PBP: Jury reformations of Solon

Those who visit this blog on a regular basis know that I'm a fan of Solon and his reformations of the political landscape of Athens in the sixth century BC. I wrote about some of his reforms a little while ago. Solon (Σόλων) was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet, who lived from 638 BC to 558 BC. He spent most of his adult life trying to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in archaic Athens. His ideologies are often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy. Today, I want to discuss one of his most important reforms: the move from a judicial system where the Zeus-born kings decided the fate of the accused, to the basic foundations of democracy. I fully admit that I'm hanging this off of a 'J'-post, because 'J' is a hard letter for a Hellenist--no such letter in the Greek language--so expect the 'jury' part to be a somewhat loose interpretation.

I have written about the Zeus-born kings and the democracy in ancient Athens before, in separate Pagan Blog Posts. I suggest reading those posts before reading this one, but I'll add the highlights of those post below just in case, with links to these articles (mostly) so you know where to find more information on the terms.

Back in ancient Hellas, if you were a citizen--and especially one from an important family--you could trace your family line back to a Theos. For Athenians, this divine link was first through Gaea (autochthonous, αὐτός χθών, 'earth-born') and/or Athena (with links to Zeus), and then through Poseidon. The kings of Athens were legendary, mythological, even in the time of ancient Hellas. With the death of Codrus, this system came to an end and was replaced by a political system were the decadents of these kings became árchōntes.

The árchōntes did not rule as kings; where kings were sole rulers of the city state, archons ruled first in threes, then in nines, then in tens and their power did not extend to law-making. Indeed, the Athenians had a clear understanding of the difference between sovereign power and executive government, and they kept the two separate far more than any modern government. The system started with three árchōntes: the 'Archōn Epōnymos' (ἄρχων Ἐπώνυμος), the 'Polemarchos' (πολέμαρχος), and the 'Archōn Basileus' (Ἄρχων Βασιλεύς). Together, these three oversaw the tasks the ancient kings had carried alone.

Originally the árchōntes were chosen from the 'eupatridae'--those who were 'good fathered'--by elections every ten years, but after 508 BC the titles were held for only a single year. Other changes came in 487 BC, when the archonships became assigned by lot to any citizen. Before this assignment by lots, for which I have described the procedures here, there was another system in place for a while: Solon's system, which still operated by lot, but with a few more rules to placate the aristocracy.

When Solon came to power, he pushed a few very important changes through the system. As a statesman, Solon put principles before expediency. In a time when Athens was struggling under the burden of civil war, his reforms strove to bridge the gap between the rich an the poor. He cancelled all debts, and purchased the freedom of all slaves, allowing everyone to start with a clean slate. This caused a massive financial crisis, for which new reforms were necessary, including new trade ties, and an halt in the export of all foodstuffs but olive oil, of which there was plenty. Solon did not stop there, however. Once he was given full legislative powers, he abolished political distinctions of birth in politics. Instead, he created four new groups:

• Thetes, the lowest group, who paid no taxes, provided no equipment city state or its army, and who were not eligible to hold an office of any kind.
• Zeugitae, the second lowest group, who paid tax at the lowest rate, provided body armor to the Athenian army, and who were eligible to hold office.
• Hippeus, the second highest group, who paid higher taxes at the middle rate, provided their own war horse when they served in the army, and they were eligible for higher offices.
• Pentacosiomedimni, the top class of citizens, who paid the highest amount of taxes, and were eligible for all top positions of government in Athens. Archōntes were chosen from this class.

A person belonged to the first class if he could produce more than five hundred measures of goods, to the second class for more than three hundred, to the third class for more than two hundred, and everybody else belonged to the last class, the thetes. Members of the first three classes could hold offices such as those of the archons and the treasurers. The last class gathered at the assembly and could act as jury in court.

Especially the latter of the reforms created a system where the power was in the hands of the people, because instead of leaving justice to be administered by the aristocracy, Solon formed a 'boule' (βουλή), who met at the 'bouleterion'. The term comes from the ancient Greek word for 'citizens': bouleutai (βουλευταί). About a hundred years after these reforms took place, in 508 BC, the árchōntes Kleisthénês (Κλεισθένης) organized the citizens of Athens into ten tribes, but in Solons time, there were only four, and every Athenian belonged to one of them. It may have been that these tribes were originally small villages which came together to form the foundation of Athens, but this is pure speculation on my part. No evidence of this--or any other theory--survives. At any rate, in Kleisthénês' time, the boule was assembled from 50 men, chosen from each of the ten tribes of Athens, for a total of 500 men. Solon founded the boule with 400 men, one hundred from each of the four tribes, but only with members from the three most wealthy of classes. This council was responsible for processing  public matters before bringing them to the assembly, or 'ekklesia'.

In the ancient Athens after Solon and Kleisthénês, sovereign power was held by the ekklesia, and only by the ekklesia: they were the jurors of ancient Athens. The árchōntes didn't factor into lawmaking at all. Every citizen in ancient Hellas had the right to vote on new or changing laws and was thus required to be aware of them and have an opinion on them; a direct democracy. In fact, Solon introduced a controversial law punishing those who did not take part in public decisions on crucial matters, following the view that everybody should care about public issues. This law was overturned in later times, but there were still reminders of it in Athenian life afterwards, like the miltos. In Solon's time, however, the árchōntes did still have the power to act as judge in disputes, as they--and he kings before them--had always had. However, after Solon's reforms, anyone could appeal to the jury of the ekklesia if a decision of the árchōntes was not acceptable. Furthermore, one could seek justice for other persons who could not represent themselves, something that had not been possible before. 

When I say 'everyone' it is important to distinguish that there were quite a few people who were not entitled to serve on the ekklesia; women, for example, and children, but also métoikos--resident aliens--and slaves, because in no way did Solon's reforms end slavery; his reforms only bought the freedom of indentured citizens. Very roughly measured, about a quarter of the inhabitants of ancient Athens were eligible to vote.

Solon's reforms were substantial, and took a lot of power away from the aristocracy. They gave every free man the hope that they could hold office one day, if they worked hard to reach the upper class. For those without political aspirations, Solon's reforms provided judicial safety and a sense of power: no matter who you were, if you were an adult male citizen, your opinion counted, and you could influence the course of the city's political and social landscape. Obviously, Solon's reforms did not create a democracy, but they did lay the groundwork for further reforms, and they did so wisely, and with consent from the elite--at least for his lifetime.

• Friday, May 17, 2013
  ancient Hellenic culture árchōntes Athens ekklesia Kleisthenes métoikos Pagan Blog Project politics slaves Solon

PBP: Archons, kings and democracy: rulership in ancient Athens

Alright, so I'm writing this with a fever. If it makes a little less sense than usual, I'm sorry. Right, on we go. Last week, for the last Pagan Blog Project post of 2012, I listed the mythical kings of ancient Athens. I ended that list with Codrus (Κόδρος), who ruled Athens from 1089 to 1068 BC. His son Medon was (probably) the first who ruled the city-state as árchōntes. From that post:

During the Dorian invasion, the Oracle of Delphi prophecied that the Dorians would win, as long as the king of Athens was not harmed. Hearing of this prophecy, Codrus disguised himself as a peasant and snuck to the Dorian camp. Here, he made a fuss, and was prompty killed. The Dorians retreated upon learning what had happened. It was decreed that no one would be worthy enough to succeed Codrus on the throne, and so, Athens only had archons afterwards.

The árchōntes did not rule as kings; where kings were sole rulers of the city state, árchōntes ruled first in threes, then in nines, then in tens and their power did not extend to law-making. Indeed, the Athenians had a clear understanding of the difference between sovereign power and executive government, and they kept the two separate far more than any modern government.

The system started with three archons: the 'Archōn Epōnymos' (ἄρχων Ἐπώνυμος), the 'Polemarchos' (πολέμαρχος), and the 'Archōn Basileus' (Ἄρχων Βασιλεύς). Together, these three oversaw the tasks the ancient kings had carried alone.

• The Archōn Epōnymos was the chief magistrate. He was in charge of the affairs of Athens' citizens. He served as an ancient mayor for the city, and the year was named after him. 
• The Polemarchos--in the early days--was charged with all affairs of war. The entire army fell to him, and it was up to him to make military decisions for the whole of the city-state. As we will see later on, this part of his job was transfered to the 'stratēgoí' when it became too large a job for one man. From that time on, he would be in charge of the city's métoikos, the resident aliens. He became a mayor in his own right, but for anyone not citizen or slave.
• The Archōn Basileus were the spiritual inheritors of the mythic kings of Athens. Most notably, the Archon Basileus was in charge of religious and artistic festivals.

As Athens grew, it became impossible for three men to take on this job on their own. Six others were commissioned. These were the Thesmothétai (Θεσμοθέται), 'junior' archons, who worked at the thesmotheteion. A tenth position was added to the árchōntes (ἄρχοντες) around the fifth or fourth century BC. It was called the 'Grammateîs' (γραμματεῖς) and he who took up the role, served as a secretary with a large variety of tasks.

Originally the árchōntes were chosen from the 'eupatridae'--those who were 'good fathered'--by elections every ten years, but after 508 BC the titles were held for only a single year. Other changes came in 487 BC, when the archonships became assigned by lot to any citizen, and the Polemarchos' military duties were taken over by a new class of generals known as 'stratēgoí' (στρατηγοί). The ten stratēgoí were elected from the ten tribes of Athens, and the office of Polemarchos was rotated among them on a daily basis. The Polemarchos himself had only minor religious duties from that point forward, as well as titular headship over the stratēgoí. When democracy was instituted in Athens, the Archōn Epōnymos remained the titular head of state, although his position became a lot less important.

So, how were these people chosen for the árchōntes? Well, the ancient Athenians fiddled with the system quite a bit to get it functioning the way they wanted it, but there was one common element that--as said--was always included: lot. Every single citizen had a chance to serve a term as árchōntes. Each of the ten Athenian tribes supplied candidates, who were selected by lottery from across the tribe. All citizens of Athens then voted on the thee to ten people they thought would do the best job. Some years, this meant that some of the least-capable men of a tribe ruled the entire city-state, but that was something that the citizens just dealt with.

This democracy I just spoke of, by the way, was a lot different than the democracy of modern times. In fact, I think the ancient Hellenes would have raised an eye-brow or two if someone were to tell them about our modern ideas about democracy. In ancient Athens, sovereign power was held by the ekklesia, and only by the ekklesia. The árchōntes didn't factor into lawmaking at all. Every citizen in ancient Hellas had the right to vote on new or changing laws and was thus required to be aware of them and have an opinion on them; a direct democracy. Very roughly measured, about a quarter of the inhabitants of ancient Athens were eligible to vote. At the height of ancient Athens, this would have constituted about 25,000 men. 6,000 were needed before any vote even went up. On slow days, serfs who were part of the Scythian Guard literally wrangled citizens(!) into the halls, with a rope smeared with red ochre--called a 'miltos'--to get enough bodies in the seats.

Getting 25,000 people--or even 6,000--to do anything in union is a very daunting task, so the ancient Athenians formed a 'boule' (βουλή), who met at the 'bouleterion'. The term comes from the ancient Greek word for 'citizens': bouleutai (βουλευταί). I touched briefly upon the ten tribes of ancient Athens, and I will do so again now. In the near future, I'll come back to them in greater detail, because to do so now would be beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say that every citizen in Athens had to belong to one of the ten tribes, eight of which were named after the mythical kings. The boule was assembled from 50 men, chosen from each tribe, for a total of 500 men. They oversaw the daily workings of the city, administered justices, looked after the placement of orphans, etc.

The boule still consisted of far too many people to get anything done in an orderly fashion. The next step was to dilute an even smaller group from the 500 members of the boule. Five men from each of the ten tribes represented in the boule were chosen to form a subgroup called the 'prytaneis' (πρυτάνεις), for a total of fifty. Membership of the prytaneis was rotated each tenth of a year. This meant that if you were a member of the boule, you would serve roughly 36 days as a prytanis (πρύτανις).

During their days as prytanis, members of the prytaneis ate at public expense in the 'Tholos' (θόλος), a circular edifice constructed for them next to the bouleterion. In effect, they lived there for the duration of their time as prytanis. My guess as to why, is because they would be easy to find that way. Prythaneis were the only people who could summon the ekklesia in case of emergencies so, in case of emergencies, they needed to be locatable.

In short: ancient Athens was ruled by the ekklesia of about 25,000 voting citizens. The ekklesia, in turn, was managed by the boule of 500 citizens, taken from the ranks of the ekklesia. The boule, finally, was managed by 50 members of the boule, called the prytaneis. Everyone in the ekklesia voted, but their votes were tallied by the boule-members of their tribe, who related the votes to the prytanis of their tribe, who then tallied and proclaimed the votes.

With so many people living in modern countries, this system of árchōntes and direct democracy is outdated at best, but in that fever dream I have of a standardized Hellenismos, wouldn't this serve as the perfect base for standardization? With the on-line possibilities we have today, it would be easy for anyone who would want to, to join video conferences, vote through on-line voting tools and remain in contact through yahoo-groups, forums and/or social media. Never going to happen, you say? No, probably not, but a girl can dream, right?

• Saturday, January 5, 2013
  ancient Hellenic culture árchōntes boule ekklesia Hellenic Reconstruction Hellenismos 101 métoikos Pagan Blog Project prytaneis slavery slaves Thesmothétai