Solon (638 – 558) - created from Mind Map

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Reasons for the need of a mediator/reformer

Harsh law of debt

Hektemoroi

Rich exploited the poor

Conditions ripe for tyranny

Loans secured on personal freedom - borrower could be sold in to slavery

Owed 1/6th of their land

Land marked by horoi

High rates of interest

New class with wealth but no political rights

Tyrannies had been set up in neighbouring states

Previous attempt at tyranny by Cylon

Those in debt wanted complete redistribution of land

Political quarrels between clans and leading families

Background & Qualifications

Of noble birth but only of moderate means

Became a trader

Travelled widely

Well known and highly respected

Understood the problems of both sides

"The rich were ready to accept his as a man of wealth and the poor as a man of principle"

Better able to understand economic affairs

May have been associated with the intellectual movement in Ionia

Aims

The welfare of the total community before that of any one particular class

Eunomia - the reign of good order

Had to first remove the grievances of the poor

Economic reforms

Effectiveness

Seisachtheia - 'the shaking off of burdens'

Encouragement of growth in trade and industry

Alleviated the immediate distress but did not solve the underlying issues

People left disappointed and dissatisfied

Wealthy felt he had changed too much, poor felt he had not done enough

Cancellation of debts secured on personal freedom

Removal of all horoi

Retrospective - those who had become slaves were freed

A law forbidding debts to be secured this way in the future

Eliminated the class of hektemoroi

Citizenship offered to foreign craftsmen

Landless encouraged to learn a craft

Political reforms

Effectiveness

Solon (638 – 558)