Athens

History

According to legend Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, had a contest agianst Poseidon, the god of the seas, for the ownership of Athens. Athena ended up winning the contest becoming the patron goddess of the city, which was built up agianst a hill, which became known as the Acropolis. Athens rose up 200 ft. above the plains with three of it's four sides being steep, cliffs. The people found that the fourth side was easily fortified and defended. Another legend said that Theseus, a famous Athenian hero, unified the city under one government, the legend also said that Athens sent fifty ships as part of the Greek fleet sailing to Troy for the Trojan War.

Athens Government

During 1066 B.C. the Athens government changed from a monarchy to a democracy with the last king of Athens being replaced by a chief magistrate called an archon. At first the archon's ruling was no different then a king's, with the fact that you ruled until the day you died and that you had to be from a royal family. However, in 752 B.C. the archon's position was limited to a term of ten years, until 683 B.C. when the office was changed toware that instead of one archon, to nine serving for one-year terms. In 594 B.C. Solon was elected to an archon position, during this time many farmers found themselves falling into debt because of the money lenders charging so high of interest rates. Many of these farmers were forced into slavery because they couldn't pay off their debts. However, Solon forgave all of their debts and developed a fairer system, which was made up of a council that included 400 people of every group of Athenians except for the poorest groups of Athenians. The poorest groups of Athenians had no say in the government, however, they didn't have to pay taxes. Although Solon contributed to the changing government it was Cleisthene who changed the government into a democracy. Cleisthene devided Athens population into ten tribal groups, each group elected fifty representatives to the assembly. This extended the representation and voting rights to almost all male citizens in Athens, this laid a foundation for future Athenians developing a democracy. In 462 B.C. the supreme tribunal of Athens, the Areopagus, started to lose their power. As the Areopagus started losing their power, a full democracy was established in Athens.