Modern bust of Cleisthenes, known as "the father of Athenian democracy", on view at the Ohio Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio
Eponymous archon of Athens
In office 525 – 524 BC
Preceded by
Hippias
Succeeded by
Miltiades
Personal details
Born
570 BC
Died
508 BC
Relations
Alcmaeonidae
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Cleisthenes (/ˈklaɪsθɪniːz/KLYS-thin-eez; Greek: Κλεισθένης), or Clisthenes (c. 570 – c. 508 BC), was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC.[1][2] For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy".[3] He was a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid clan. He was the younger son of Megacles and Agariste making him the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon.[4] He was also credited with increasing the power of the Athenian citizens' assembly and for reducing the power of the nobility over Athenian politics.[5]
In 510 BC, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant Hippias, son of Peisistratus. Cleomenes I, king of Sparta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy headed by Isagoras.[6] However, Cleisthenes, with the support of the middle class and aided by democrats, took over. Cleomenes intervened in 508 and 506 BC, but could not stop Cleisthenes and his Athenian supporters. Through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only free men were citizens)[7]—and established ostracism as a punishment.[8]
^Ober, pp. 83 ff.
^The New York Times (30 October 2007) [1st pub:2004]. John W. Wright (ed.). The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, Second Edition: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 628. ISBN 978-0-312-37659-8. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
^R. Po-chia Hsia, Julius Caesar, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie G. Smith, The Making of the West, Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History, Volume I: To 1740 (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007), 44.
^Smith, William (1867). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 105–106. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^Langer, William L. (1968) The Early Period, to c. 500 B.C. An Encyclopedia of World History (Fourth Edition pp. 66). Printed in the United States of America: Houghton Mifflin Company. Accessed: January 30, 2011
^Lewis, D. M. (1963). "Cleisthenes and Attica". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 12 (1): 25. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 4434773 – via JSTOR.
^Hayek, Friedrich A. von (1960). The constitution of liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 238–242. ISBN 0-226-32084-7. OCLC 498999.
^Robinson, C. A. (1952). "Cleisthenes and Ostracism". American Journal of Archaeology. 56 (1): 23–24. doi:10.2307/500834. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 500834.
intervened in 508 and 506 BC, but could not stop Cleisthenes and his Athenian supporters. Through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their...
nature of Cleisthenes' reform. Whatever it was, all the tribes kept their new names for sixty years after Cleisthenes' death. Cleisthenes of Sicyon organized...
turned against Cleisthenes and the latter was briefly exiled once more. However, the citizens called for Cleisthenes to return, as Cleisthenes achieved support...
Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable...
in a struggle for power with Cleisthenes, a fellow aristocrat. In 508 BC he was elected archon eponymous, but Cleisthenes opposed him, with support from...
Solon (in 594 BC), Cleisthenes (in 508–07 BC), and Ephialtes (in 462 BC) contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. Cleisthenes broke up the unlimited...
supporters. Cleisthenes was subsequently recalled, along with hundreds of exiles, and he was elected the first archon of a democratic Athens. Cleisthenes began...
the 2010 Kallikratis Programme. Named after ancient Greek legislator Cleisthenes, the programme was adopted by the Hellenic Parliament in July 2018 and...
office, were not introduced for another 247 years, until the reforms of Cleisthenes. Under the earlier Solonian Constitution (c. 574 BC), all Athenian citizens...
Isagoras by claiming that his rival Cleisthenes was to be expelled from the city due to the old Cylonian curse. Cleisthenes, however, was assisted by the support...
συμφυλέται) meaning 'fellow tribesmen'. During the late 6th century BC, Cleisthenes organized the population of Athens in ten phylai (tribes), each consisting...
the genus Cleisthenes – Cleisthenes herzensteini and Cleisthenes pinetorum – are commonly known as sôhachi in Japan. The diet of Cleisthenes herzensteini...
September. 508 BC: Office of pontifex maximus created in Rome. 507 BC: Cleisthenes, Greek reformer, takes power and increases democracy. 506 BC: Battle...
was the fundamental political unit of classical Greece. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens...
Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Both species in the genus Cleisthenes - Cleisthenes pinetorum and Cleisthenes herzensteini - are commonly known as Sôhachi in Japan...
BCE, Megalopolis) Charondas (fl. 6th century BCE, Catania in Sicily) Cleisthenes (c. 570 – c. 508 BCE , Athens) Demonax (fl. 6th century BCE, Cyrenaica)...
architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens...
intervened in 508 and 506 BC, but could not stop Cleisthenes, now supported by the Athenians. Through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people endowed their city with...
earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of a deme...
install a pro-Spartan tyranny under Isagoras in Athens, in opposition to Cleisthenes, the leader of the traditionally powerful Alcmaeonidae family, who considered...
overthrow of the Peisistratid tyranny in 510 and the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes in 508–07 BCE—and the cult-image of Dionysus Eleuthereus was moved to...
city-state) was divided into demoi, or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban (astu) in the region of...
be based on wealth (plutocracy), rather than on birth (aristocracy). Cleisthenes again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a democratic footing...
These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. Athens had by this time become a significant naval power with...
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