5

Cleisthenes and the Birth of Democracy

15. Cleisthenes the aristocratic democrat

The overthrow of the Pisistratids made Athens plunge once again into factional strife. Two parties were contending for power, one supporting the deposed tyrants, whose leader was Isagoras, and one supporting the noble house of the Alcmaeonids, the arch-rivals of the Pisistratids. The head of this faction was Cleisthenes, who had important international connections. Cleisthenes might have been a fully pedigreed nobleman, but he was very popular with the Athenian demos owing to his contribution to the demise of the tyrants, while he met with the opposition of the members of the so-called herairiai, the aristocratic clubs that controlled Athenian politics [a, b].

Once he became ‘leader of the people’ (prostates tou demou), Cleisthenes carried out a series of reforms of the tribal system and administration of the polis. These reforms, as our sources point out, had two tightly intertwined aims: to give more power to the people [c], and to promote a common civic and political identity, which would overcome parochial divisions between the various regions of Attica. As a result of Cleisthenes’ reforms the citizen body of Athens was considerably expanded. Citizenship was also granted to a number of foreigners and apparently even slaves who had joined Cleisthenes’ faction.

At the heart of Cleisthenes’ reforms was the abolition of the four traditional tribes of Attica and the creation of ten new ones, each of which included districts from the different areas of Attica, and was therefore representative of the whole polis. Accordingly, the territory of the polis was divided into three main regions, the urban centre (asty), the midlands (mesogeia), and the coast (paralia). Each region was divided into ten districts, called tritties, which were to constitute the third part of one tribe. The ten new tribes were created by selecting by lot one tritty from each of the three regions. The Cleisthenic tribes were named after ten heroes of the history of Attica. As the story goes, these names were selected by the oracle of Delphi from a list of one hundred prepared by Cleisthenes. These were the names of the Cleisthenic tribes, as listed in their official order: Erechteis, Aigeis, Pandionis, Leontis, Acamantis, Oineis, Cecropis, Hippothontis, Aiantis, Antiochis.

The new tribes became the basic units for the military, political, and administrative organization of Attica. The tribes, as we have said, were meant to represent the whole city. This was most visible in the reorganization of the council of the polis, the boule, whose membership was increased from four hundred to five hundred members, fifty councilmen from each tribe. The bouleutai did not sit all together, but one tribe at a time, according to a new civic calendar divided into ten prytanies. Each tribe was meant to represent the whole of the polis, and for one month a year it was in charge of running the affairs of the state on behalf of all the Athenians.

Cleisthenes is one of the most mysterious personalities of Greek history. Although his name is associated to perhaps the most epochal reform in the history of Athenian democracy, no source reports a single word from him, and nothing is known of what he did after he passed his reforms. Cleisthenes, as Herodotus says, gave Athens ‘the tribes and democracy’, but that is not the name by which he referred to the administrative reform that he had put in place. In fact, he called it isonomia, or ‘equality before the law’. The transformations brought about by Cleisthenes were political as well as cultural: following the example of his homonymous grandfather, who had been tyrant of Sycione, Cleisthenes wanted to create a civic identity and iconography deliberately alternative to those of the traditional Ionian tribes [d]. Aristotle, who was no friend at all of democracy, is critical of the regime put in place by Cleisthenes, particularly as concerns the creation of new citizens, which is a typical trait of democracy. At the same time, Aristotle seems to praise him for establishing a well-structured regime in which the excesses of popular rule were somehow contained [e, f].

[a] Hdt. 6.130–1: The ancestry of Cleisthenes of Athens; suitors for the hand of the daughter of Cleisthenes of Sycione

Cleisthenes asked for silence and said to them: ‘Suitors of my daughters, I express my gratitude to you all, and if it was possible I would gratify you all, without choosing one to lift above the others and rejecting the rest. But since I only have one maiden daughter to marry and cannot please you all, those of you whose suit is rejected will receive a gift of one talent of silver, as a reward for your desire to take a wife from my house and your long stay away from home. As for my daughter Agariste, I give her to Megacles son of Alcmaeon, in accordance with the laws of the Athenians.’ Megacles accepted the betrothal, and the marriage was ratified by Cleisthenes.

This is how the suitor was chosen, and so the name of the Alcmaeonids resounded throughout Greece. Cleisthenes, the man who gave Athens the tribes and democracy, was born from this marriage. He was called after his mother’s father, a man of Sycione. Cleisthenes and Hippocrates were born to Megacles. Hippocrates was the father of another Megacles and another Agariste; the latter was called after Cleisthenes’ daughter, Agariste. She married Xanthippus, the son of Ariphron. During her pregnancy she had a vision in her sleep, whereby she imagined giving birth to a lion. After a few days, she delivered a son to Xanthippus, Pericles.

[b] [Arist.] Ath. Const. 20.1–21: Civic strife and reform in Attica

Once the tyranny was put down, civic strife broke out between the faction of Isagoras, son of Teisandros, who was a friend of the tyrants, and Cleisthenes, of the house of the Alcmaeonids. Cleisthenes, finding himself at a disadvantage in the political clubs, brought the populace to his side by giving political rights to the masses. Isagoras was losing power and so he called back Cleomenes, who was bound to him by links of hospitality, and persuaded him to dispel the pollution from Athens, because the Alcmaeonids were supposed to be under the curse of pollution. Clisthenes therefore withdrew from the country, and Cleomenes entered Attica at the head of a small force and drove out the pollution by expelling seven hundred cursed Athenian families. Having attained this, Cleomenes tried to disband the council and make Isagoras and three hundred of his followers rulers of the city.

The council however made a stand, and the populace got together, while Cleomenes, Isagoras and their supporters sought refuge on the acropolis. The people kept them under siege for two days. On the third day, they let Cleomenes and his men go under a truce, and called back Cleisthenes and the other exiles. The people were now in control of the situation, and Cleisthenes was their chief and leader. It is safe to say that the Alcmaeonids had been chiefly instrumental in expelling the tyrants, since they had been fighting them for most of the time.

Caedon had already made an attack against the tyrants before the Alcmaeonids, on which account people sing in his honour:

Fill the cup again for Caedon, boy, don’t forget about it, if we have to raise our glasses to the good men.

These are the reasons why the people trusted Cleisthenes. Having become the leader of the people, in the fourth year since the demise of the tyrants, in the archonship of Isagoras, Cleisthenes first divided all the citizens into ten tribes, instead of the traditional four. His aim was to amalgamate them and so to increase the number of those who partook of citizenship, whence the saying ‘do not look at the tribe’, addressed at those who asked people what was their clan. Next he made the council of five hundred members, instead of 400, 50 from each tribe, whereas under the old system each tribe gave one 100 councilmen. This is why he did not divide the city into 12 tribes, so that he would not have to use the system of tritties which was then in place (the old four tribes had 12 tritties), for if he had maintained the existing division the people would not have amalgamated. Cleisthenes therefore arranged the demes of Attica into 30 parts, ten from the demes of the city, ten from those of the coast and ten from those of the countryside. He called these pools trytties and assigned three of them by lot to each tribe, so that each tribe would include a part of all three districts. Furthermore, he made all the inhabitants of the various demes fellow-demesmen of one another, so that nobody could tell whether someone had just acquired citizenship by addressing people by their father’s name, but could all address each other by the name of their deme. This is why the Athenians even in private use the name of their deme as their surname. Also he appointed demarchs whose responsibilities were the same as the former naucraries. As for the names of the demes, he called some of them after the place where they were located and some after the founders, for not all demes now coincided with a locality with a certain name. Cleisthenes maintained the local clans, clubs and priesthoods according to tradition. The tribes were named after ten eponymous heroes, as selected by the Pythian priestess from a list of 100.

[c] Isoc. Areop. 16: Cleisthenes restored the Solonian constitution

I find that the only way that we have to prevent future dangers and relieve us from our present ills is to bring back the democratic regime established by Solon, the most democratic men of them all, and then restored by Cleisthenes when he deposed the tyrants and gave power back to the people.

[d] Hdt. 5.66: Cleisthenes and the greatness of Athens

Athens had already been great before, but became even greater after the tyrants were deposed. The two most powerful men of the time were Cleisthenes of the house of the Alcmaeonids, and Isagoras, son of Tisandros. Isagoras also belonged to a noble house. What his lineage is I cannot say, but his kinsfolk offer sacrifices to the Zeus of Caria. These two men were contending for power; Cleisthenes was coming out the loser and so he resolved to take the populace into his faction. Cleisthenes then divided the Athenians into ten tribes, instead of the old four. He removed the old tribal denominations of Iones, Hopletes, Argadeis and Aegicoreis, and introduced new names taken from those of other heroes, who were all native of Attica, except Aiax. The name of Aiax was added because he was a neighbour and an ally, even though he was a stranger

It seems to me that Cleisthenes did all this in imitation of his maternal grandfather, Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyone. In fact, Cleisthenes, after he waged war against the Argives, abolished the rhapsodic contests in Sicyon, because the Homeric poems were all about singing the deeds of the Argives and Argos. Furthermore, he wanted to expel from his land Adrastus, son of Talaus, the hero who had a shrine right in the agora of Sicyon, because he was an Argive. Accordingly, Cleisthenes went to Delphi and asked the Priestess if he should expel Adrastus. The Pythia said that Adrastus was the king of Sicyon, and Cleisthenes nothing but a stone-thrower.

Since the god would not allow him to do as he wished, Cleisthenes returned home and started to consider how he could get rid of Adrastus. When he thought he had a good plan, he sent to Thebes in Beotia to say that he wished to bring Melanippus, son of Astacus to Sycione, and the Thebans handed him over. When Cleisthenes had brought him to Sycione, he built a shrine in his honour in the most secure area of the city’s town-hall.

The reason why Cleisthenes brought Melanippus to Sicyon (which I should relate) is that he was the fiercest enemy of Adrastus, because Adrastus had killed his brother Mecisteus and his son-in-law Tydaeus. Once the precinct for Melanippus was ready, Cleisthenes took away all the sacrifices and festivals for Adrastus, and gave them to Melanippus. Now, the Sicyonians had grown accustomed to paying the greatest honours to Adrastus, for Polybius had been the lord of that city, and Adrastus was the son of Polybius’ daughter, and since Polybius had no sons when he died, he passed the kingdom to Adrastus.

On top of the other tributes paid by the Sicyonians to Adrastus, they commemorated the vicissitudes of his live by staging tragic choruses in his honour instead of Dionysus. Cleisthenes however returned the choruses to Dionysus and all the other sacrifices to Melanippus.

This is what Cleisthenes did in relation to Adrastus. Also, he changed the names of the tribes of the Dorians, so that the Sicyonians and Argives would not share the same tribe names. Cleisthenes however made the Sicyonians objects of ridicule, because the names that he gave to the tribes were ‘swine’ and ‘donkey’ with the addition of an ending. As for the name of his tribe, Cleisthenes called it ‘Archelai’, or the ‘Rulers of the people’, as an indication of his own power. The other tribes were called Swinites, Donkeytes and Porkites. These were the names of the tribes of Sicyon when Cleisthenes was in power, and for sixty years after his death. Afterwards however the Sicyonians considered the matter and resolved to rename the tribes Hylleis, Pamphili and Dymanatae. A new tribe was also created and called Aegialeis in honour of Aegialaeus, son of Adrastus.

These were the deeds of Cleisthenes of Sicyone. My impression is that Cleisthenes of Athens followed the example of his homonymous grandfather when he resolved out of hatred for the Ionians that his tribes should not have the same names as those of the Ionians. The people back then had no entitlements whatsoever, and once he had them on his side, Cleisthenes changed the names of the tribes and increased their number and instituted ten chiefs of the tribes instead of four, and assigned ten demes to each tribe. Having obtained the support of the commons, the party of Cleisthenes became much stronger than the opposing faction.

[e] Arist. Pol. 3.1.10: Cleisthenes expands the citizen body

Questions arise concerning those who become citizens as a result of a revolution. Take the case of the new citizens created by Cleisthenes after the overthrow of the tyrants, when he enrolled in the tribes many foreign residents who previously had been foreigners or slaves. The point of dispute here is not whether or not they were citizens, but rather if it was right or wrong to give them citizenship.

[f] Arist. Pol. 6.2.11: Cleisthenes and other radical democrats

Not every polis can endure the extreme form of democracy, because all citizens have an equal share in the government. Nor can any such regime survive easily, unless it rests on good laws and good customs […]. In order to establish democratic regimes of this kind and give power to the people, popular leaders usually try to put together as many supporters as possible including not only legitimate citizens but also the baseborn and those who are citizens on one side only, I mean to say those of whom only the father or the mother is a citizen. For it is the people of this sort who are more at home in this kind of democracy. Demagogues generally arrange the state in the following manner: the number of citizens is increased up to the point where lower orders outnumber the notables and the middle classes, without crossing that limit. For if they go beyond that point the state becomes unruly, and the notables more hostile towards democracy. This for instance was the cause of the civil unrest in Cyrene. For when the base element is small within a city, it is overlooked, but when it grows bigger it becomes more visible. Any democracy of this kind would find useful the reforms put in place by Cleisthenes to strengthen democracy in Athens.

16. Isonomia in practice

What follows is a small selection of sources relating to the practical and cultural effects of Cleisthenes’ isonomia. Item [a] is an inscription from the agora of Athens, engraved on a pillar serving as a gatepost to an area where citizens entered arranged by tribe and tritty. Item [b], dating to the end of the 6th century, is the earliest surviving decree of the assembly. It contains norms concerning the Athenian citizens living on the island of Salamis.

Cleisthenes actively promoted the cult of the tyrannicides (see supra, item 14c). Item [c] is a scholion (‘hymn’) of the late fourth century, celebrating Harmodious and Aristogiton as the men who restored isonomia in Athens, and made all citizens equal before the law.

Item [d] is a fragment from Cleidemos, a fourth-century writer of local Attic history, discussing the etymology of pnyx, the name given to the slope one kilometre west of the acropolis, where the Athenian assembly held its meetings.

[a] IG I³ 1127: A gatepost in the agora

This is where the tritty Paianieis ends and the Myrrhinousini begins.

[b] IG I³. 1 = Fornara 44b = M&L 14 = SEG XXVI.39, XXXI.1 = Tod I 11: A decree of the Athenian ekklesia

The people decreed: the settlers in Salamis shall live in Salamis […];

They shall pay taxes and give military service […];

They shall not lease their land except to a […];

They shall provide their own arms to the value of thirty drachms, and the Athenian governor will oversee […]

[c] Callistratus’ scholion to Harmodius and Aristogiton, translated by Elton (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 15.69a–b): The tyrannicides gave equality to Athens

In myrtles veil’d will I the falchion wear,

For thus the patriot sword

Harmodius and Aristogiton bare,

When they the tyrant’s bosom gored,

And bade the men of Athens be

Regenerate in equality.

Oh! beloved Harmodius! never

Shall death be thine, who liv’st for ever.

Thy shade, as men have told, inherits

The islands of the blessed spirits,

Where deathless live the glorious dead,

Achilles fleet of foot, and Diomed.

In myrtles veil’d will I the falchion wear,

For thus the patriot sword

Harmodius and Aristogiton bare,

When they the tyrant’s bosom gored;

When in Minerva’s festal rite

They closed Hipparchus’ eyes in night.

Harmodius’ praise, Aristogiton’s name,

Shall bloom on earth with undecaying fame;

Who with the myrtle-wreathed sword

The tyrant’s bosom gored,

And bade the men of Athens be

Regenerate in equality.

[d] Cleidemos, FGH 323 F7 = (Harpocration, Lexicon, s.v. Pykni): The meaning of the term pnyx

Hyperides in his first speech On behalf of Chairephilus, says: ‘so much of the Pnyx…’ Pnyx was the name of the Athenian assembly; there are plenty of references to it in the Attic authors. Cleidemus in the third book of the Protogonia says: ‘the Athenians used to meet at the pnyx. The name stems from the fact that the assembly was always tightly packed (pyknoumenen)’.

The ten Cleisthenian tribes

A: tritty of the city (asty)

P: tritty of the shores (paralia)

M: tritty of the midlands (mesogeia)