The Reforms of Cleisthenes
Athens recasts its constitution by districts, and decisions pass to the assembly of citizens.
After the expulsion of the tyrants, Cleisthenes rebuilds the very foundation of citizenship: in place of the four clan tribes come ten new ones, each assembled from demes of the city, the coast and the inland country. Kinship ceases to determine politics; neighbourhood and the lot come to the fore: the Council of Five Hundred is recruited by demes, offices are filled by lottery, decisions rest with the popular assembly. Ostracism is introduced at the same time — the power to banish for ten years a man grown too strong. The word democracy Cleisthenes probably never spoke, but the order that will bear the name begins with him.
§Sources
Scholarship
- Greek authors: Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch
- archaeology of the Aegean world
Basis: documents and evidence.