Another important content of theseus's reform is to divide domestic citizens into three levels: aristocrats, farmers and craftsmen, stipulating that aristocrats should hold official positions and enforce laws, and farmers and craftsmen can only occupy a place in the citizens' assembly, and they must never become officials in power. In this way, the division between nobles and civilians (farmers and craftsmen) among citizens is obvious, which laid the foundation for aristocratic politics in Athens in the future. At that time, the head of state of Athens was obviously a king, and ancient legends also mentioned that Athens had a dynasty, but the specific situation was not very clear. Later, the imperial power gradually declined, and the nobles monopolized the power. By the 8th century BC, the head of the Athens city-state was not a king but a consul (or "the consul of that year, because it was named after 683 BC), but the name of the king (Ju Lushi) remained in the name of the magistrate, which was the title of a consul below the consul of that year and could be translated into the consul of the king or the consul of the ceremony. Judging from the preservation of royal names, it seems that the abolition of imperial power has not been deposed by violence. At this time, the central parliament has become a meeting of nobles, only nobles can participate, and the consul is elected by it from the nobles and submitted to the general assembly for formal approval. At first, the consul was lifelong, then changed to ten-year system, and then changed to one-year system in 683 BC, and the aristocratic politics in Athens reached its peak.
At this time, there were as many as nine consuls in Athens: the chief or senior consul was the head of state and was in charge of internal affairs; The king's consul presides over festivals and religious ceremonies and manages clan affairs; Military consuls are responsible for military affairs; The last six judicial consuls carry out judicial and reorganization decrees. The ruling system made the nobles monopolize national politics everywhere. They seized all official positions, made their own laws, and oppressed the people politically. Economically, through usury, land annexation and debt slavery, they made poor farmers and craftsmen bankrupt and displaced, and even sold their children, making no living. The Greek philosopher Aristotle fully exposed the darkness of aristocratic rule at that time. He pointed out in "Athens Political System":
"The poor themselves, as well as their wives and children, have actually become slaves to the rich. They are called lord protector and Liuyihan (because they cultivate land for the rich and pay the land rent at this rate, while the land in the whole country is concentrated in a few hands). If they can't pay the rent, they and their children will be arrested and all loans will be guaranteed by the debtor's people. This habit did not change until Solon's time. " "At this point, the politics of Athens was completely ruled by the aristocratic oligarchy. In the eyes of the people, the most cruel and insulting part of the Constitution is their slave status. " As Aristotle mentioned above, the change of aristocratic rule began in Solon's time, which is the famous Solon reform in history. Solon was also born in an aristocratic family, so he was qualified to be elected as the chief executive, but he was not the kind of aristocratic dignitary who used his power to dominate others. His family is gentle. In his early years, he engaged in trade, interacted with business travelers, traveled abroad and became a well-read person. He was praised as one of the "seven sages" by people at that time. He often criticized the nobles and sympathized with the civilians in his poems, made great contributions in the battle between Athens and neighboring Megara, and led the people to conquer the Salami island belonging to Athens. Therefore, he has great prestige among the masses. He is not only a heroic poet, but also an innovative politician who observes people's feelings. At that time, the class contradictions in Athens were extremely sharp and the political situation was turbulent. Dissatisfied civilians are prepared to take risks, and armed uprising is imminent; The aristocratic ruling class remains stubborn. However, there are a group of slave owners who get rich by running industry and commerce in society. Most of them came from civilians, but they had money but no right. They were dissatisfied with aristocratic rule and gradually stood on the side of civilians politically. It should be said that Solon put the interests of the whole city-state commune first and advocated an impartial position. In fact, Solon is the representative of these industrial and commercial slave owners in the class camp. He hates the stubbornness of the nobles and doesn't want to cause riots among the civilians. He advocated solving all kinds of oppressed problems of civilians through reform and launched a reform movement with constitutional significance. His position was supported by most citizens, so in 594 BC, he was elected as "ruling and arbitration" and was in charge of constitutional reform.
Solon's first major measure of reform was to issue a "release order", that is, to release debts and slavery suffered by debts. This is a great decree to liberate civilians. According to this law, all public and private debts owed by civilians will be cancelled, and all Athenian citizens who have become debt slaves will be liberated. At the same time, it is always forbidden to use the debtor's person as a guarantee when borrowing money, that is, to abolish debt slavery among citizens. Not only are domestic citizens enslaved by debt immediately free, but the state is also responsible for redeeming those who have been sold abroad. Related to this, those who turned their land into "June 1 Han" because of debts have now swept away the traces of creditor's rights on the land and become the owners of their land again.
This order not only relieved the poor citizens in Athens from the heaviest burden, but also had a far-reaching impact on the slave society in Athens and Greece because of the abolition of debt slavery. But this cancellation only refers to citizens and does not hinder the development of slavery itself. Since then, all slaves in Athens have been served by foreigners. Because citizens are no longer enslaved by debts, the city-state system is more consolidated and democratic politics develops, which makes the Greek slave economy prosperous. Therefore, from a dialectical point of view, the order of solving problems actually represents the progressive direction of promoting the development of Greek slave society. In the same spirit, Solon also stipulated the maximum amount of land occupied by individual citizens to prevent excessive concentration of land and make the city-state system develop healthily by protecting small farmers.
The second major reform measure is to classify citizens according to the property qualification of land income, and cancel the previous three grades of nobility, farmers and craftsmen. This kind of political reform is naturally beneficial to the industrial and commercial slave owners, because they must occupy the first and second classes according to their property. At the same time, it is not a complete blow to the nobility, because the nobility can still rank first and second in terms of property, but their privileges are weakened and they can no longer monopolize the political power. The specific rule is that the first-class property qualification is the annual income according to grain, oil and wine. There are more than 500 buckets (each bucket is about 52 liters), which is called "500 bucket class"; The second level is to earn more than 300 buckets, which is called "knight level"; The standard of the third level is more than 200 buckets, which is called "cow yoke level" (those who have cows to plow the fields); Those who earn less than 200 bushels are classified into the fourth grade, and earn a living by working, so they are called "daily servants". The purpose of classification is to distribute political rights: the first level can be all official positions such as ruling and treasurer; The second level is the same as the first level, but no treasurer is allowed; The third level can be a low-level official, but not a high-level official such as a consul; The fourth level is still not allowed to hold all official positions, but can serve as jurors in the jury court like other levels. It can be seen that Solon gave the industrial and commercial slave owners the opportunity to master the first and second levels of political power and rose to the ruling class. However, the political rights he gave to ordinary people are limited, which reflects that his reform has always maintained the "middle line" that he is proud of.
The third major reform was the establishment of new political institutions, and the aristocratic meeting was greatly restricted. The most important thing in the new organization is the 400-member conference, which is composed of 100 members elected by each of the four tribes. All citizens can be elected except the fourth grade. The 400-member meeting gained many powers that originally belonged to the aristocratic meeting, such as drawing up the agenda for the citizens' meeting, proposing bills, becoming a permanent body of the citizens' meeting and so on. Although the aristocratic meeting remained, it lost its original prestige and real power. Compared with the decline of the power status of the aristocratic parliament, the civic parliament gradually recovered its majesty as the highest authority of the city-state, because Solon's election and the passage of various reform laws must be carried out at the civic parliament, and the enthusiasm of citizens to participate in the parliament was unprecedented. Another new institution established by Solon is the jury court, which not only participates in regular trials, but also accepts appeals, equivalent to the highest court in Athens. Solon stipulates that every citizen has the right to appeal, and the jury court is composed of jurors, with dozens or even hundreds of people. Citizens at all levels can make judgments by drawing lots and voting when trying cases. Therefore, it is more democratic and breaks the accumulated disadvantages of aristocratic monopoly of justice. Solon has also enacted some relatively progressive laws, stipulating that all criminals except homicide shall not be put to death, and any citizen has the right to file a complaint, prohibit the sale of marriage, and protect widows and orphans.
The fourth reform measures include those laws and regulations that promote industry and commerce, such as encouraging foreign technicians to move to Athens and giving immigrants with families citizenship; Athenian citizens must let their son learn a trade, otherwise the son can refuse to support his father; Prohibit the export of food other than olive oil; Reform the weights and measures and monetary system, so that Athens can better carry out foreign trade. This series of measures to develop industry and commerce has highlighted the requirements of industrial and commercial slave owners.
Looking at Solon's various reforms, we can see that it has taken a big step in saving people's sufferings and eliminating aristocratic privileges, and at the same time, it has prepared conditions for industrial and commercial slave owners to master political power. Generally speaking, it led Athens to the road of establishing slavery democracy and developing slavery industry and commerce, which was also the broad road that met the requirements of the development of Greek city-states at that time. Aristotle said that Solon "adopted the best legislation to save the country", which is a correct evaluation. In the hundred years after Solon's reform, Athens continued to carry out some democratic reforms along the road he initiated, and finally made Athens a leading Greek city-state with economic prosperity, strong national strength, political democracy and cultural prosperity. Solon has only been in power for one year. After the expiration, he drifted away and traveled abroad. After that, he never entered politics again until his death in 560 BC. It is said that he was suggested to engage in tyrant politics in the later period of reform, but he politely refused to show his loyalty to city-state politics and oppose personal dictatorship. However, after Solon, the factional struggle among Athenian citizens became fierce again, and the three factions of plain, mountain and coast were deadlocked. From the class background, it can be said that the plain faction represents the nobility, the mountain faction represents the peasants, and the coastal faction represents the industrialists and businessmen. According to the practice of Greek city-States, when factional struggles are fierce, it is often beneficial for rulers to strengthen their power and embark on the road of tyrant politics, and generally tend to be anti-aristocratic. In addition, Solon's reform in Athens laid the foundation for the anti-aristocratic camp. Therefore, as a result of long-term struggle, peisistratus, the leader of Shanism and Solon's former friend, successfully established a tyrant rule in Athens. Relying on the support of farmers, he seized power by force, attacked the nobles, and firmly ruled Athens from 54 1 BC. After his death in 527, his son continued to rule 18 until it was overthrown by the people in 5 10. Peisistratus's tyrannical politics for nearly half a century has also written an important chapter in the history of Athens.
Generally speaking, peisistratus's rule showed his concern for farmers and supported non-governmental forces against the nobility. He continued to implement Solon's legislation, so that Athens still developed according to Solon's reform. Citizens' meetings and consuls' elections were held as usual, but all those who held official positions belonged to his henchmen. He helped farmers develop production, improve their political status, and supported farmers to grow grapes with low-interest loans. At the same time, the judicial power will be concentrated in the city-state government, and the rural circuit court will be set up to solve disputes on the spot and weaken the aristocratic interference in local justice. He also often visits everywhere to solve the problems raised by farmers in remote mountainous areas. Although he set up a private guard and lived a luxurious life, the people still had a good impression on his tyrannical politics, and the economy and culture of Athens developed greatly during his reign. Therefore, Aristotle commented: "peisistratus's handling of state affairs is moderate and constitutional; He is kind and gentle to everything, especially to those who break the law ... During his reign, he never embarrassed the public and always devoted himself to peace and tranquility. Therefore, people often say that the tyrant politics in peisistratus is like a golden age. "
In the second half of the 6th century BC, under the tyrant's rule, the industry and commerce in Athens developed remarkably. The production of Athenian pottery is in the forefront in the Greek world, selling well in the eastern and western Mediterranean and also in the Black Sea coast. With the export of exquisite pottery, there is also wine and oil, which is also the bulk of Athens' foreign trade. As peisistratus maintains friendly relations with its neighbors and countries in Asia and the Black Sea region, Athens has convenient external contacts and smooth trade routes, and its coins have begun to be valued in the international market. Peisistratus paid special attention to controlling the trade route from Athens to the Black Sea, established the Athenian colony Sigian in the northwest corner of Asia Minor, and supported Athenian businessmen to develop gold mines in Thrace. His large-scale construction in Athens not only promoted the development of construction industry and related industries, but also made Athens the center of Greek architecture and sculpture art. He also paid attention to advocating literature and art, organizing grand and spectacular festivals, inviting many poets to Athens and treating them well. The completion and writing of Homer's epic was held in Athens. So, on the whole, Athens prospered under the tyrant's rule, as Solon expected.
Peisistratus's son, Hippias, failed to inherit his father's "benevolent policy". The darkness, luxury and arrogance of autocracy aroused people's growing dissatisfaction and were finally overthrown by the masses in 5 10 BC. The banished Hippias finally went to Persia, treason and glory. After the Athenian people gained their freedom, they continued to struggle, and through the opportunity of colluding with exiled nobles, they drove away the Spartan army that once entered Athens, which contributed to the Christian reform in 508-507 BC and promoted the democratic politics in Athens. Cristini is also a democratic politician. He comes from a noble family, but he supports ordinary people like Solon. He carried out a thorough reform of the electoral system and blood clan in Athens, which Solon's reform was not deeply touched. One of its contents is to abolish the traditional four-blood tribe and replace it with a new regional tribe of 10, and conduct elections according to the new tribal system. In fact, these new tribes are the electoral districts of the polis, and they only use the names of the tribes. Because there are three schools of thought in Athens politics: the plain, the mountain and the coast, the composition of the new tribe pays attention to the elimination of the influence of the gentry and nobles, but also to the integration of the three schools, so the composition is more complicated. The solution is that each regional tribe includes three "trinity areas", which are located in the above three areas. For example, the newly formed regional tribes named Pan dionis include Milinos in the coastal Trinity Area, Ania in the mountainous Trinity Area and Neng in Gudat in the plain Trinity Area, and the three areas are integrated into a new area. This method skillfully uses the tradition that the original blood tribe was also divided into three trinity areas, but the old trinity area was divided according to the phratry, and now it is composed according to the regional household registration, which is compatible with the plain, mountain and coastal areas. It is precisely because of the complete regional composition that the reform in Cleisthenes dealt a heavy blow to the gentry, making it impossible for them to rely on the old clan kinship to influence the election. The national organization in Athens was completely formed by getting rid of the remnants of clan kinship.
After forming a new constituency, Cleisthenes replaced Solon's 400-member conference with 50 members from 10 tribe. Members of the 500-member conference are citizens regardless of rank, which is more democratic than the 400-member conference. The election method is also innovative: the number of places determined by grass-roots units in each constituency (equivalent to Demos in the village) according to the proportion of population is drawn from qualified candidates. In this way, every Athenian citizen who cares about the health of politics has the right to be elected as a member of the 500-member conference in principle. In fact, he will always have one or two chances to be elected in his life. The power of the 500-member meeting has also been expanded. In addition to preparing bills for the assembly, all topics are discussed and presided over by the assembly, which is also responsible for handling the daily affairs of the country when the assembly is not in session. Its 500 members are divided into 10 groups according to the tribe, which are called "Presidium" in turn within one year, and each group also takes 50 people on duty in turn. On the day when everyone was on duty, he was the highest-ranking public official in Athens.
Cleisthenes's reform also led to changes in the composition of the Athenian army. In the past, recruitment was based on blood tribes, but now it is based on regional tribes. Each tribe provided a heavy infantry team, some cavalry and sailors, and elected a general as its leader. 10 general committee, chaired by the military consul. According to the tradition of citizens serving at their own expense, the position of general is not only unpaid, but also equipped with everything (including orderly) at their own expense, so only people with rich property are willing and possible to hold it. Therefore, you are always elected without drawing lots, and you can be re-elected (but you can also recall at any time). Later, this position became an important position held by the upper class of slave owners, which had a great influence on the political situation in Athens.
The last measure of Cristini's reform is to implement the Tao Exile Law (Tao refers to the ballot), which decides whether to exile a citizen politically according to a referendum, and when voting, the convicted person's name is written on Tao. Every year, a meeting of 500 people is held to discuss whether this law should be implemented. If the meeting agrees to hold a referendum, as long as the number of attendees reaches 6,000 and some people get a majority vote, he will be exiled abroad 10 years, but his property will not be passive. This kind of exile law is a great threat to the dignitaries (often nobles) who are unpopular with the masses, and can be regarded as an important tool of democratic politics.
To sum up, we can see that Cleisthenes's reform pushed the democratic politics in Athens to the peak after Solon. Since then, the flood of democracy in Athens city-states has surged forward irreversibly, so Aristotle said that this reform was "much more democratic than Solon's constitution". Engels also believed that it was the successful conclusion of the establishment of the Athenian state. "How the country that has been formed now is suitable for the new social situation of the Athenians, which can be proved by the rapid prosperity of wealth, commerce and industry." Athens has become the leading city-state in the Greek world due to a series of democratic reforms in the past century, and its economic, political and cultural strength has made it accept unprecedented severe challenges in the upcoming invasion of the Persian Empire.