24 Facts About Solon

Solon is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy.

Solon is described by Aristotle in the Athenian Constitution as "the first people's champion".

Solon's family was distinguished in Attica as they belonged to a noble or Eupatrid clan.

Solon was eventually drawn into the unaristocratic pursuit of commerce.

The dispute was referred to the Spartans, who eventually awarded possession of the island to Athens on the strength of the case that Solon put to them.

Solon repealed all of Draco's laws except those relating to homicide.

Solon was described by Plutarch as having been temporarily awarded autocratic powers by Athenian citizens on the grounds that he had the wisdom to sort out their differences for them in a peaceful and equitable manner.

Some modern scholars believe these powers were in fact granted some years after Solon had been archon, when he would have been a member of the Areopagus and probably a more respected statesman by his peers.

In Plutarch's account, Solon accused Athenians of stupidity and cowardice for allowing this to happen.

In protest, and as an example to others, Solon stood outside his own home in full armour, urging all who passed to resist the machinations of the would-be tyrant.

Solon died shortly after Pisistratus usurped by force the autocratic power that Athens had once freely bestowed upon him.

Solon died in Cyprus around the age of 70 and, in accordance with his will, his ashes were scattered around Salamis, the island where he was born.

The social and political upheavals that characterized Athens in Solon's time have been variously interpreted by historians from ancient times to the present day.

The historical account of Solon's Athens has evolved over many centuries into a set of contradictory stories or a complex story that might be interpreted in a variety of ways.

Attika in Solon's time seemed to be moving towards a similarly ugly solution with many citizens in danger of being reduced to the status of helots.

Fragments of the axones were still visible in Plutarch's time but today the only records we have of Solon's laws are fragmentary quotes and comments in literary sources such as those written by Plutarch himself.

Ancient readers concluded, based on his own erotic poetry, that Solon himself had a preference for boys.

Aristotle, writing around 330 BC, attempted to refute that belief, claiming that "those are manifestly talking nonsense who pretend that Solon was the lover of Pisistratus, for their ages do not admit of it", as Solon was about thirty years older than Pisistratus.

Solon's presumed pederastic desire was thought in antiquity to have found expression in his poetry, which is today represented only in a few surviving fragments.

Solon's verses have come down to us in fragmentary quotations by ancient authors such as Plutarch and Demosthenes, who used them to illustrate their own arguments.

The literary merit of Solon's verse is generally considered unexceptional.

Solon wrote iambic and trochaic verses, which, according to one modern scholar, are livelier and more direct than his elegies and possibly paved the way for the iambics of Athenian drama.

Solon's verses are mainly significant for historical rather than aesthetic reasons, as a personal record of his reforms and attitudes.

Solon's poetry indicates that he attempted to use his extraordinary legislative powers to establish a peaceful settlement between the country's rival factions:.