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Particulars in the Discussion of Solon's Chronology

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Particulars in the Discussion of Solon's Chronology APPENDIX IV PARTICULARS IN THE DISCUSSION OF SOLON'S CHRONOLOGY Sources The sources for Solon's chronology are as follows: 1. AP contains the following as M. Miller excerpts and sets it out in her article, "Solon's Time Table" (the references to the text of AP are added): The Ath. Pol. has the most extended account: "Taking charge of affairs, Solon both (I) freed the people then and forever by forbidding loans upon the person; and (2) legislated; and (3) amputated debts both pri­ vate and public, which is called Shaking Off of Burdens ...." (AP 6.1, 22-26). Again: "These are the provisions of Solon's constitution which most benefit the people: the first and greatest is the ban on loans upon the person ...." (ibid. 9.1, 22-24). And finally: "These then are the popular benefits in the laws; before the law-code there was the ampu­ tation of debts and thereafter the enlargement of both the measures and the weights, and of the coinage ...." (ibid. 10.1, 8-11).1 2. Plutarch contains the following as Hignett, paraphrases it in, A History if the Athenian Constitution: Plutarch, however, (Solon 14.3; 16.3-5), while ascribing the O"etO"UX9eta or cancellation of debts to Solon's archonship, believed that an inter­ val of some duration ensued between the Seisachtheia and Solon's codification of the laws. In this interval the people, at first disappointed by the results of the Seisachtheia, learnt to appreciate the benefits that they received from it, and in consequence appointed Solon 'tTl<; ltoAm:ia<; owp9co'tl)V Kat VOllo9£'tT1V. 2 The standard interpretation of nos. 1 and 2 is conveniently stated by Sealey: I Miller 1968, 66. 2 Hignett, 317. APPENDIX IV 257 Solon was eponymous archon in 594/93 and Aristotle assumed that he carried out his political work in that year. Plutarch seems to dis­ tinguish two successive commissions entrusted to Solon.3 3. The fragments of Solon's poems most often cited in discussions of chronology are frs. 4, 4a, 32, 33, 34, 36, and 37. 4. In connection with this textual evidence the following facts are important: a significant period of disturbance occurred in the years following the traditional date of Solon's archonship in the decade beginning in 590. There was the anarchia in 590/89 and 586/85, where the archon list shows no entries, and there was the extraordinary protraction between 582-580 of Damasias's term as archon with the need arising to have him forcibly removed from office. All together these events signal that the entire period was one of significant unrest. Hammond's Calculation: Archonship (594) and Constitutional Commission (592) For Hammond, AP 13.1 establishes 594/93 as the year of the archonship. The relevant portion of the text states: LOAWVO~ D' a1tODrH.lf]crav'tO~, £n Tft~ 1tOAEW~ TETapaYIlEv11~, E1tlIlEV £TTl TETTapa Dtftyov EV i)cruxi<;x' T0 DE 1tEIl1tTqJ IlETa T~V LOAWVO~ apx~v ou KaTEcrT11crav apx­ ovm Dta T~V crTacrtv, Kal1taAtv £TEt 1tEIl1tTqJ Dta T~V aUT~v aiTiav avapxiav E1toi11crav. IlETa DE Ta'ilTa Dta Trov a1lTrov Xpovwv ~allacria~ atpE9d~ apxwv £T11 DUo Kal Duo Ilftva~ ~ P~EV, £w~ E~11A&911 ~i<;x Tft~ apxft~. In his [Solon's] absence the city continued in a state of turmoil. For four years the peace was kept, but in the fifth the strife prevented the appointment of an archon; and again in the fifth year from that there was no archon for the same reason. Then, after the same lapse of time again, Damasias was appointed archon: he remained in office for two years and two months, until he was removed by force. 4 Hammond interprets the passage by reckoning inclusively: in 594/93 Solon is archon; Etll tf't'tCXpCX OtTlYOV £V ilcruXi~ means that Solon's new order obtained without disturbance for four years from the archon­ ship until 591/90; tip OE 1tf!l1tnp !lEta t~V IOAffiVOC; apx~v OU KCXtfcrtll­ crcxv apXOVtcx Ota t~V crtacrtv means that in the fifth year after the archonship there was a disturbance and this was the anarchical year 3 Sealey 1976, 121. 4 Rhodes 1984, 54. .
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