Eventually leading to.... Cleisthenes
more reforms (around 500 BCE)
- Allowed all citizens to submit laws for debate at the assembly
- Created the Council of Five Hundred (members were chosen randomly)
- But.... only free adult male property owners born in Athens were considered citizens
- No women, slaves, "foreigners"
Rewind to... clash of the tyrants!
- Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527 to 510 BCE
- His brother was murdered, and his rule became harsh
- Eventually he was expelled from Athens (this is called being ostracized)
- In revenge, he began working with the Persians
Next in line...
- With Hippias gone, Isagoras and Cleisthenes (both were aristocrats) engaged in a power struggle
- Isagoras had support from some fellow aristocrats, plus from Sparta
- Cleisthenes had support of the majority of Athenians
Isagoras wins! (but not for long)
- Isagoras becomes archon eponymous (tyrant)
- He ostracizes Cleisthenes
- Cleisthenes' supporters - and the ordinary Athenian citizens! - revolt against Isagoras' tyranny
- They trap Isagoras on the acropolis for two days - on the third day he fled and was banished
- 508 BCE!!
Cleisthenes and Democracy
- Cleisthenes: definitely a member of the elite
- Very rich
- Insulated from the "hoi polloi"
- But... a crafty politician
- Saw the value of tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energies of the non-aristocrats (the middle class citizens)
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