Ancient Athens is often referred to as “The Cradle of Western Civilization”. The impact and influence of its political and cultural achievements, particularly during the Classical period (508 – 322 BC), played a key role in shaping subsequent European development. Democracy was one of the greatest legacies of ancient Athens, and below are twenty two fascinating facts about key figures who created and perfected Athenian democracy.
22. The Man Who Laid the Foundations for Ancient Athens’ Democracy
One of the greatest contributors to Athenian democracy was Solon (630-560 BC), nicknamed “The Lawgiver”. He, more than any other man, established the foundations of democratic Athens. Solon is credited with reforms that ended the aristocracy’s exclusive control of government. He replaced a political system controlled by a hereditary nobility with an oligarchy controlled by the wealthy, regardless of pedigree. For millennia, wealth had been based on land ownership, disproportionately concentrated in the hands of a hereditary aristocracy. As in the rest of Greece, Athens was dominated by nobles who owned the best land and monopolized government. Solon’s reforms upended that monopoly.
