Rulers of Ancient Greece: Ancient Greece comprised if various city-states which were being ruled in different ways. Some of these city-states were being managed by rich influential groups of people. While Athens practiced democracy, Sparta was ruled by two Greek mythology kings and a group of elders. Some of the noteworthy rulers of ancient Greece are as follows:
Rulers of Ancient Greece: Timeline
Draco (621 B.C) was an Athenian politician and law codifier. Of all the codification that he has so drafted of Athenian customary law, only the section dealing with involuntary homicide is retained.
From this and from later accounts in the writings of Aristotle, it appears that in Athens the penalty of death was prescribed for the most trivial offense. The code adopted the principle that murder must be punished by the state and not by vendetta.
Though the code was considerably modified by Solon, yet his name became a synonym for being a harsh legislator.
Solon (639c.559 B.C) was an Athenian statesman, lawgiver, and reformer apart from also being a poet. At some time perhaps somewhere around 600 B.C, he led the Athenians in the recapture of Salamis from the Megarians.
He was elected chief archon in 594 at a time of social, economic, and political stress in Athens. Solon annulled all mortgages and debts, limited the amount of land anyone might own and outlawed all borrowing in which a person’s liberty might be pledged.
Other economic reforms included a ban on the export of all agricultural products except olive oil and the granting of citizenship to immigrant artisans. Solon also made important constitutional changes. Like for instance, the assembly was opened to all freemen, the Areopagus was continued with new powers, and the Council of Four Hundred was created to represent the propertied classes and to prepare the agenda for the popular assembly.
Although there was opposition to Solon’s reforms, they subsequently became the basis of the Athenian state. He is often praised for introducing a more humane law code to replace the barbaric code of Draco.Pisistratus (605527 B.C) was a Greek statesman and a dictator of Athens.
His power was founded on the cohesion of the rural citizens, whom he consolidated with farsighted land laws. His revolution was very popular. His rivals, the Alcmaeonidae and the aristocracy, managed to exile him twice, but in his last years, he established himself sufficiently to leave Athens in the hands of his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus.
He first won Salamis for Athens and established Attic hegemony in the Dardanelles. He worked hard to enhance Athenian cultural prestige by holding festivals like the Panathenaea and glorified the city. It is because of his efforts that the great temple of Zeus at Athens was constructed.
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