What was solons reform

It provided some protections for the common people. But his laws required severe punishments, often death, for most crimes. Today, we call harsh laws "Draconian. During this period, the problem of debt magnified the hatred of the commoners against the aristocrats.

Typically, a poor farmer had to borrow seeds and livestock from a rich landowner to plant his crops. The farmer was supposed to pay back this debt with a percentage of his harvest. In this way, the aristocrats grew richer as they extracted every bit of grain and land they could from the poor farmers. Those without land frequently had to work as tenants, renting farm plots from the rich estate owners.

Many of the farmers often could not grow enough food to both feed their families and pay the rent they owed. If the tenant could not pay his rent, the landowner could seize the farmer and his family and sell them into slavery. To avoid slavery, indebted persons sometimes fled Athens to other Greek city-states or even foreign lands. As more poor farmers fell into debt and slavery, their hatred of the aristocracy grew.

The poor and landless demanded that the large estates be broken up and redistributed to them. Civil war and the rise of another tyrant threatened the peace of Athens. Seeing disaster looming, both the aristocracy and common people of Athens supported the election of Solon as primary archon in B. The Athenians granted Solon, then about age 35, nearly unlimited powers to write new laws to end the conditions that had caused all the hatred and fear.

Solon was the son of an Athenian aristocrat, but apparently his father had lost the family fortune. As a result, the young Solon became a merchant to support himself and his family. He led a modest life and never sought great wealth. Solon also became the first noted poet of Athens. Much of what we know today about his ideas and views come from his poetry. The Athenians chose Solon to mediate their crisis for several reasons. The aristocrats liked that he was of noble birth.

The commoners trusted him as an honest man who worked for a living. He was also known as a patriot who had rallied Athenians to defeat another city-state for possession of the nearby island of Salamis. Above all, Solon had the reputation of being moderate in his views. Solon blamed much of the turmoil in Athens on the greed of the aristocratic estate owners. He charged they were about "to destroy a great city by their thoughtlessness.

In other words, he refused to take sides and looked for a middle way out of the crisis. Solon rejected the notion that a god, a king, a tyrant, a single class, or even he himself could save Athens.

Instead, he believed that all citizens, rich and poor, were responsible for achieving the common good of the city.

There is debate about what this actually meant. But most historians agree that Solon restored the land the poor farmers had lost to their aristocratic creditors. In addition, Solon granted amnesty to those who had fled into exile because of their indebtedness.

He rejected, however, seizing the great estates of the aristocrats and redistributing their land to the poor. Next, Solon turned to reforming the government of Athens. He believed there was a "right order" for governing the city.

First, he reorganized Athenians into four new classes based on their wealth. Noble birth alone had been the basis of the old aristocracy. For the first time, however, he opened up membership in the assembly to all Athenian citizens, even the poor. The assembly also passed laws proposed by the archons.

Rather, it was an attempt to balance political power among the economic classes. He explained his purpose in one of his poems:. To the people I have given such honor as is sufficient, neither taking away nor granting them more.

For those who had power and were great in riches, I greatly cared that they should suffer nothing wrong. Thus I stood, holding my strong shield over both, and I did not allow either side to prevail against justice. One prohibited dowries to stop marriages based on economic gain. Marriage, he wrote, should be for "pure love, kind affection, and birth of children. Other civil laws regulated the water supply to farms and even the distance between beehives for honey production.

To prevent shortages of food, he banned the export of all farm produce except olive oil. Solon reduced the number of crimes punished by the death penalty. He permitted, however, a husband to kill an adulterer caught in the act. He made penalties for theft heavier if committed at night or in a public place.

In addition, he forbade publicly speaking evil of either the living or the dead. Solon also attempted to make the court system fairer to the lower classes. He made it possible for any citizen to step forward and seek justice for someone legally wronged. Before only the actual victim of wrongdoing could make a complaint. Under the old system, the powerful could easily threaten weak and poor victims to discourage them from complaining. Most important, Solon gave the assembly, made up of all the classes, the authority to act as an appeals court.

This was a check on the power of judges elected by the wealthy classes. I did those things with my power, bringing into harmony force and justice, and I finished them as I promised; and I made the laws equal for the poor man and the powerful fitting impartial justice on each.

Some asked Solon to remain in power as a tyrant to explain and perhaps change what he had decreed. But he believed that it was now up to the Athenians, not him, to make the new system work. Thus, Solon reinforced his idea about citizen responsibility. The Contribution of Helots. The Existence of Spartan Boys. The Equals. The Spartan Common Messes. Women at Sparta. Land Ownership at Sparta. Reproduction at Sparta. The Obligations of Spartans. Tyranny in the City-States. Tyranny at Corinth.

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