Solon

Archon of Athens (r. 594-593 b. c.e.) and poet

Born: c. 630 b. c.e.; probably Athens, Greece Died: c. 560 b. c.e.; probably Athens, Greece Category: Government and politics; poetry; literature

Life Solon (SOH-luhn) achieved prominence in Athens as a statesman, legislator, reformer, poet, and war veteran during an age of social crisis. Athens was experiencing dislocating economic conditions, and debt slav-

Solon.

Cry was distorting what Athenians felt was their political culture. In his poetry, Solon reproached the rich for “avarice and arrogance.” Solon was elected archon, or chief magistrate, for 594-593 b. c.e. and introduced sweeping, radical, but not revolutionary reforms.

He forbade the borrowing of money that took a security interest in the person and family of the borrower. He canceled all debts and current mortgages. This freed those who had been placed in servitude or enslaved for debt. In the name of family integrity, he produced a conservative reform that preserved private property and guided Greek democracy. Solon drew up a new law code, softening the laws created by Draco, whose severe punishments spawned the word “draconian,” and adding laws in new areas. Attempts at repatriation of slaves sent to colonies were only partially successful. There was opposition to Solon’s reforms, especially from the debt holders, and the founding charters ofsome Greek colonies contained provisions in which leaders pledged not to cancel debts.

Influence Solon is the earliest Greek politician whose philosophy and deeds continue to resonate in the modern world.

Further Reading

Almeida, Joseph A. Justice as an Aspect of the Polis Idea in Solon’s Political Poems: A Reading of the Fragments in Light of the Researches of New Classical Archaeology. Boston: Brill, 2003.

Ehrenberg, Victor. From Solon to Socrates. London: Methuen, 1968.

Harris, Edward M. “Did Solon Abolish Debt Bondage?” Classical Quarterly 52, no. 2 (2002): 415.

Irwin, Elizabeth. Solon and Early Greek Poetry: The Politics of Exhortation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Plutarch. The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Translated by John Dryden. Revised by Arthur Hugh Clough. New York: Modern Library,

1992.

Oliver B. Pollak

See also: Athens; Draco; Draco’s Code; Government and Law; Solon’s

Code.