Solon (638 – 558)

Reasons for the need of a mediator/reformer
1. Harsh law of debt
  1. Loans secured on personal freedom - borrower could be sold in to slavery
2. Hektemoroi
  1. Owed 1/6th of their land
    1. Land marked by horoi
3. Rich exploited the poor
  1. High rates of interest
4. Conditions ripe for tyranny
  1. New class with wealth but no political rights
  2. Tyrannies had been set up in neighbouring states
  3. Previous attempt at tyranny by Cylon
  4. Those in debt wanted complete redistribution of land
  5. Political quarrels between clans and leading families
Background & Qualifications
1. Of noble birth but only of moderate means
  1. Understood the problems of both sides
    1. "The rich were ready to accept his as a man of wealth and the poor as a man of principle"
2. Became a trader
  1. Better able to understand economic affairs
3. Travelled widely
  1. May have been associated with the intellectual movement in Ionia
4. Well known and highly respected
Aims
1. The welfare of the total community before that of any one particular class
2. Eunomia - the reign of good order
  1. Had to first remove the grievances of the poor
Economic reforms
1. Effectiveness
  1. Alleviated the immediate distress but did not solve the underlying issues
    1. People left disappointed and dissatisfied
      1. Wealthy felt he had changed too much, poor felt he had not done enough
2. Seisachtheia - 'the shaking off of burdens'
  1. Cancellation of debts secured on personal freedom
    1. Retrospective - those who had become slaves were freed
    2. A law forbidding debts to be secured this way in the future
  2. Removal of all horoi
    1. Eliminated the class of hektemoroi
3. Encouragement of growth in trade and industry
  1. Citizenship offered to foreign craftsmen
  2. Landless encouraged to learn a craft
Political reforms
1. Effectiveness
2. Enter text here

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Solon (638 – 558)

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