Athens
(continued from page one)
Pisistratus
At first people were happy with Solon's changes. They
had their farms back, and they didn't
owe any money, and they weren't being
killed for little things. They could (if they were free men) be judges and
vote in the Assembly.
But the people of Athens didn't stay happy very long. They began to lose their land again and fall back into debt. When the Athenians lost a couple of battles against their enemies, that was the last straw. In 560 BC, one rich man, Pisistratus, told the ordinary people that if they supported him as tyrant, he would help them with all their problems and keep the other rich men off their backs.
People thought that sounded good, and so Pisistratus managed to get power over the other rich men of Athens and get control of the city.
But the people of Athens didn't stay happy very long. They began to lose their land again and fall back into debt. When the Athenians lost a couple of battles against their enemies, that was the last straw. In 560 BC, one rich man, Pisistratus, told the ordinary people that if they supported him as tyrant, he would help them with all their problems and keep the other rich men off their backs.
People thought that sounded good, and so Pisistratus managed to get power over the other rich men of Athens and get control of the city.
Pisistratus did a good job as tyrant,
even though the other rich men kept trying to get rid of him so they could
have their oligarchy back again.
Pisistratus taxed everybody equally
(instead of taxing the rich less than everyone else), and he organized ways
for the government to lend money at fair
rates to farmers so they wouldn't have to borrow money from rich people.
Pisistratus (pie-SISS-trat-uss) used the tax money to build roads and new
public water fountains and new temples
for the gods and many other useful things.
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
When Pisistratus died in 528 BC,
his son Hippias (and possibly his brother Hipparchus) took over as tyrant
(you can see that they are rich men because their names mean "Horse-guys",
and only rich men could afford horses).
Two young rich guys named Harmodius and Aristogeiton (arr-iss-toe-GUY-tahn),
maybe trying to get the oligarchy
back into power, tried to kill Hippias and Hipparchus at a religious festival
celebrating Athena's birthday in 514
BC. They only managed to kill Hipparchus, but Hippias got more and more
suspicious and nasty, and by 508 the Athenians decided to get rid of Hippias
too. The Alcmaeonids bribed the
priestess at Delphi to tell the Spartans
to help them throw out Hippias. The Spartans did help, and Hippias fled
to Persia. That was the
end of tyranny in Athens.
More about Ancient Athens
Ancient Sparta
Ancient Corinth
Main Greek Government page
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