Western Civilization I / Unit 3 WC1 0213 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Solon's Reforms and the Impersonal State
Captions available
The idea
Solon, archon about five ninety-four, cancelled debts, abolished debt-slavery, bought back enslaved Athenians, and posted the laws in public. Top offices stayed with the richest. His deepest innovation: a state obeying written law, not a person.
In practice
Witnesses call him lawgiver; the anchor, a tyrant appointed to reform.
Where people slip
A century of tyrants followed. Solon reformed without breaking the old families.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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