The Athenian Constitution

Question 1

In what year did Solon carry out his reforms?

Answer 1

594

Question 2

What were Solon’s reforms called?

Answer 2

Seisachteia

Question 3

Who was Solon?

Answer 3

• By birth one of the most distinguished men in the country, but he belonged to the middle class
• He liberated the people by prohibiting loans on the person of the debtor

Question 4

• The shaking of burdens, cancellation of debts
• These people borrowed money and bought great extent of land; when the cancellation of debts was put through, they became very rich
• This was the origin of those who later were considered to be of ancient wealth

Answer 4

Seisachteia

Question 5

What were the names of Solon’s 4 classes?

Answer 5

• Pentakosiomedemnoi
• Hippeis (those who had ability to keep a horse for the cavalry)
• Zeutgai (men who could afford to own a team od oxen)
• Thetes

They were ranked according to agricultural wealth

Question 6

Joining together of towns and villages of Attica into a political unity

Answer 6

Synoecism

Question 7

Where were Solon’s laws set up and why were they set up there?

Answer 7

• His laws were inscribed on wooden tablets called axones that were set up in the agora, where everyone could see them
• They were set up in public, so that every citizen knew they had rights, even tho they couldn’t read, they had the tablet as proof

Question 8

An Athenian noble and a previous victor of the Olympic games in 640 BC who attempted a coup with support from Megara, where his father-in-law, Theagenes was tyrant

Answer 8

Cylon

Question 9

• Sixth partners
• Sharecroppers
• They were called this because they paid a rent equal to 1/6th of their produce to a wealthy landowner, and failed debtors, who had borrowed against their property and themselves and couldn’t repay their debts

Answer 9

Hektemoroi

Question 10

Solon created a new class called the ____ or “500-measure men,” - Consisted of those whose estates produced at least 500 medimnoi (“bushels”) of produce, any combination of oil, wine, or grain

Answer 10

pentakosiomedimnoi

Question 11

• An Athenian tyrant was a distant relative of Solon
• Strengthened economy, offered land and loans to the needy
• Expanded opportunities for jobs and housing in the city, Athens’ population grew, and those who lived in the urban area found it easier to vote
• His support of religion and the arts enhanced both his own reputation and that of the city of Athens
• Building projects provided jobs for the poor while focusing attention on the city as the cultural center of Attica

Answer 11

Pisistratus

Question 12

The Athenian general who defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE

Answer 12

Militades

Question 13

The sons of Pisistratus who were co-tyrants

Answer 13

Hippias and Hipparchus

Question 14

• Two lovers who were known for their assasination of Hipparchus
• Hipparchus insulted ____sister by forbidding her to carry a basket in the Panathenaic procession. Outraged at the suggestion that his sister was not a virgin, and his lover ____ plotted to assassinate the tyrants at the procession
• Results were devastating for Athens: paranoid autocracy of Hippias replaced the benign government of 2 aristocrats

Answer 14

Harmodius and Aristogiton

Question 15

One of the wealthiest and most politically important clans in Athens; a kind of Classical Greek equivalent to the Kennedys in the US

Answer 15

Alcmaeonids

Question 16

• Leader of the Alcamaeonid family
• Created far-reaching (extensive) reforms intended to break the power of rich families
• transferred the civic functions of the 4 ancient Ionian tribes to 10 new tribes established on a novel basis
• Divided Attica into 3 broad geographical areas: the city, the coast, and the plain. Each area subdivided into 10 trittyes (thirds), composed of residential units called demes (villages or townships)

Answer 16

Cleisthenes

Question 17

Based on the tribes Cleisthenes made, each would provide 50 members and it was important that they were diverse

Answer 17

Council of 500

Question 18

• Laid the basis for democracy through eliminating debt slavery
• Established the Council of 500
• Divided the population into 4 classes
• Tried to strengthen the fragile agricultural base of the Athenian economy by promoting commerce (around 590s)
• He facilitated trade with other states and encouraged olive cultivation and prohibited the export of grain, because it was needed at home

Answer 18

Solon’s reforms

Question 19

• Homicide laws that were severe, setting forth death as the death penalty even for minor offences
• Replaced the family and kin with the state as the arbiter (judge) of justice in cases of intentional and unintentional killings
• Before this law, bereaved family members could avenge the deaths of their relatives. This law transformed this so that they had trials in which the next of kin, prosecuted the killer before magistrates
• were severe, setting forth death as the penalty even for minor offences

Answer 19

Draco’s Laws

Question 20

What was Solon’s more revolutionary contribution to the Athenian judicial system?

Answer 20

Any male citizen could bring an indictment (charge) if he believed a crime had been committed (not just the victim or the victim’s relative)

Question 21

A gathering place

Answer 21

Agora

Question 22

How did Pisistratus become a tyrant?

Answer 22

He inflicted wounds upon himself and drove his cart into Athens alleging his opponents had attacked him. Taken in by his story the Athenians granted him his own bodyguard, which he then used to seize control of the Acropolis.

Question 23

Why is Marathon important to Greek history?

Answer 23

• The Persian defeat at Marathon stopped the Persian Empire’s western expansion, and ensured continued Greek independence. This allowed Greek ideas to further develop and spread, greatly influencing the Western world even today
• According to legend, an Athenian messenger was sent from Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 25 miles (40 km), and there he announced the Persian defeat before dying of exhaustion. This tale became the basis for the modern marathon race

Question 24

“There are many bad rich men…while many good men are poor”
He went on, he would not exchange his virtue (arete) for the wealthy, “for virtue endures, while wealth belongs now to one man, now to another.”

Answer 24

Solon said this
he decryed both the selfishness of the rich and the revolutionary demands of the poor, he identified wealth as an unstable and problematic force in human affairs

Question 25

“The common (demos) I have granted privilege enough, not lessening their estate nor giving more; the influential, who were envied for their wealth, I have saved them from all mistreatment too. I took my stand with strong shield covering both sides, allowing neither unjust dominance.”

Answer 25

Solon
Committed to defending the rights of the elite, both to their land and to a preemminent role in government

Question 26

Who redeemed and brought home Athenians who had been sold as slaves outside Attica?

Answer 26

Solon

Question 27

Refers to a pool of prospective jurors
They would serve in courts set up to receive appeals of the judicial decisions of the archons and try the cases of magistrates whom someone wished to accuse of misconduct in the office

Answer 27

Heliaia

Question 28

What happened at the Battle of Marathon?

Answer 28

• Greeks and Persians met on fields of Marathon in 490 BCE
• Persian army outnumbered Greeks, but were slow and overconfident
• The 2 armies approached each other at a casual pace, when Greeks suddenly broke into a sprint. This caught the Persians off guard and they were forced into full hand-to-hand combat
• After a few hours, the Persian ranks broke, many of them running towards the safety of their ships
• 6,000 Persians fell, 196 Greeks fell

Question 29

• An Athenian politician and general whose emphasis on naval power and military skills were important during the Persian Wars

Answer 29

Themistocles

Question 30

An Athenian historian and general who wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the struggle between Athens and Sparta in 5th century BC

Answer 30

Thucydides