Towards the end of the sixth century BC, a Greek man called Solon came into power in Athens and abolished the harsh Draconian laws that had been introduced in 621BC as a result of continued political unrest. Solon established law courts and the control of a popular assembly and many other reforms and by doing so he built the platform for democracy. When his term came to an end however, conflict again arose between the political factions and in 560BC an aristocrat called Pisistratus seized control of the government. This man had staged a coup by tricking the people into thinking he had been attacked by his enemies, so they supplied him with an armed citizen guard with which he used to capture the Acropolis and take control.
At this time in Greece the word tyrant was not associated with terror and suppression and the title simply referred to an absolute ruler who had seized power illegaly. The tyrant Pisistratus was soon expelled by his oponents only to return five years later, riding into the city one day with a woman who he claimed was Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, and surprisingly this was accepted by the people. Pisistratus again reclaimed power temporarily but was soon forced into exile by the rival parties. On the island of Euboea he subsquently raised an army, launched an attack on the Athenians and reclaimed power for the final time.
Pisistratus ruled with a fair hand, he and his two sons largely kept in place the reforms of Solon and when he died in 527BC, his eldest son Hippias came into power while his brother Hipparchus worked closely alongside him. In 514BC Hipparchus was assasinated by a political rival and soon the Athenians would awake to the true sinister nature of tyranny. Hippias, embittered by his brother's murder, embarked on a violent campagin of terror, ordering the deaths of innocent civilians and brutally torturing others as his paranoia quickly turned to madness.
Cleisthenes
The culture that existed among the ancient Greeks largely revolved around their patriotic warlike spirit and the idea of the mythical Homeric hero, and this was what drove them to reach the heights and accomplish the amazing things that they did. Greek men were brought up to believe in the idea of a warrior hero, a real man who could achieve great things in battle and by seizing authoritive power for himself. The Athenian statesmen Cleisthenes, the father of Greek democracy, was a man brought up on this concept of the heroic ideal.
In 510BC, forced to watch the demise of Athens under the brutal control of an insane tryant, Cleisthenes, who had been preparing for this moment all of his life, seized the initiative and with help from the Spartans he overthrew Hippias. He had lived up to his dream and was hailed as a hero, but not long after he came to power other aristocrats were already plotting to take control of the government.
Another Athenian who had also been brought up on the heroic ideal and believed power rightfully belonged to him was a man named Isagoras. Isagoras called on an old friend of his, the Spartan king Cleomenes, who aided by sending a contingent of Spartan troops to help him take power. Led by Isagoras, the troops stormed the acropolis and seized control of the government and the new tyrant immediately announced that Cleisthenes, along with around seven hundred households belonging to his family, were to be cast out of the city.
The Athenian Revolt
Athens was now trapped in a vicious cycle of power struggles, of one tyrant staging a coup and seizing power after the next, and as Cleisthenes remained in exile, the heroic spirit he was brought up to believe in seemed completely lost. He had achieved his goal and succeeded in gaining power, only to be forced out two years later and see his city again fall into the stranglehold of ruthless tyranny. But as Isagoras began to dismantle the democratic reforms and eliminate all opposition to his leadership, he overlooked one thing - the feelings and the resolve of the Athenian people.
In the year 507BC, the tiny city-state of Athens was rocked by an unprecedented event. For the first time in recorded history, the population rose up in revolution against the government, surrounded them on the acropolis and forced the leaders to capitulate, with the result that power then fell into their own hands. With no experience of such an extraordinary situation and unsure of what to do next, the citizens recalled Cleisthenes from exile and invited him to build a new government.
Obliged to now create a revolutionary system where the people could truely take part in the affairs of their city, Cleisthenes instigated a unique solution. Amongst other reforms he initiated the first form of parliament, a place where men could go and debate the issues concerning the government of the state, and all of these issues were decided by a simple vote - usually a white stone for yes and a black stone for no.
Cleisthenes also instituted another idea to safeguard this new form of government from would-be tyrants, and this was a system of voting to banish any citizen from the city who appeared they might become too powerful. On small clay discs called ostraka, the Athenians would write the name of the person they most wanted out and whoevers name came up the most was subsequently expelled or 'ostracised' from the city.
In 493BC another Greek called Thermistocles was elected archon, or chief judicial officer, of Athens. This man was a great military and political leader and helped to save Greece from the domination of a powerful foreign empire, setting Athens on the path to glory. Three years into his leadership Greece was invaded by the tyrannical Persian Empire, who after destroying the city of Eretria northeast of Athens, landed their 30,000 strong force at the bay of Marathon.
