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It's not Athens, and I can't think of a connection between my journal writing and the photographs I took at a quarter-past five this morning after I'd driven my neighbors to the airport. You can't see them, but over in a park a bunch of sturdy, sleepy citizens whom I joined in a march down Fifth Avenue yesterday are "occupying San Diego" in what we believe is an expression of democracy. Perhaps that can be the connection.

What was beginning to look like democracy had a good run in Athens under the leadership of Solon. When he stepped in and loosened the hold of the aristocracy on government and included all classes of free men in the franchise, Athens still had some of the problems President Obama faces today in the United States.  The economy was sluggish. Not all of the people in the city who needed to work had jobs.  The rural area around Athens has limited agricultural potential, so Attica clearly couldn’t produce enough food for the increasing population. The obvious solutions in sixth century Athens weren’t popular with the nobility, the people with most of the money and assets.  Solon’s solution was to involve the state more in commerce which meant involvement in the development and use of resources. From the rocky fields and slopes of Attica, olive groves could easily produce more oil than Athens consumed; so systems were developed to make it an important, profitable export.  The export of wine became an important factor in the economy.  Solon devised a system of weights and measures, bringing Athens into line with the standards used in Corinth and other Greek city-states.  He urged fathers to teach their sons a craft, and he offered citizenship to any foreign artisans who chose to work in Athens.  All households and businesses needed pots, so he encouraged the further development of a pottery industry.  Museums all over the world today display the fine red-and-black Attic vases the soon became a major trade item. 

Government involvement in industry turned out not to be a bad thing for the general population, but the noble classes that had once exercised complete control over industry and trade grumbled.  It was important to Solon that he not become like the tyrants before him who hung onto power as long as possible.  He made changes, and he moved on.  As soon as Solon left Athens for a life of travel, the old clan and class rivalries heated up again.  The noble families still retained most of the wealth.  As anybody who knows anything about the billionaire Koch brothers in Texas understands that wealth is easily translated into political power.  Only a couple of decades after Solon left Athens, the body politic was split... rich versus poor and clan versus clan. Government came to a standstill. 

Now this next part is going to sound like something I’m making up to make a point, but it’s not.  It really happened.  An ambitious nobleman named Peisistratus stepped up and said he could solve all the problems of the state.  He claimed to represent the disaffected from all walks of life including the country peasants as well as poor city dwellers. Being an aristocrat himself, he claimed also to have solutions that would allow the rich to keep their wealth.  This is how the story goes:  Peisistratus staged an event that made him seem to be an embattled hero.  He slashed himself all over his body so he was bleeding; he gashed the mules that pulled his carriage; and he rushed into the Athens marketplace, dripping blood and crying that he had been attacked by political enemies. He presented himself to the Assembly for help against his enemies, and they voted to give him a bodyguard.  He chose the men to guard him, stormed the Acropolis, expelled the government, and declared himself ruler.  In a chaotic period of coup and countercoup, Peisistratus hired mercenaries and secured power permanently.

So Athens was once again ruled by a tyrant. The Greek definition of tyrant is “someone who seizes power without a legal right.”   Beginning my reading about this period in Greek history I expected to report that Peisistratus became an awful ruler who exemplified the definition of tyrant that is most familiar to modern English speaking people and that democratic systems were dismantled, but that’s not the case.  He was smart and was actually a capable administrator. He transformed Athens into a leading city in the Hellenic world.  He did much to benefit the poor.  He extended loans to small farmers, he secured the rights of artisans, and he promoted industry and exports.  It was during his reign that a great aqueduct was built to bring water to Athens, creating employment for hundreds of workers.  He expanded the navy so it could protect the shipping interests of the state, especially in the narrow Hellespont.  Athens became the center of art and culture for the entire region as artists, poets, philosophers, sculptors and architects flocked to the city.

When a democratic system is compromised, even by someone who turns out to be a “good” dictator, it’s what comes next that’s the problem.  When Peisistratus died, his sons, who apparently lacked their father’s intelligence and his benevolence toward citizens, became co-rulers, and the regime began to crumble as soon as one of them was assassinated.  The surviving brother, Hippias, reacted with a reign of terror. Things in Athens were a mess until Cleomones, the King of Sparta, sent his soldiers to Athens to depose the last of the Peisistratids.

Things looked really bad for Athens until another great Athenian statesman emerged from the aristocracy.  In the BLOG tomorrow I’ll describe how Cleisthenes overthrew Hippias in 510 BCE and became the Greek who has been known down through history as “the father of democracy.”