Solon of Athens

Jun 19, 2024

Solon, one of the seven sages of Athens, laid the groundwork for Athenian democracy; podcast discusses his life, reforms to tackle debt crisis, legal equality for lower classes, legacy opposing tyranny, and advice on lifelong learning.

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ANECDOTE

Cunning Capture Of Salamis

Solon used a ruse to retake Salamis by tricking the Megarians with a fake sacrificial party.
His men disguised as women captured the enemy and enabled Athens to seize the island.

INSIGHT

Crisis Drove Solon's Selection

Athens faced systemic economic collapse because land and wealth concentrated in a tiny aristocratic elite.
Solon was chosen because he was seen as impartial and not implicated in either side's abuses.

ADVICE

Erase Debt Collateral, Protect Citizens

Do abolish debt-collateral practices and prevent personal liberty from being used as loan security.
Do enable cultivators to claim the land they work to stabilize their finances and freedoms.

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Solon is one of the seven sages of Athens, and he's credited with laying the groundwork for Athenian democracy. But most of what we know about him comes biographies written centuries after he lived.

Research:

Aristotle, tr. Sir Frederic G. Kenyon. “The Athenian Constitution.” https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/athenian_const.1.1.html
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Draco". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Draco-Greek-lawgiver
Cadoux, T. J. “The Athenian Archons from Kreon to Hypsichides.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 68, 1948, pp. 70–123. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/626301
Cartwright, Mark. “Solon.” World History Encyclopedia. March 10, 2016. https://www.worldhistory.org/solon/
Forrest, W. G., and D. L. Stockton. “The Athenian Archons: A Note.” Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, vol. 36, no. 2, 1987, pp. 235–40. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4436007
French, A. “Solon and the Megarian Question.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 77, 1957, pp. 238–46. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/629363
Gill, N.S. "Solon's Reforms and the Rise of Democracy in Athens." ThoughtCo, Aug. 30, 2020, thoughtco.com/solons-reforms-democracy-121062.
Hölkeskamp, Karl-Joachim. “What’s in a Code? Solon’s Laws between Complexity, Compilation and Contingency.” Hermes, vol. 133, no. 3, 2005, pp. 280–93. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4477659
Leão, Delfim F. and P.J. Rhodes. “The Laws of Solon.” I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. London. 2015.
Linforth, Ivan Mortimer. “Solon the Athenian.” University of California Press. 1919. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=_NENAAAAIAAJ&rdid=book-_NENAAAAIAAJ&rdot=1
Plutarch, and Aubrey Stewart, MA. “Plutarch’s Lives.” George Bell & Sons. London. 1894. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14033/14033-h/14033-h.htm#LIFE_OF_SOLON
Plutarch, and John Dryden. “Plutarch’s Lives.” Little, Brown & Co. Boston. 1895. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/plutarchslivest02clougoog/page/n7/mode/1up
Starr, Chester G.. "Peisistratus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peisistratus

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