SOLON(Greek: Σολων, c. 638 BC–558 BC)
Famous Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and Lyric poet.
Members of the family SOLON are active participants and
support the Ancient World community by their generous
contributions. You are not only brave with a strong sense of
civic duty, but a poet and a lawmaker. Let Hellas and
Ancient Worlds know that you, as a Solon, have arrived.
Solon is the first Athenian literary figure whose name we know,
came from an aristocratic family which traced its ancestry back
ten generations to Codrus, the last King of Athens, according to Plutarch.
The constitution written by Solon mitigated the class struggle
between rich and poor, and allowed for the growth of democratic
institutions.
Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor;
We will not change our virtue for their store:
Virtue's a thing that none can take away,
But money changes owners all the day. *quotes from: Solon by Plutarch
He pleased neither the revolutionaries who wanted the land
redistributed nor the landowners who wanted to keep all their
property intact. Instead, he instituted the seisachtheia laws
(shaking off of burdens celebrated among Athenians), by
which he canceled all pledges where a man's freedom had been
given as guarantee, freed all debtors from bondage, made it
illegal to enslave debtors, and put a limit on the amount of
land an individual could own.
Solon's popularity was in part due to his advocacy of war
against Megara in a dispute over possession of the island of Salamis.
Let us go to Salamis to fight for the island
We desire, and drive away our bitter shame! *Solon quote in Diogenes Laertios 1.47
Solon had backed up this poetic bravado with true valor on the
battlefield and Athens had subsequently gained both an island
and a hero.
Solon created a supreme court, whose members were former
archons [annual presidents] of Athens. He also created a
council of four hundred -- one hundred from each of the four
Athenian tribes. He also made it a crime to defame the dead.
As for the living, attacks on character were prohibited in the
council-chambers of the city and at certain festivals.
~Article and *quotes courtesy of: e-classics
