How Did Elect Ten Archons Affect The Future Of The Athenian Republic

In mid-6th c. BCE Athens, just five years after the government of Solon (594), the Athenians found themselves encompassed by dissension and internal disorder. Athens created the first democracy-based government, although their government became more of a republic with democratic attributes. They, the electors, were unable to elect an Archon for five years due to their dissent with the former principles ran by the State. All people within Athens viewed these principles with contempt, those in the elite[upper] class were ‘estranged because of the abolition of debts,’ while the poor people wanted the distribution of all land and property. Both parties were unhappy with the changes made by Solon’s reforms and so many refused to vote for any new

On the fifth year past Solon’s government, the Assembly, or Ecclesia, came together and decided to elect ten Archons. These nine men would serve as the supreme political power in the Athenian Republic, with the lead Archon, named the Pole march, making the decisions on the future of Athens. After Damasias, the Assembly sought to nominate nine officials as Archons and they held an election for the Pole march. There were three parties of men in the election: the party of the Shore, led by Megacles, the men of the Plain, led by Lycurgus, and the men of the Highlands, led by Pisistratus, a veteran of the Battle of Megara. The third party received more votes by the people of Athens, they held sway over with principles that favored common citizens, victims of debt cancellation, and people with ‘foreign’ blood. The Athenian political system was a key factor to the development of Athenian democracy and the idea of an ‘Athenian identity’, the creation of which can be attributed to Pisistratus, his rise to power provided a stable model for future tyrants and established him as a fair yet ruthless

The way in which Pisistratus went about achieving his goals required a lot of patience and planning, nothing was done in one day or without an actual reason. He and his sons, after their involuntary expulsion from the Acropolis, sought to take back their power which had been so quickly taken from them. Athens and the land of Attica had been overshadowed by other Greek city-states for too long and he wanted that to change that by reforming the Athenian economy and the political system. He endeavored for ten years, collecting contributions, money and men alike, from different city-states among other Greek-speaking people who owed him debts. Among them were the Thebans, the Argives of Argos, the people of Naxos, and the knights of Eretria. The Thebans provided Pisistratus with enough money to grant him payment for ‘mercenaries and wealth.’ The islands of Naxos opposed his tyranny completely, so a man by the name of Lygdamis volunteered to represent his homeland and sponsored his campaign by sending in more money and men. His relations with the people in the city of Argos was garnered through a political marriage which resulted in more men being sent to help him, which Aristotle sums up in his