success that he was given the task of rewriting the constitution, creating what was later called the Solonian Constitution, which incorporated the first elements of formalised civil democracy in world history.
He repealed most of the laws of Draco and introduced a timokratia, an oligarchy with a sliding scale of rights determined by property and productive capacity, dividing the population into four classes:
- Pentakosiomedimnoi ("500-bushel men", i.e., those who produced 500 bushels of produce per year),
- Hippeis (knights, i.e., those who could equip themselves and one cavalry horse for war, valued at 300 bushels per year),
- Zeugitai (tillers, i.e., owners of at least one pair of beasts of burden, valued at 200 bushels per year) and
- Thetes (manual laborers);
N.G.L. Hammond supposes that he instituted a graduated tax upon these upper classes at a rate of 6:3:1, with the lowest class of thetes paying nothing in taxes but being ineligible for elected office.
Solon wrote the laws as a compromise between oligarchy and democracy, tailored to what the ordinary people and the elites would both accept. After having his constitution accepted, Solon exacted the promise of the city that his constitution would not change unless he were to change it himself, and then he left Athens for over ten years, travelling to Egypt, Cyprus and Lydia. This way he assured his work would have a fair chance to show its worth. During his trip to Egypt he visited the temple of Neith in the district of Sais. The priests of Neith gave him information on their old history records, which Solon wrote down in manuscript. It was this manuscript that Plato used in his dialogues Timaios and Critias.
He is also presented by historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus in his historical accounts as a comment on the human condition. When in Lydia, he offended Croesus when asked, "Who is the happiest man you have ever seen?" by answering, "I can speak of no one as happy until they are dead," instead of with a compliment, as Croesus was accustomed to. [1] It was recalling this story which, again according to Herodotus, saved Croesus from execution when his kingdom was overcome by Cyrus' invading Persians.
Solon returned to Athens in the 550s BC during the reign of the tyrant Pisistratus. The tyrant retained some of the constitution and showed Solon considerable respect, either out of respect for the older man's wisdom, or out of regard for their former love.[2] Solon died soon afterwards.
Accomplishments
Politics
He introduced the trial by jury; military obligations were codified based on class; the Council of the Four Hundred (or Boule) and the Areopagus were established as the main consultative and administrative bodies; he introduced many new laws, especially those covering debt and taxation; he remodelled the calendar; he created a court for the lowest classes called the Heliaia and allowed it to audit those passing from the office of archon for each year; and he regulated weights and measures.
Solon also encouraged a growth in industry by offering citizenship to skilled foreign labourers and created a law which ensured Fathers, unless Farmers, passed on the skills of their profession to their sons. His laws were written onto special wooden cylinders and placed in the Acropolis.
Pederasty
He is also credited with being the founder of the pederastic educational tradition in Athens. He composed poetry praising the love of boys (see "Quotes" below) and instituted legislation to control abuses against freeborn boys. Specifically, he excluded slaves from the wrestling halls and from pederasty.[3] His eromenos was the future tyrant, Peisistratus.[4]
Goedde summary
In 594 BCE, the Athenian government asked an aristocrat named Solon to rewrite laws for the city-state. This rewrite was named “Solon’s Reform.” Solon’s main concern while writing the laws was to limit the power of the wealthy elites, because he suspected that if the wealthy gained too much power, then the poorer would get jealous and fight the rich. He instead wanted to protect the poor and the weak from being harmed or mistreated by the elites. He believed that was the most important aspect for a government to focus on. In order to carry out his idea of justice, Solon made a law that would allow people in debt to be sold into slavery illegal. He also made several other laws illegal as well. His laws led to the development of democracy, justice and individual accomplishments.
Quotes
- "Humans are the creatures of pure chance."
- ". . . while one loves boys among the lovely flowers of youth, desiring their thighs and sweet mouth."[5]
- I grow old learning something new every day.
- In giving advice seek to help, not to please, your friend.
- Let no man be called happy before his death. Till then, he is not happy, only lucky.
- No man is happy; he is at best fortunate.
- Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.
- Rich people without wisdom and learning are but sheep with golden fleeces.
- Society is well governed when its people obey the magistrates, and the magistrates obey the law.
- Speech is the mirror of action.