27. Solon Resolved a Crisis by Making Everybody Unhappy
Solon’s reforms solved the immediate problem of factional strife, although it upset everybody. The wealthy were upset because he canceled debts, freed the Athenian debt slaves, and prohibited the future enslavement of Athenians. The aristocrats were upset because Solon ended their monopoly on power by granting the vote to all adult male citizens, regardless of class or wealth. The poor were upset because he did not return the lands that had been seized by the aristocrats, refused to break up the big estates and redistribute the land, and because he reserved all posts in the Athenian government for the wealthy. And the newly rich were unhappy because some government positions were reserved for aristocrats, to the exclusion of non-nobles.
Despite the discontent, the Athenians kept their promise to accept Solon’s decision. In order to avoid having to constantly defend and explain his reforms, Solon left the Athenians to work out the kinks in his new system, and went traveling for ten years. His reforms alleviated the immediate crisis and averted civil war, but they did not resolve many underlying tensions that would continue to plague Athens for years. Solon took the first steps by making all citizens equal before the law and reducing the power of the aristocracy, but it would take generations of reformers to build upon and fine-tune what he had created before Athenian democracy was firmly established.
