The American Founding Fathers did not look to ancient Athens
as a model for democracy – instead they looked to the Roman “republic”. Perhaps, if the Greeks had not executed Socrates,
things might have turned out differently. Similarly, if slaves, foreigners, and
women were not excluded from Athenian citizenship, the ancient use of the word
“democracy” would have been more apt.
Nevertheless, the Athenian experience continues to stimulate minds to
this day, despite current reactionary developments across the globe.
In 594 BC Solon was elected leader and mediator of ancient
Athens, a period of intense economic and social strife. He was known by his poetry as someone who could
dispute “against each side on behalf of the other.”
And so, there was something of the ‘middle-way’
method to Solon’s approach two centuries before Socrates arrived on the
scene. Solon was a reconciler, and he
was responsible for framing the Athenian Constitution as well as other laws which
worked to broaden civic responsibility by making office holding a function of
property as opposed to lineage. It also appears
that Solon preferred “justice for all” over democracy per se, otherwise
known as government by the people.
Neither side was left satisfied by Solon’s settlement of
disputes which gave rise to the seizure of power – on three separate occasions
– by Pisistratus. His first coup was in
561, his second in 556 – each lasting only for a few months – and his third was
in 546, which lasted almost 19 years. Pisistratus’s regime was later regarded as a
“Golden Age”
which didn’t turn truly oppressive until the arrival of his two sons,
Hipparchus and Hippias, following Pisistratus’s death.
Here is an account by Herodotus which relates how Spartan
intervention helped overthrow Athenian tyranny:
[62] … I must proceed with the matter whereof I
was intending before to speak; to wit, the way in which the Athenians got quit
of their tyrants. Upon the death of Hipparchus, Hippias, who was king, grew
harsh towards the Athenians; and the Alcaeonidae, an Athenian family which had
been banished by the Pisistratidae, joined the other exiles, and endeavoured to
procure their own return, and to free Athens, by force. They seized and
fortified Leipsydrium above Paeonia, and tried to gain their object by arms; but
great disasters befell them, and their purpose remained unaccomplished. They
therefore resolved to shrink from no contrivance that might bring them success;
and accordingly they contracted with the Amphictyons to build the temple which
now stands at Delphi, but which in those days did not exist. Having done this,
they proceeded, being men of great wealth and members of an ancient and
distinguished family, to build the temple much more magnificently than the plan
obliged them. Besides other improvements, instead of the coarse stone whereof
by the contract the temple was to have been constructed, they made the facings
of Parian marble.
[63] These same men, if we may believe the
Athenians, during their stay at Delphi persuaded the Pythoness by a bribe to
tell the Spartans, whenever any of them came to consult the oracle, either on
their own private affairs or on the business of the state, that they must free
Athens. So the Lacedaemonians, when they found no answer ever returned to them
but this, sent at last Anchimolius, the son of Aster - a man of note among
their citizens - at the head of an army against Athens, with orders to drive
out the Pisistratidae, albeit they were bound to them by the closest ties of
friendship. For they esteemed the things of heaven more highly than the things
of men. The troops went by sea and were conveyed in transports. Anchimolius
brought them to an anchorage at Phalerum; and there the men disembarked. But
the Pisistratidae, who had previous knowledge of their intentions, had sent to
Thessaly, between which country and Athens there was an alliance, with a
request for aid. The Thessalians, in reply to their entreaties, sent them by a
public vote 1000 horsemen, under the command of their king, Cineas, who was a
Coniaean. When this help came, the Pisistratidae laid their plan accordingly:
they cleared the whole plain about Phalerum so as to make it fit for the movements
of cavalry, and then charged the enemy's camp with their horse, which fell with
such fury upon the Lacedaemonians as to kill numbers, among the rest
Anchimolius, the general, and to drive the remainder to their ships. Such was
the fate of the first army sent from Lacedaemon, and the tomb of Anchimolius
may be seen to this day in Attica; it is at Alopecae (Foxtown), near the temple
of Hercules in Cynosargos.
[64] Afterwards, the Lacedaemonians despatched a
larger force against Athens, which they put under the command of Cleomenes, son
of Anaxandridas, one of their kings. These troops were not sent by sea, but
marched by the mainland. When they were come into Attica, their first encounter
was with the Thessalian horse, which they shortly put to flight, killing above
forty men; the remainder made good their escape, and fled straight to Thessaly.
Cleomenes proceeded to the city, and, with the aid of such of the Athenians as
wished for freedom, besieged the tyrants, who had shut themselves up in the
Pelasgic fortress.
[65] And now there had been small chance of the
Pisistratidae falling into the hands of the Spartans, who did not even design
to sit down before the place, which had moreover been well provisioned
beforehand with stores both of meat and drink, - nay, it is likely that after a
few days' blockade the Lacedaemonians would have quitted Attica altogether, and
gone back to Sparta - had not an event occurred most unlucky for the besieged,
and most advantageous for the besiegers. The children of the Pisistratidae were
made prisoners, as they were being removed out of the country. By this calamity
all their plans were deranged, and - as the ransom of their children - they
consented to the demands of the Athenians, and agreed within five days' time to
quit Attica. Accordingly they soon afterwards left the country, and withdrew to
Sigeum on the Scamander, after reigning thirty-six years over the Athenians. By
descent they were Pylians, of the family of the Neleids, to which Codrus and
Melanthus likewise belonged, men who in former times from foreign settlers
became kings of Athens. And hence it was that Hippocrates came to think of
calling his son Pisistratus: he named him after the Pisistratus who was a son
of Nestor. Such then was the mode in which the Athenians got quit of their
tyrants. …
[78] Thus did the Athenians increase in strength.
And it is plain enough, not from this instance only, but from many everywhere,
that freedom is an excellent thing since even the Athenians, who, while they
continued under the rule of tyrants, were not a whit more valiant than any of
their neighbours, no sooner shook off the yoke than they became decidedly the
first of all. These things show that, while undergoing oppression, they let
themselves be beaten, since then they worked for a master; but so soon as they
got their freedom, each man was eager to do the best he could for himself. So
fared it now with the Athenians.
