=Athenian Revolutions.=--Later still the kings were suppressed. In
their place Athens had nine chiefs (the archons) who changed every
year. This whole history is little known to us for no writing of the
time is preserved. They used to say that for centuries the Athenians
had lived in discord; the nobles (Eupatrids) who were proprietors of
the soil oppressed the peasants on their estates; creditors held their
debtors as slaves. To reestablish order the Athenians commissioned
Solon, a sage, to draft a code of laws for them (594).
Solon made three reforms:
1. He lessened the value of the money, which allowed the debtors
to release themselves more easily.
2. He made the peasants proprietors of the land that they
cultivated. From this time there were in Attica more small
proprietors than in any other part of Greece.
3. He grouped all the citizens into four classes according to
their incomes. Each had to pay taxes and to render military
service according to his wealth, the poor being exempt from
taxation and military service.
After Solon the Athenians were subject to Pisistratus, one of their
powerful and clever citizens; but in 510 the dissensions revived.
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