Athens, democracy and tyrants

By: Robert Mitchell

We often think of ancient Athens as the home of democracy, the place where it all began. And, this is true. But the shocking truth is that Athens has spent the vast majority of its existence under the rule of tyrannical kings and dictators.

As we analyze the history of Athens, we can see how fragile the democracy that Athens helped to create is. Athens has been inhabited in one form or another since the Neolithic era, over 5000 years ago. It began to exist as a Mycenaean center and as the location of a large fortress.

Ancient Mycenae fell around 1200 BC, and most of its centers collapsed with it. But it is unclear whether Athens survived the fall or not. The fall of Mycenae has traditionally been blamed on an invasion by hand. But today's historians blame the collapse of the system on a time when the institutions of civilization collapsed in on themselves, as happened with many civilizations of the Late Bronze Age.

All we know for sure is that the Athenians were proud to be pure Ionians, claiming no Dorian blood. During the Iron Age, Athens enjoyed great prosperity. Its location in Central Greece and easy access to the sea made it a major commercial center, while the fortified Acropolis ensured its security.

These factors caused Athens to take control of other cities in the Attica region. It soon became the largest and richest state in Iron Age Greece. However, as is often the case in history, Athens' success came at a cost. During this period, Athens was ruled by a small number of nobility.

As it expanded, a larger segment of its population was excluded from politics. By the 7th century BC, this started to cause problems. There was an increase in civil unrest, as a man named Drakon was put in charge by the leaders of Athens to enforce very harsh new laws (hence the origin of the word draconian).

Drakonir's new laws were extremely harsh and punitive, so it stands to reason that they were unpopular with the people of Athens. When the new laws failed, a revolutionary lawmaker named Solon was put in charge to try something new. His new constitution had three important aspects.

First, it prohibited the enslavement of Athenian citizens as punishment for non-payment of debts. Second, it abolished land ownership and opened up free trade to more people, thus creating a new urban merchant class. Third, it divided the Athenians into different classes based on wealth and military skills.

The lower class (the majority) was given the right to vote, but only those from the upper class could hold public office. In the long run, Solon's constitution would provide the framework for later Athenian democracy. But in the short term it was a failure. His system lasted only 20 years, accompanied by civil unrest and class conflicts. At the end of that period, the system was overthrown by the popular party of the time, led by Pisistratus. He may have been a dictator, but he was still a popular dictator. During his rule, Athens became increasingly powerful and wealthy, and soon a center of Greek culture. In fact, he kept the Solonian constitution in place, and made sure that it was members of his own family who held all the leadership positions.

Pisistratus died in 527 BC and was succeeded by his sons, Hipparchus and Hippias. They were everything he wasn't. In 514 BC, Hipparchus was assassinated, while his brother Hippias established a complete dictatorship. This caused protests and rebellion, and Hippias was deposed within four years. A radical politician named Kleisten then took control of Athens. He was the man who finally built "true" democracy in Athens. It abolished the former four social classes, replacing them with 10 new classes named after ancient heroes. These classes were called files. Each group was a deliberately geographically diverse electorate that had nothing to do with class. Each file consisted of three triti. These triti were the foundation of local government. Each group sent 50 members to the bule, or council, that ruled Athens on a daily basis. Most public posts were cast by lot, while only generals were elected by vote. This new system was very popular and stable. It existed for 170 years and was only dissolved due to the defeat of Athens and Thebes in 228 BC before the army of Philip II of Macedon. Although Athens was a democracy, she liked to flex her military muscles.

During the classical period, Athens was involved in constant wars, both with other Greek neighbors and with foreign powers. Before the rise of Athens, Sparta had traditionally considered itself the leader of the Greeks. Athens tried to change this status quo and become the new leader.

In 466 BC, the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor were rebelling against the Persians. Aiming to gain influence, Athens sent them reinforcements. This angered the Persians and led to two invasions of Greece by them. In 490 BC, the Athenians, led by Miltiades, repulsed the first Persian invasion at the Battle of Marathon. But in 480 BC, the Persians returned in greater numbers. Anyone who already knows the legend of "300" and what happened next. Under the leadership of Xerxes the Great, the Persians defeated a small Greek army at the narrow pass of Thermopylae and advanced on a poorly defended Athens. Within a year, Athens was conquered twice by the Persians. However, their success only lasted a year. In 479 BC, Athens joined forces with Sparta and other allies, and defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea. Because of that victory, Athens included most of the Aegean and other areas of Greece in the Delian League.

The Delian League was an alliance of Greek states led by Athens. At the time this might have seemed like a prestigious position, but it caused Athens many problems, culminating in the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. The other Greek states quickly grew tired of Athens' leadership, so they rebelled under Sparta's leadership.

The conflict was long and exhausting. The Spartans ruled from the land while the Athenians ruled from the sea. But in the end, the Spartans emerged victorious, and Athens' naval supremacy came to an end. Athenian democracy was also damaged in that period. The people blamed the democratic politicians for the defeat. So there was an eight-year riot where democracy in Athens was overthrown, being replaced by the rule of the "Thirty Tyrants".

Meanwhile, the Spartan dominance did not last long either. The Allies quickly abandoned Sparta, rejoining Athens in the Corinthian War during 395-387 BC. Athens used this hostility towards Sparta to create the Second Athenian League. But it didn't take long for a new challenger to emerge.

Macedonia, led by King Philip II, defeated an alliance of Greek city-states in 338 BC who were forced to become part of a Macedonian-led confederation. The independence of Athens had come to an end. King Philip II was succeeded by his son, the famous Alexander the Great. The latter did a great job for the unification of Greece and the expansion of its influence. Under his rule, the Greek city-states became a thing of the past. Athens was still a very rich cultural center, but no longer a leading power. After the death of Alexander the Great, Greece was conquered by Rome, which divided it into four large provinces.

During the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC), most of Greece rebelled against its Roman rulers. The Romans fought back with ferocity. The Roman general Cornelius Sulla destroyed most of the Athenian buildings, including the houses and almost all the fortifications. After the Romans suppressed the uprising, they declared Athens a free city. Emperor Hadrian and the Romans respected Athens' reputation as a place of learning, and the emperor began to invest heavily in Athens. His major projects included the completion of the Temple of Zeus and the construction of Hadrian's Library, as well as a gymnasium and an aqueduct.

Athens was then attacked by the Heruli (a Germanic or possibly Scandinavian people) in 267 BC. All public buildings were burned and everything of value was looted. After the raid, the northern part of the city was refortified on a smaller scale, leaving the Agora unprotected outside the city walls.

When the Roman Empire split, Greece remained part of the Eastern Roman Empire, ruled by Constantinople, until 1453 when it was conquered by the Ottomans. Athens itself was conquered by the Ottomans in 1458. After entering the city, Sultan Mehmed II was so impressed by the city's beauty that he issued a royal decree prohibiting the looting or destruction of Athens. Anyone who violated the order was punished by death. However, under Ottoman rule, Athens lost its importance and its population declined significantly. The Parthenon and the Propylaea were destroyed. Greek resistance against the Ottomans began to succeed in 1822, when a Greek uprising overran Athens. It would not be finally in Greek hands until 1833. The Athens of that year had a small population, only about 400 houses, but this would soon change.

The first king of modern Greece, King Otto, quickly declared Athens the country's capital. He ordered a detailed archaeological and topographical survey of Athens. Then the implementation of the construction plan began. Today, Athens is a thriving city of over three million inhabitants. Millions of people flock to Athens every year to see the monuments and visit the home of democracy. /Source: Ancient Origins/In Albanian by: Bota.al/