Aristotle: Athenian Constitution

Impact

Aristotle's Athenian Constitution is a survey of the development of democratic institutions in ancient Greece. In the early sections of the work, Aristotle reaches back to earlier periods of Greek history, where the seeds of democracy were planted. In the excerpt reproduced here, he touches on three major figures: Draco, Solon, and Pisistratus, with emphasis on the reforms of Solon. Although Draco instituted some democratic reforms, it was Solon who can be thought of as the progenitor of Greek democracy.

In the years before Solon promulgated his law code, Athens was in a state of crisis. The rich and poor were pitted against each other. The poor were enslaved to the rich, often because of debt. Food was in short supply. The oligarchs who had ruled Athens were arrogant and indifferent to the plight of the lower social orders. Further, they were often incompetent and corrupt, for the aristocracy that ruled Athens was based on heredity, not competence. Solon believed that Athens was falling into moral decay. He replaced this emphasis on hereditary rule by dividing Athenian society into classes based on wealth and income. In the twenty-first century, such a legal and social system does not seem very democratic. Yet in Solon's time it was a step forward in an ongoing process of placing political power in the hands of broader classes of people. Solon's laws did more than grant rights; they imposed obligations on classes of people, including the upper classes. Additionally, Solon continued the Areopagus, the governing body of Athens. He created a court system and the boule, a council of citizens that conducted Athens's affairs. He introduced the four-hundred-member parliament, again devolving power downward to the people. He even instituted an unusual law requiring citizens to take a side in any civic dispute; the penalty for failing to do so was confiscation of the offender's goods. Solon's purpose in instituting this law was to increase the level of civic engagement in Athens.

The sections of the Athenian Constitution dealing with Pisistratus continue the history. Although Pisistratus did not initiate any noteworthy constitutional or democratic reforms, he tried to continue to enforce Solon's legal code, providing some element of stability in Athenian law. His rule provides a good example of a Greek tyrant who was not tyrannical as the word is understood now.

The remainder of the Athenian Constitution is an examination of the state of democracy and constitutional matters in Athens during Aristotle's lifetime. Solon was essential to Greek thinking about democracy and constitutional reform, for he was the first to encourage direct citizen participation in democratic institutions. Ultimately, these institutions would take hold in the Western world after knowledge of the institutions of Greece (and Rome) became widespread in the West during the Renaissance. European Enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century would use these models in overthrowing monarchies and creating the democracies that have dominated Europe, North America, and a large and growing number of other countries since then.