University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 Solon of Athens: The Man, the Myth, the Tyrant? Kelcy Shannon Sagstetter University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Recommended Citation Sagstetter, Kelcy Shannon, "Solon of Athens: The Man, the Myth, the Tyrant?" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 923. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/923 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/923 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Solon of Athens: The Man, the Myth, the Tyrant? Abstract I argue that, despite Solon's reputation as an enemy of tyranny, his approach to solving the political discord in Athens in 594 B.C. very closely resembles the way that archaic Greek tyrants succeeded at dealing with similar problems in other city-states. Because tyrants were often popular figures with widespread support, I suggest that Solon's anxiety to avoid the label of tyrant stemmed from the political unrest and bloodshed that arose from the attempted tyranny of Cylon in 632 BC, followed by the harsh and unsuccessful legislation of Drakon in 621. In the dissertation, I first establish that there are two traditions about Solon's motives and actions, indicated by many contradictions in our sources. In one version, Solon appears as a moderate politician who paved the way for the rise of democracy, in part because of his refusal to become a tyrant. In the other, Solon's actions were at times indistinguishable from those of contemporary tyrants, which later sources explain by referring to Solon's assertions in his own poetry to "prove" that these stories were false. I then analyze Solon's poetry, noting that Solon both linguistically distances himself from the concept of tyranny and emphasizes that he does, in fact, possess autocratic powers. The result is a kind of verbal dance, wherein he reminds people: "I am not, nor do1 I wish to be a tyrant; but I could be, and if I were...." Finally, I examine various tyrants who, like Solon, had reputations as legislators. I consider Solon's agricultural reforms, known as the seisachtheia, concentrating in particular on the abolition of debt-slavery, the cancellation of debt, and Solon's refusal to redistribute land. I find that debt cancellation in particular is one of the most common measures used by tyrants as a means of gathering political support from the demos. I also proffer the notion that doing away with debt-slavery may have done more damage than good, concluding that, despite his protests to the contrary, Solon was a tyrant in all but name. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Ancient History First Advisor Jeremy McInerney Keywords Agrarian Reform, Archaic Greece, Cylon, Solon, tyranny, tyrants Subject Categories Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Classics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/923 SOLON OF ATHENS: THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE TYRANT? Kelcy Sagstetter A DISSERTATION in Ancient History Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Supervisor of Dissertation Signature ______________________________ Jeremy McInerney Davidson Kennedy Professor of Classical Studies Graduate Group Chairperson Signature ______________________________ Campbell Gray, Associate Professor of Classical Studies Dissertation Committee Jeremy McInerney, Davidson Kennedy Professor of Classical Studies Sheila Murnaghan, Alfred Reginald Allen Memorial Professor of Greek C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology ii To my mother, who always believed in me, and kept me well-supplied with books. iii Acknowledgments Many people contributed to the completion of this dissertation. I would first like to thank my mother, whose unwavering support during these (many) years of graduate school have helped more than she can ever know. I'd also like to thank my aunt, Karen Sagstetter, for inspiring me to pursue my dreams no matter how impractical others may have thought them. The independent coffee shops of Philadelphia deserve a mention for supplying the copious amounts of caffeine that were necessary to fuel my academic creativity, especially toward the end of this process. I would also like to thank my friends Emerson Avery and Marian Makins, with whom I met to work nearly every day for the past year, without whose help and encouragement this process would have been much harder. And finally I'd like to thank my committee, Bridget Murnaghan, Brian Rose, and particularly Jeremy McInerney, whose comments and advice have been sometimes daunting, but always constructive, and which has immensely improved the final product. iv ABSTRACT SOLON OF ATHENS: THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE TYRANT? Kelcy Sagstetter Jeremy McInerney 1I argue that, despite Solon's reputation as an enemy of tyranny, his approach to solving the political discord in Athens in 594 B.C. very closely resembles the way that archaic Greek tyrants succeeded at dealing with similar problems in other city-states. Because tyrants were often popular figures with widespread support, I suggest that Solon's anxiety to avoid the label of tyrant stemmed from the political unrest and bloodshed that arose from the attempted tyranny of Cylon in 632 BC, followed by the harsh and unsuccessful legislation of Drakon in 621. In the dissertation, I first establish that there are two traditions about Solon's motives and actions, indicated by many contradictions in our sources. In one version, Solon appears as a moderate politician who paved the way for the rise of democracy, in part because of his refusal to become a tyrant. In the other, Solon's actions were at times indistinguishable from those of contemporary tyrants, which later sources explain by referring to Solon's assertions in his own poetry to "prove" that these stories were false. I then analyze Solon’s poetry, noting that Solon both linguistically distances himself from the concept of tyranny and emphasizes that he does, in fact, possess autocratic powers. The result is a kind of verbal dance, wherein he reminds people: "I am not, nor do1 I wish to be a tyrant; but I could be, and if I were...." Finally, I examine various tyrants who, like Solon, had reputations as legislators. I consider Solon's agricultural reforms, known as the seisachtheia, concentrating in v particular on the abolition of debt-slavery, the cancellation of debt, and Solon's refusal to redistribute land. I find that debt cancellation in particular is one of the most common measures used by tyrants as a means of gathering political support from the demos. I also proffer the notion that doing away with debt-slavery may have done more damage than good, concluding that, despite his protests to the contrary, Solon was a tyrant in all but name. vi Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1 I. Outline....................................................................................................3 II.Sixth-Century Attica in Context: The Political Background..................7 III. Tyrants: Bad or Just Drawn that Way?................................................. 12 IV. Solon's Life.......................................................................................... 20 V. Solon's Poetry..........................................................................................25 VI.Solon's Legal Code................................................................................28 VII. Aristotle, Plutarch, and Solon on the Agrarian Crisis.........................37 VIII. Historical Interpretations of the Agrarian Crisis...............................40 2. Solon's Contradictory Legacy……………………………………………47 I. Solon as Philosopher and Sage...............................................................48 II.Solon as Nomothetes..............................................................................60 III. Solon as Misotyrannos....................................................................... 66 IV. Conclusion........................................................................................... 75 3. Solon the protodemocrat…………………………………………………76 I. Solon as an Authority Figure in Fourth-Century Oratory 90 a. Solon, Demosthenes, and Aeschines …………………………………91 b. Solon and Isocrates …………………………………………………94 c. Solon and Plato ………………………………………………………97 II.Conclusion..............................................................................................101 4. Politics and Poetry: Solon and the "Language of Tyranny"...……………103 I. κόρος: Too Much of a Good Thing?.......................................................107 II.βίη and δίκη: An Uneasy Alliance?........................................................113 III. Honor to the People: δήµωι ἔδωκα τόσον γέρας.................................. 119 IV. Tyranny: κλέος or αἰδώς?..................................................................... 126 V. Wolf Imagery in Solon's Poetry..............................................................133 VI.Conclusion............................................................................................143 5. Benevolent Tyranny? ……………………………………………………145 I. Tyrants as Legislators.............................................................................146