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Cleisthenes

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508 BC: set Athens on democratic footing

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came from the Alcmaeonidae [alk-MEE-an-id-igh] clan

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was originally mistrusted because of impiety and sacrilege committed by Megacles

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632 BC: Megacles was the archon eponymous was convicted of killing Cylon's supporters and was exiled from the city

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story of revolution of Athens

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shows how controversial this family was

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Herodotus tells us

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Alcmaeonids has furnished a new temple at Delphi

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had bribed the priestess there

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anytime a Spartan came, the priestess should say "free Athens"

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this worked for Cleomenes [klee-OM-ah-neez]

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first supported Isogarus

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undertook a wholesale reconstruction of the Athenian constitution

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divides Attica

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city

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coast

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inland

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each of the three areas were divided into ten trittyes

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each trittys was made up of one or more demes

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the heart of the system

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the demes were the preexisting neighborhoods

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in the city a deme might be a block or a neighborhood

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in a country a deme was more of an area

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ten new tribes (phylai) were created

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each consisting of three trittyes, one in each area

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each one named after a hero

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this obliterated the local power of the old clans

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Athens was redefined on a geographical basis

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no longer the property classes that Solon had set up

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each tribe should represent a cross section of the population

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each roughly equal in size

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deme

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most important in the life of the individual

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deme identity was what made you a citizen

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when males turned 18, an adult recommended you, you were scrutinized, then inducted and became citizen

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your deme name became part of your name

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had meetings

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phyle

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official identifications

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officers, treasury

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comprised the new council

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there was a shadowy council of 400 that Solon had created

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boule

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tribes made up the new boule

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500 citizens

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50 selected by lot every year from each tribe

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served as a new education center

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frame legislation

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debated and voted on by the assembly

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"it seemed good to the people"

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send out ambassadors

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final power to declare war stayed with the assembly

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an important new democratic invention

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a group of 500 was a bit big to connect business

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ten units of year

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one tribe would serve for a tenth of the year

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all of this was a mechanism which draws all citizens into governing their own state

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a massive undertaking

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must have required some kind of citizen

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deme identification was passed from father to son

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even if you moved

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assembly

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included all citizens

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guaranteed freedom of speech

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to persuade, you had to speed publicly and well

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magistrates

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9 archons

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10 Strategoi (generals)

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important

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archons served for just one year, then examination

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generals could be reelected without limit

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Pericles was never an archon but was a general over and over

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great speaker

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during the Greek Golden Age (5th century BC Greece), Athenian military and external affairs were mostly entrusted to the ten strategoi who were elected each year by the ten tribes of citizens

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popular courts

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citizens juries to hear cases

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ostracism

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introduced by Cleisthenes

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an official process

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needed to have a quorum of 6000

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each had a pot shard

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each wrote a name on it

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the citizen that got the most votes had to leave Athens for ten years

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clearly meant to deter tyranny

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according to Aristotle, one of the most democratic parts of Cleisthenes reforms

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these reforms much has required a large amount of logistical preparation

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we have almost no evidence as to how it was conducted

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was a pivotal moment in history

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usually today we speak of more gradually changes in history

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but the Athenian revolution and the Cleisthenic reforms

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this was new and massive change

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in society and politics

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laid the foundation for democracy which has been emulated in Western culture

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lasted in this polis for at least 200 years