HISTORY 1M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Solonian Constitution, Hippeis, Helots
7 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
The defining issue, and source of internal conflict, for the developing greek polis of the archaic period was justice: the fair distribution of protections and powers in the state, especially between mass and elite. Sparta enjoyed not only preeminent power abroad but also unusual stability at home: she was one of the few archaic greek states not to experience civil conflict. Athens in the sixth century was quite different. At the beginning of the century, division between mass and elite was creating turmoil in athenian society. If the spartans achieved unity among themselves by turning their neighbours into serfs, at athens it appears that ordinary athenian farmers were in danger of becoming serfs to the athenian wealthy, generating social crisis. We hear of people called hektemoroi, ordinary farmers who had found themselves reduced to the position of tenants, having to pay up a portion of their produce as rent to a landlord.
