Life
- Athenian leader known as the “father of Athenian democracy”
- Played a major part in the Athenian revolution
- Born ~570 BC
- Member of the Alcmaeonidae clan
- Pericles was his a grand-nephew
Reforms
- Complete reogranization of the citizen body
- Divided into 3 regions: city, coast, inland
- Each region is divided into 10 artificial trittyes (“thirds”, so thirty in alll)
- Each tryttys includes a variable number of Demes, pre-existing “neighborhoods” (about 170 in all)
- From individual perspective, deme was the most important as your deme identity made you a citizen
- 10 new tribes (Phylai), each consisting of 3 trittyes, one from each region
- It was supposed that every tribe would represent a cross-section of the Athenian population in equal size
- New council (Boule)
- Consisted of 500 men
- Serving 1 yrear
- 50 from each tribe elected by a lot
- At this rate, the Boule served as a kind of education centre for the Athenian citizenry
- Prytany system
- Council year is divided into tenths, with each tribe’s council members serving as executive comitte (Prytaneis_) for that allotted period
- The Boule framed legislation, that would be then debated and voted on for ratification by the assembly
- It generally served as a sort of executive power
- The old council (Aeropagus) and archons (magistrates, 9 of them) still continue to exist, but they are routinely examined by the Boule
- Consisted of 500 men
- Board of 10 generals (Strategoi)
- Each out of one tribe
- Elected anually
- Could be reelected without limit
- Popular courts - Citizen juries of upto several hundreds to hear cases
- Ostracism
- Official process voted on anually by the assembly
- The vote required a qorum of 6,000 (a lot of citizens together at one place and one time)
- The citizens were supplied with ostraca (just means a bit of busted pot)
- These were deposited in collection vases and the citizen who got the most votes had to leave Athens for 10 years
- No appeal to this
- Isonomia
- Condition of “equal law” and equality under law
- Official process voted on anually by the assembly
