Politics: Until the middle of the 8th century BC, Athens, like other Greek countries, was a monarchy. In the next century, the aristocratic parliament gradually deprived the king of his rights and changed to minority rule. In 594 BC, all factions unanimously elected Solon as consul and gave him the absolute right to reform. Solon's reform is of great significance, and its main content is that politically:
(1) Establish a new parliament with 400 members, and the middle class is eligible to be a member.
(2) make the lower classes eligible to participate in politics in the citizens' assembly, thus giving them civil rights.
(3) Establish the Supreme Criminal Court, which is open to all citizens and elected by universal suffrage.
As a consul before 5 10, Cleisthenes was known as the father of democracy in Athens. Cleisthenes granted full rights to all free people who settled in the country at that time, thus expanding the number of citizens in Athens; He set up a new committee and made it the main government agency, with the right to prepare proposals for the citizens' assembly and to manage the government. The members of this organization are elected by lottery, and any citizen over 30 years old is eligible to be elected. Cristini has also expanded the rights of the citizens' assembly, giving it the right to discuss, pass or reject parliamentary proposals, giving it the right to declare war, allocate funds and examine the accounts of retired officials; Finally, he also created the Tao Exile Law, according to which any citizen who is considered harmful to the country can be exiled with dignity 10 years.
4665438 BC+0-429 BC, Athenian democracy reached its heyday in Pericles' era. This is that the citizens' assembly not only has the right to approve and reject the proposals of the aristocratic parliament, but also has the legislative power. In Pericles' time, the judicial system in Athens was becoming more and more perfect. There are not only the Supreme Court, which is decided by the consul to hear appeals, but also some people's courts to handle various cases. At the beginning of each year, 6,000 citizens are selected from all over the country by drawing lots. These people form 2,065,438+0-65,438+0,006,5438+0 juries to accept special cases. Each jury forms a court and has the right to decide every issue involved in the case by a majority vote. Although the consul presides over the court, he has no privileges as a judge. The jury itself is a judge, and its verdict cannot be appealed.
Economy: During Solon's reform, the mortgage contract was cancelled, the existence of debt slaves was prohibited, and the amount of land that any individual could own was limited. Before the reform, Athens was dominated by agricultural production. Although there is a certain industry and commerce, it is not developed and is an agricultural city-state. In Athens during the reform period, Solon set out from reality, adapted to local conditions, encouraged the development of garden economy, handicraft production and foreign trade, attached importance to technology and wealth, and embarked on a characteristic road of paying equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce and industrial and commercial development; After the reform in Athens, industry and commerce were fully developed, and Athens became the industrial and commercial center and overlord of the Greek world. Although trade expanded, the economic organization of Athens never became very complicated. Agriculture and commerce are the most important businesses. Even in Pericles' time, most citizens still lived in the countryside. Industry is underdeveloped. There are few examples of large-scale production in the records, and it is mainly the manufacturing of pottery and war equipment.
Athens War: In the most creative period of Athens-Pericles era, Athens experienced two wars.
The first time was the Persian War. At that time, Persia replaced Babylon as the most powerful country in West Asia. The Persian rule over the Greek-speaking city-states caused dissatisfaction in Athens, and they supported them in their struggle for freedom. Persia retaliated, which led to the war with Persia. Athens assumed the responsibility of resisting the invaders. The war began in 490 BC and ended in 479 BC, and there were several armistice. It ended in the victory of Athens. As we all know, the Greeks won epic victories in the battles of Marathon (490 BC) and Wenquanguan (480 BC), thus ending the threat of Persia and defending the freedom ideal of Athens.
The second war was with Sparta, which broke out in the Peloponnesian Peninsula in 43 1-404 BC. For Athens, this was undoubtedly a terrible disaster: trade was destroyed, democracy was subverted, and residents died in large numbers because of the vicious plague. After the victory of Sparta, Sparta gained the hegemony of the whole Greece. However, the good times did not last long. Sparta was defeated by Thebes, who replaced Sparta. But it is not strong. Eventually led to the endless war in 37 1-338 BC. And Lippi, both sides of the war, from the military and political point of view, all Greek city-states are exhausted and helpless. This provided an opportunity for Macedonians to invade northern Greece.
Brilliant cultural undertakings: literature, logic and mathematics in Athens are very developed. Euclid completed the mathematical masterpiece "Elements of Geometry", which laid the foundation for an important branch of mathematics-geometry. Pythagoras discovered Pythagoras theorem. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, three generations of apprentices, founded and completed ancient Greek philosophy, paving the way for modern science and philosophy. Epicurus founded Epicurism.