Around 600 BC, there's a very widespread social, economic and political crisis in the Greek world. Apart from its size, I think Athens at that point was quite similar to many other city-states. A major source for the Athenian political system before Solon actually has a constitution of Draco. And so, that creates almost inevitably a sort of closed oligarchy. Some families seem to call themselves or have called themselves the Upatradine, the descendants of good father. But whether that is true or just advertising on their part, it's hard to tell.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Solon, who was elected archon or chief magistrate of Athens in 594 BC: some see him as the father of Athenian democracy.
In the first years of the 6th century BC, the city state of Athens was in crisis. The lower orders of society were ravaged by debt, to the point where some were being forced into slavery. An oppressive law code mandated the death penalty for everything from murder to petty theft. There was a real danger that the city could fall into either tyranny or civil war.
Solon instituted a programme of reforms that transformed Athens’ political and legal systems, its society and economy, so that later generations referred to him as Solon the Lawgiver.
With
Melissa Lane
Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University
Hans van Wees
Grote Professor of Ancient History at University College London
and
William Allan
Professor of Greek and McConnell Laing Tutorial Fellow in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature at University College, University of Oxford
Producer Luke Mulhall