The reforms of Solon

about 594 BC Athens (Greece)

In short

In Athens many poor farmers had ended up as slaves because they could not pay their debts. The wise Solon, chosen as archon, a chief official, cancelled those debts and banned enslaving people who could not pay back a loan. He then divided citizens into four classes according to wealth, no longer just according to birth. He also wrote poems to explain his laws.

Why it matters His reforms were Athens' first step towards democracy.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Solon”

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Illustration: The reforms of Solon (Athens (Greece)) — Illustration created with AI for Storiascopio

Where: Athens (Greece)

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The story

Athens on the brink of revolt

At the start of the 6th century BC Athens was a city in crisis. The land belonged mainly to a few noble families, and the poorest farmers worked fields that were not theirs, having to hand over part of the harvest to the owners: according to tradition, a sixth. When there was a famine they had nothing to eat, and so they asked for loans. The problem was the security: those who had nothing to pledge promised themselves and their families. If they could not repay the debt, the creditor could turn them into his slaves. An Athenian citizen, born free, could thus find himself a servant in his creditor's house.

The city was at risk of civil war. The poor wanted the land to be shared out again, the rich did not want to give up anything. The Athenians then looked for a man everyone could trust: Solon.

Who Solon was

Solon was born around 638 BC and had made a name as a poet: his elegies, poems on moral and political themes, were recited in the square. One of them, about the reconquest of the island of Salamis, was recited in the agora. When he was chosen as archon, one of the city's supreme magistrates, he had a reputation as a balanced man, able to speak to rich and poor alike. Historians date his archonship to around 594 BC: some sources give 594/593, others 591 or 590. That is why the site says “about 594”.

The “shaking off of burdens”

The most famous reform is called the “seisachtheia”, which means “shaking off of burdens”: debts, a weight on the shoulders of the poor, were in some way lightened. A law forced creditors to give up existing debts and forbade, for the future, lending money with a person's freedom as security. Scholars do not agree on how this was done: according to Plutarch the debts were cancelled, while other ancient authors claimed that Solon had changed the value of the coinage, so that debts weighed less. In any case, the Athenians who had fallen into slavery for debt were freed.

Four classes by income

Solon also changed the way power was shared. Before, birth was what mainly counted: those with noble ancestors gave the orders. With his reform the citizens were divided into four classes according to how much they harvested each year from their fields. The richest, the pentacosiomedimni, produced more than 500 “medimnoi” of grain. Next came the knights (from 300 to 500 medimnoi, or those who could keep a horse), then the zeugitai (from 200 to 300) and finally the thetes, the poorest, with less than 200. The highest offices were reserved for the richer classes, but the thetes, who before had counted for nothing, entered the assembly and the courts. It was a step forward: wealth now counted too, and anyone, in theory, could improve his position.

The Council of Four Hundred

According to ancient tradition, Solon created a new council, the Boule of the Four Hundred, with a hundred members from each of the four tribes. It prepared the matters to be discussed in the assembly of citizens. The court of the Areopagus, made up of former magistrates, was reorganised. As for the laws, he abolished almost all those of Draco, famous for their harshness: only those on homicide remained in force.

After the reforms

When his term was over, Solon did not want to use his fame to rule for longer. He asked to be allowed to retire to private life and to travel for ten years. He went to Egypt, to Canopus, and to Cyprus, where he advised King Philocyprus on the founding of a new city. A tradition, perhaps unfounded, says he also met the fabulously rich King Croesus. The tradition of the Seven Sages, the wise men of ancient Greece, includes him too.

His reforms did not solve every problem. In Athens the rich and the poor went on quarrelling. When he came back to the city, a noble named Pisistratus, skilful and popular, had himself given a bodyguard, occupied the Acropolis and became tyrant. Solon protested in the assembly, then laid down his weapons in front of his door, but Pisistratus did not persecute him and kept most of his laws.

Why it happened

Athens had become a city with deep imbalances. A few owners had the best land, while many farmers lived on the edge. In a bad year the small farmer fell into debt; if he did not pay, he lost first his field and then his freedom. This mechanism reduced every year the number of free citizens, and so of soldiers who could defend the polis.

The aristocrats, for their part, controlled the offices and the courts and decided in their own interest. The laws of Draco, in force for some time, were considered extremely harsh. The tension between those who had too much and those who had nothing had reached the point where many feared civil war. A negotiated solution, entrusted to a person respected by all, seemed the only way.

What changed

The end of slavery for debt was a turning point: from then on an Athenian citizen could no longer be reduced to slavery because he had not repaid a loan. This kept up the number of free men and strengthened the idea that freedom was the basis of citizenship.

With the four classes even the poorest entered the assembly and the courts. It was a first step towards the participation of many citizens in the decisions of the polis. Later Cleisthenes and Pericles went much further, but Athenian democracy can be said to start here.

For later generations Solon became a model of the wise lawgiver: someone who, instead of seizing power, builds rules that apply to everyone. His poems are also a precious source, because they let us hear the voice of a man concerned about justice.

Key people and places

People

Solon: Athenian lawgiver and poet (about 638–558 BC), archon around 594 BC, remembered among the Seven Sages.
Draco: Athenian lawgiver of the late 7th century BC, famous for very harsh laws; Solon cancelled almost all of them.
Pisistratus: Athenian noble who in the 6th century BC made himself tyrant; he respected Solon's constitution.
Philocyprus: King of Cyprus advised by Solon on the founding of the city of Soli.

Places

Athens: The polis of Attica where Solon carried out his reforms.
Acropolis: The fortified hill of Athens, occupied by Pisistratus when he took power.
Salamis: An island near Athens: a poem by Solon urged its reconquest.
Canopus: A city in the Nile delta, in Egypt, where Solon stayed during his journey.

Good to know

The word “seisachtheia” is made of two Greek words and means “shaking off of burdens”: like shrugging a load off your shoulders.
Solon wrote his laws in prose, but explained his choices in verse, in poems: a rare voice in the history of politics.
Even the thetes, the poorest class, had a place in the assembly and the courts.
When Pisistratus took power, Solon laid down his weapons in front of his front door as a protest.