With the end of Bronze Age, in the 10th
century B.C., the kingdoms surrounding the Aegean Sea collapsed and the Greek
city states governed by constitutional monarchy and oligarchy were established
instead. In these city states the kings had either a very few power or
completely a symbolic position. This oligarchic regime shared by a few noble
families within the framework of a constitution was clogged in war-like crisis
situations due to the conflict of power among the families. In order to prevent
management blockage during
these
crisis, the ruler named “tyrant” selected for a temporary period and holding
all authority; legislative, executive and judicial powers in one hand, were
designated. However, as it can be easily
guessed, having seized the power once, tyrants did not
give up these powers on their own initiative after the crisis or war ended and
generally they retained the power until they were overthrown by the oligarchic structures. Greek city
states switched between these two regimes for several centuries; absolute monarchy in which tyrants who took control in
difficult times and the oligarchy where noble families who overthrew the
tyrants and then struggled for power among themselves. But
during this whole process, Greeks
kept their constitution which provided the authority even to tyrants and improved
it step by step.
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King Theseus, Founder of Athens;
semi-god and semi-king receiving the ruling power from the divine forces.
Theseus,
Victor of the Minotaur, Charles -Édouard Chaise, 1791 |
When it comes to the 6th
Century BC, oligarchic system enhanced from a few noble families to a dozen of
them sharing the power with the growth of the economies and the cities. In 590
BC, 9 senators called as “Archon” and each of whom selected from the noble
families for only one year ruled the city-state of Athens. Decisions were taken
in the general assembly with the participation of the noble. Although the power
is shifted from one absolute ruler who rules with divine forces and limitless
authority to a few noble families sharing the power within the framework of a
constitution, yet it is too early to mention about the public’s will and the
democracy. In the meanwhile, Athens underwent into a major economic crisis and
the great statesman, Solon who was one of the “seven wises” was selected in
order to overcome the difficulties resulting from the economy which was on the
verge of stopping.
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Library of American Congress,
Thomas Jefferson Hall.
Solon sculpture. Frederick Wellington Ruckstull |
The very basis of the system
that brought Athens on the verge of a social and economic collapse was “the
debt slavery"; the only way to borrow money for an Athenian was to put up
himself and his family as collateral as slaves in case of a failure in paying
the debt. As a result of the debt, thousands of Athenians became slaves,
agriculture decreased and famine came out. Solon took courageous decisions and
not only he removed the debt slavery system, but also by cancelling all the
current debts, opened a clean slate for all Athenians. While Athens got rid of
the crisis due to the slavery and debt thanks to Solon's courageous decisions,
Solon moves his reforms a step further by taking advantage of this public
support, sowed the first seeds of democracy in the sense that we know today;
and then by redefining the aristocracy by wealth and richness rather than
nobility, he expanded the number of the ruling families by adding the ones who
enriched by trade. Secondly, he opened the general assembly
i.e. the parliament to all the citizens of Athens. Although the main ruler class was still aristocracy which was defined
by wealth, the people of Athens could now vote in the parliament on important matters
and even act as a jury in important cases. This form of public participation had never been seen in history before. Solon, who solved the economic
problems, opened the oligarchic rule to much wider
masses by opening aristocracy to merchant
families and then by opening the general
assembly to the public, he established the first known public
participation in the history despite being limited. After completing his
reforms, Solon relinquished his power and left Athens, however right before
leaving Athens, he asked Athenians to promise to hold his system for 10 years.
Yet in less than five years, Peisistratos, Solon’s own cousin, seized control
and declared his tyranny. Although Peisistratos was a tyrant, the historians
describe his 20 years rule as “fair and good”. However, his sons Hippias and
Hipparchus who seized power after his death were cruel tyrants. This situation
lasted until Cleisthenes seized control. Cleisthenes is known as the father of
democracy today and was a member of a noble family from Athens.
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Harmodius and
Aristogeiton were two Athenian heroes who killed cruel tyrant Hipparchus in the
city center and went down in history as tyrant-killers (Tyrannicides). Their
statues were put up in the main square of Athens after the foundation of
democracy.
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The First Civil Disobedience
Act in the History, BC 507 Athens Rebellion
Since Cleisthenes was more
interested in reforms rather than power, he opened the general assembly that
was closed for a long time to the public again and aristocrat families who
reacted to this were united under the leadership of Isagoras. In 507 B.C.,
Isagoras staged a coup against Cleisthenes with the support of Spartans and by
sending Cleisthenes away from Athens, he seized the power. Isagoras closed down
the general assembly and gave all the authority to a few aristocrat families. A
very bad surprise was waiting for Isagoras who had seized the power with
Spartan soldiers and exiled Cleisthenes; Athenians whose council had been
closed were so angry that they went out into the streets and rebelled. The
history is full of thousands of rebellions but the thing that distinguishes
this rebellion from the others and made it the first civil disobedience act is
that it didn’t have a leader. Without being organized by a rebellious leader,
the Athenians went out into the streets with a massive anger and compressed the
Spartan Soldiers in the main square of the city. At the end of the rebellion
that lasted for three days, the Spartan soldiers and Isagoras had to leave
Athens to save their lives. Athenians opened their general assembly again, and
first of all, they called Cleisthenes back and gave him the full authority to
continue his reforms. After this event, Cleisthenes would establish the first
known democracy with all its proper functions and make the Athenians the first
public who manages themselves in the history, and he will went down in history
as the father of democracy.
The
Birth of Democracy
Cleisthenes gave the right
to vote in the general assembly to all the Athenian citizens, regardless of
being rich or poor, noble or commoner without any discrimination. Archons
turned into a consultancy council, the parliament became the only authority. In
order to prevent tyranny, Cleisthenes invented a policy named Ostracism;
Athenians had the right to exile a person whom they determined by voting. This
system sent the person who strengthen excessively to exile and functions as an
insurance to avoid a possible tyranny.
Spartans, the biggest rivals
and neighbors of Athenians provided the order of their own city-states by using
an excessive education-indoctrination system and by military policy. They
thought that this invention of Athenians called as democracy is a naïve relish
to end tragically in a short time but they were completely wrong. While
Spartans advanced with militant citizens who were looking for ways to escape at
first opportunity and kept unity under pressure with aggressive war policies,
were fading away, Athens became the super power of his era.
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Cleisthenes, the father of the democracy
Anna Christoforidis, 2004
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