Table Of ContentATHENIAN POLITICS c. 800–500 BC
This book is designed to sharpen historical skills by a critical approach to the sources of information on ancient Athenian
politics. It presents contemporary sources, later historical and biographical writings, archaeological evidence, inscriptions on
stone, and papyri from Egypt. The reader has available in translation virtually all the documents on which scholars of this
period base their conclusions.
The period covered embraces the reforms of Solon, the tyranny of Peisistratos and his sons, and the constitutional changes
of Kleisthenes. When Athenian politics first become visible, the noble families are firmly in control. At the end of the period
democracy is just beginning to emerge. Central to an understanding of the politics of the time are the conflict among
aristocratic clans and the vertical ties between noble patrons and their supporters and dependants in the lower social strata.
Paradoxically, democracy emerged from the actions of noble leaders who were certainly not of democratic disposition.
Professor Stanton, of the University of New England, challenges the ways in which professional scholars have viewed
Athenian politics and presents us with a lucid and valuable new study, complete with explanatory notes, which will be most
useful to students and teachers of ancient history, classical studies, and politics.
Professor Stanton is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of New
England, Australia.
ATHENIAN POLITICS c. 800–500 BC
A Sourcebook
G.R.Stanton
London and New York
First published 1990 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 1990 G.R.Stanton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Stanton, G.R.
Athenian politics, c. 800–500 B.C.: a sourcebook.
1. Greece. Athens. Politics, ancient period
I. Title
320.9’38
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Athenian politics, c. 800–500 B.C.: a sourcebook/
[edited by] G.R.Stanton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Athens (Greece)—Politics and government. 2. Athens
(Greece)—Nobility—Political activity—History.
I. Stanton, G.R. (Greg R.), 1943–
DF277.A84 1990
938′.5–dc20 89–71345
ISBN 0-203-40665-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-71489-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-04060-4 (hb)
ISBN 0-415-04061-2 (pb)
CONTENTS
Preface vi
Abbreviations vii
Note on transliteration x
Introduction 1
I Attike before Solon 4
The transference of power from the kings to the aristocracy 4
The unification of Attike 8
Kylon’s unsuccessful attempt to establish a tyranny and its aftermath 10
The codification of laws by Drakon 16
II Solon 21
The problems confronting Attike 21
Solon: the man and his outlook 25
Solon’s relief measures 35
Solon’s stimulation of the economy 39
Solon’s broadening of the basis of government 43
Estimates of Solon’s achievements 49
III From Solon to Peisistratos 55
Factional conflict after Solon’s reforms 55
Peisistratos’s attempts to become tyrant 58
IV The Peisistratid tyranny 65
The tyranny of Peisistratos 65
The tyranny of the Peisistratidai 69
The murder of Hipparkhos 75
The expulsion of the Peisistratidai 82
V Kleisthenes 87
The struggle between Kleisthenes and Isagoras 87
The tribal reorganisation and the Council of Five Hundred 91
The enfranchisement of aliens 102
The first election of ten generals 103
The introduction of ostracism 106
Attike after the recall of Kleisthenes 113
v
VI The noble families 117
Clans and phratries 117
The Philaidai 119
The Alkmeonidai 123
Other noble families 126
Brief notes on authors 130
Index of sources translated 132
Index 135
PREFACE
‘How do you know about events so long ago?’ That question, whether articulated or implicit, repeatedly confronts people who
teach or write about the ancient world. The question does not admit of a simple answer, because different types of evidence
call for different techniques in handling them. This book presents evidence of very diverse kinds bearing on Athenian politics
in the period down to (approximately) the Persian Wars. There is the poetry of an aristocrat highly involved in contemporary
politics; Solon—for that is his name—reveals values of the times, but he does so within a poetic tradition. There are
inscriptions carved on stone, often providing further clues by their finding places; but the inscriptions are frequently
incomplete or damaged. There are coherent accounts written long after the events recorded; sometimes the sources are reliable
or at least wear their prejudices openly, but sometimes they were written as long after the events recorded as our own time is
from the Fourth Crusade. There are papyri found in the sands of Egypt, preserving accounts which have been repeatedly
copied. And, of course, there is archaeological evidence, not only from Athens and the surrounding countryside but from sites
scattered around the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas, that bears on political affairs in Athens; but one must keep in mind
the limitations of archaeological evidence.
There have been various schools of thought about the nature of politics in Athens down to 500 BC. Some scholars have
believed that economic interest groups developed during the last century of that period. Others have been prepared to believe
the ancient assertion that parties conflicted with each other over the form of constitution Athens should have. The theme of
this book, however, is that the politics of this early period in Athenian history are to be understood in terms of factions led
by aristocrats. Each faction had vertical ties linking the noble family or families at its head with supporters (political ‘friends’,
clients and dependants) in the lower strata of society. The interesting paradox, in this theme, is that democracy emerged from
the actions of noble leaders who were certainly not of democratic disposition.
Many people and institutions have assisted me in writing this book. The University of New England has provided financial
support and periods of study leave, and its successive professors of Classics, John Bishop and Trevor Bryce, have supported
my applications for these resources. During repeated visits to Athens, the British School of Archaeology has done much more
than provide accommodation and arrange permits for me to study inscriptions, sites and material in archaeological museums.
The treasures of its library and the stimulating discussion and information provided by its fascinating range of students have been
made readily available. A true home far from home. Across the garden the library of the American School of Classical Studies
has often come to my rescue with desperately needed material. In Oxford the Ashmolean and the Bodleian libraries, in Cambridge
the University and the Classical Faculty libraries, and in London the Institute of Classical Studies and the British libraries
have opened their collections to me. For all these kindnesses I am grateful.
At an early stage Paul O’Keefe, Carole Tisdell and Dick Waring tried out some of my drafts on their classes and offered
many suggestions about obscurities and ambiguities. David Lewis and Peter Rhodes generously annotated draft chapters and
discussed many issues with me. Carole Tisdell returned to later drafts and devoted many hours to commenting on them. Brett
Farrell checked references for me and identified many sentences which needed rewriting or correction. None of these friends
is responsible for mistakes or infelicities that remain. I owe most of all to students of my department over the last twenty
years who have listened to my views, raised difficult questions and shared their own thoughts with me.
GREG STANTON
The University of New England
Armidale, NSW, Australia
July 1989
ABBREVIATIONS
AC L’Antiquité Classique
AD Arkhaiologikon Deltion
Agora XV The Athenian Agora, vol. XV: Inscriptions: The Athenian Councillors, eds B.D.Meritt and J.S.Traill
(Princeton 1974)
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AJAH American Journal of Ancient History
AJP American Journal of Philology
AM Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Athenische Abteilung)
Anc. Soc. Inst. Ancient Society and Institutions: Studies presented to Victor Ehrenberg on his 75th birthday (Oxford 1966)
Andrewes, A.Andrewes, The Greek Tyrants (London 1956)
Greek Tyrants
ANSMN The American Numismatic Society Museum Notes
AR Archaeological Reports (Supplement to JHS; cf. below)
ASNP3 Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, serie III
Ath. Pol. Athenaion Politeia attributed to Aristotle
BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
Bicknell, P.J.Bicknell, Studies in Athenian Politics and Genealogy [Historia Einzelschriften, 19] (Wiesbaden 1972)
Studies
BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies (University of London)
BSA The Annual of the British School at Athens
Burn, Lyric Age A.R.Burn, The Lyric Age of Greece (London 1960)
Burn, Persia A.R.Burn, Persia and the Greeks: The Defence of the West, c. 546–478 B.C. (London 1962)
and the Greeks
C & M Classica et Mediaevalia
CAH2 3 The Cambridge Ancient History, 2nd edn, vol. 3, eds J.Boardman and N.G.L.Hammond (Cambridge 1982–)
CAH2 4 The Cambridge Ancient History, 2nd edn, vol. 4, eds J.Boardman, N.G.L.Hammond, D.M.Lewis and
M.Ostwald (Cambridge 1988)
CEG P.A.Hansen (ed.), Carmina epigraphica Graeca saeculorum viii–v a.Chr.n. [Texte und Kommentare, 12]
(Berlin 1983)
Chambers ed. M.H.Chambers (Leipzig 1986)
Aristoteles:
CJ The Classical Journal
CP Classical Philology
CQ The Classical Quarterly
CR The Classical Review
Davies, APF J.K.Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600–300 B.C. (Oxford 1971)
Ehrenberg V.Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 2nd edn (London 1973)
viii
FGrH F.Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin 1923–30; Leiden 1940–58) (FGrH 328 F 30,
for example, refers to Fragment 30 of historian no. 328 [Philokhoros] in the collection.)
FHG C. and T.Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum (Paris 1841–70)
Fine, Ancient J.V.A.Fine, The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History (Cambridge, Mass. 1983)
Greeks
Forrest W.G.Forrest, The Emergence of Greek Democracy: The Character of Greek Politics, 800–400 B.C.
(London 1966)
French A.French, The Growth of the Athenian Economy (London 1964)
Friedländer and P.Friedländer and H.B.Hoffleit, Epigrammata: Greek Inscriptions in Verse from the Beginnings to the
Hoffleit Persian Wars (Berkeley 1948)
G & R2 Greece and Rome, 2nd series
Gentili and Poetarum elegiacorum testimonia et fragmenta, eds B.Gentili and C.Prato (Leipzig 1979–85)
Prato
Gomme, HCT A.W.Gomme et al., A Historical Commentary on Thucydides (Oxford 1945–81)
GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
Hammond2 N.G.L.Hammond, A History of Greece to 322 B.C., 2nd edn (Oxford 1967)
Hdt. Herodotos
Hignett C.Hignett, A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford 1952)
How and Wells W.W.How and J.Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford 1912)
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
IG I3 Inscriptiones Graecae, vol. I, 3rd edn, ed. D.M.Lewis (Berlin 1981–)
IG II2 Inscriptiones Graecae, vol. II, editio minor, ed. J.Kirchner (Berlin 1913–40)
Jeffery L.H.Jeffery, Archaic Greece: The City-States c. 700–500 B.C. (London 1976)
JHS The Journal of Hellenic Studies
JÖAI Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien
LCM Liverpool Classical Monthly
Macan R.W.Macan, Commentary on Herodotos Books 4–6 (London 1895)
Meiggs and R.Meiggs and D.M.Lewis, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth Century B.C.
Lewis (Oxford 1969)
Moore J.M.Moore, Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (London 1975)
MSS Manuscripts (of an ancient author’s work)
OCD2 The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd edn (Oxford 1970)
PACA The Proceedings of the African Classical Associations
Piccirilli Plutarco, La vita di Solone, eds. M.Manfredini [text and translation] and L.Piccirilli [introduction and
commentary] (Verona 1977)
PP La Parola del Passato
QUCC Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica
RA Revue Archéologique
Raubitschek, A.E.Raubitschek, Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis: A Catalogue of the Inscriptions of the Sixth and
DAA Fifth Centuries B.C. (Cambridge, Mass. 1949)
RE Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RFIC Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica
RhM Rheinisches Museum für Philologie
Rhodes P.J.Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (Oxford 1981)
Rosén Herodoti Historiae, ed. H.B.Rosén (Leipzig 1987–)
Sandys2 J.E.Sandys, Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, 2nd edn (London 1912)
Sayce A.H.Sayce, Commentary on Herodotos Books 1–3 (London 1883)
SBAW Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München (Philos.-Hist. Klasse)
ix
Sealey B.R.I.Sealey, A History of the Greek City States ca. 700–338 B.C. (Berkeley 1976)
SHAW Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (Philos.-Hist. Klasse)
Stein H.Stein, Commentary on Herodotos, 4th and 5th edn (Berlin 1881–3)
Talanta : Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society
TAPA Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
Thomsen R.Thomsen, The Origin of Ostracism: A Synthesis [Humanitas, 4] (Copenhagen 1972)
Traill, Demos J.S.Traill, Demos and Trittys: Epigraphical and Topographical Studies in the Organization of Attica (Toronto
and Trittys 1986)
Traill, Political J.S.Traill, The Political Organization of Attica: A Study of the Demes, Trittyes, and Phylai, and their
Organization Representation in the Athenian Council [Hesperia Supplements, 14] (Princeton 1975)
Vanderpool E.Vanderpool, ‘Ostracism at Athens’, in Lectures in Memory of Louise Taft Semple: Second Series
(Cincinnati 1973) 215–70
von Fritz and K.von Fritz and E.Kapp, Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens and Related Texts (New York 1950)
Kapp
Wade-Gery, H.T.Wade-Gery, Essays in Greek History (Oxford 1958)
Essays
West Iambi et elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati 2, ed. M.L.West (Oxford 1972)
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
