CLST 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Basileus, Pnyx, Epistates

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLST 102
• Professor: Fabio Colivicchi

Document Summary

In the 590s bce reforms of solon, credited by later sources as the origin of democracy". His constitution was based on wealth in the form of land ownership: the citizens were divided into 4 classes. The highest offices were reserved to the upper classes. However, the poor did have some political and judicial power. Solon was also very interested in the problem of land ownership, trying to avoid the concentration of land in the hands of few. Athens was not a democracy yet, those principles were basic for the later political developments. Reorganization of the citizenry into new administrative units called phylai (tribes). Each tribe was made of a number of demoi, located in different areas of the athenian territory (the coast, the hinterland, and the city) Introduced a new council, the boule, which played a very important role in athenian democracy. Isonomia = equal right of all citizens to exercise their political rights.