Historical sources on ancient Athens

"Cecrops, a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent, was the first king of Attica, and the country which was formerly called Acte he named Cecropia after himself. In his time, they say, the gods resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive his own peculiar worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attica, and with a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which they now call Erechtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on Cecrops to witness her act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosium. But when the two strove for possession of the country, Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have affirmed, Cecrops and Cranaus, nor yet Erysichthon, but the twelve gods. And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Cecrops bore witness that she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the city Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attica under the sea." 

Contextual information:

Pseudo-Apollodorus was a Greek mythographer whose Bibliotheca, or Library, compiled mythological traditions drawn from earlier Greek literature. The work dates to approximately the first or second century CE, it was long attributed to the Athenian scholar Apollodorus of Athens (c. 180 BCE). The passage on Cecrops and the contest between Poseidon and Athena preserves traditions that were already ancient in classical times and were associated with the founding mythology of the city of Athens. 

Bibliographical reference:

Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca (J. G. Frazer, Trans., 1921; Vol. II, Book 3, Ch. 14, §1). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 1st–2nd century CE) 

Copyright: Public domain. 

Extract A

"Of the products of the soil, he allowed oil only to be sold abroad, but forbade the exportation of others; and if any did so export, the archon was to pronounce curses upon them, or else himself pay a hundred drachmas into the public treasury. One cannot, therefore, wholly disbelieve those who say that the exportation of figs was anciently forbidden, and that the one who showed up, or pointed out such exporters, was called a 'sycophant,' or fig-shower." 

Extract B

"In the first place, then, he repealed the laws of Draco, all except those concerning homicide, because they were too severe and their penalties too heavy. For one penalty was assigned to almost all transgressions, namely death, so that even those convicted of idleness were put to death, and those who stole salad or fruit received the same punishment as those who committed sacrilege or murder. Therefore Demades, in later times, made a hit when he said that Draco's laws were written not with ink, but blood. And Draco himself, they say, being asked why he made death the penalty for most offences, replied that in his opinion the lesser ones deserved it, and for the greater ones no heavier penalty could be found." 

Contextual information:

Plutarch was a Greek biographer born in Chaeronea in Boeotia around 46 CE and spent much of his career as a priest at Delphi. He composed the Lives as parallel biographical studies of Greek and Roman statesmen, drawing on a wide range of earlier historical sources. The Life of Solon dates to the early second century CE and draws on Solon's own poetry alongside the Athenian archival tradition. 

Bibliographical reference:

Plutarch. Life of Solon (B. Perrin, Trans., 1914; Vol. I, Ch. 24, §1; Ch. 17, §§1–2, pp. 451, 471). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann. (Original work composed ca. 100 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"Such was, in outline, the first constitution, but not very long after the events above recorded, in the archonship of Aristaichmus, Draco enacted his ordinances. Now his constitution had the following form. The franchise was given to all who could furnish themselves with a military equipment. The nine Archons and the Treasurers were elected by this body from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not less than ten minas, the less important officials from those who could furnish themselves with a military equipment, and the generals [Strategi] and commanders of the cavalry [Hipparchi] from those who could show an unencumbered property of not less than a hundred minas, and had children born in lawful wedlock over ten years of age." 

Extract B

"Such was the origin and such the vicissitudes of the tyranny of Pisistratus. His administration was temperate, as has been said before, and more like constitutional government than a tyranny. Not only was he in every respect humane and mild and ready to forgive those who offended, but, in addition, he advanced money to the poorer people to help them in their labours, so that they might make their living by agriculture. In this he had two objects, first that they might not spend their time in the city but might be scattered over all the face of the country, and secondly that, being moderately well off and occupied with their own business, they might have neither the wish nor the time to attend to public affairs. At the same time his revenues were increased by the thorough cultivation of the country, since he imposed a tax of one tenth on all the produce. For the same reasons he instituted the local justices, and often made expeditions in person into the country to inspect it and to settle disputes between individuals, that they might not come into the city and neglect their farms." 

Extract C

"The people, therefore, had good reason to place confidence in Cleisthenes. Accordingly, now that he was the popular leader, three years after the expulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of Isagoras, his first step was to distribute the whole population into ten tribes in place of the existing four, with the object of intermixing the members of the different tribes, and so securing that more persons might have a share in the franchise. From this arose the saying 'Do not look at the tribes', addressed to those who wished to scrutinize the lists of the old families. Next he made the Council to consist of five hundred members instead of four hundred, each tribe now contributing fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hundred." 

Extract D

"The people has made itself master of everything, and administers everything by decrees and by jury courts in which the people is the ruling power, for even the cases tried by the Council have come to the people." 

Contextual information:

The Athenian Constitution is a treatise attributed to Aristotle or his school, composed in the 320s BCE. The work was lost for centuries and rediscovered on papyrus in Egypt in 1879. It provides a detailed account of the development of the Athenian constitution from its earliest stages through to the democracy of Aristotle's own day, drawing on official records and the Athenian oral tradition. 

Bibliographical reference:

Aristotle. The Athenian Constitution (F. G. Kenyon, Trans., 1891; Parts 4, 16, 21, 41). Oxford University Press. (Original work composed ca. 328–322 BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

"And when they had been arranged in their places and the sacrifices proved favourable, then the Athenians were let go, and they set forth at a run to attack the Barbarians. Now the space between the armies was not less than eight furlongs: and the Persians seeing them advancing to the attack at a run, made preparations to receive them; and in their minds they charged the Athenians with madness which must be fatal, seeing that they were few and yet were pressing forwards at a run, having neither cavalry nor archers. Such was the thought of the Barbarians; but the Athenians when all in a body they had joined in combat with the Barbarians, fought in a memorable fashion: for they were the first of all the Hellenes about whom we know who went to attack the enemy at a run, and they were the first also who endured to face the Median garments and the men who wore them, whereas up to this time the very name of the Medes was to the Hellenes a terror to hear." 

Contextual information:

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus in Asia Minor around 484 BCE and is regarded as the earliest surviving prose historian of the Greek world. He composed his Histories to record the causes and course of the wars between the Greeks and the Persian Empire, travelling widely to gather information. Book 6 covers the first Persian invasion of Greece, culminating in the Athenian victory at Marathon in 490 BCE. 

Bibliographical reference:

Herodotus. The Histories (G. C. Macaulay, Trans., 1890; Vol. II, Book 6, Ch. 112). Macmillan. (Original work composed ca. 440s BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"The Athenians having thus succeeded to the supremacy by the voluntary act of the allies through their hatred of Pausanias, fixed which cities were to contribute money against the barbarian, which ships; their professed object being to retaliate for their sufferings by ravaging the king's country. Now was the time that the office of 'Treasurers for Hellas' was first instituted by the Athenians. These officers received the tribute, as the money contributed was called. The tribute was first fixed at four hundred and sixty talents. The common treasury was at Delos, and the congresses were held in the temple." 

Extract B

"All this came upon them with the late war, which was begun by the Athenians and Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty years' truce made after the conquest of Euboea. To the question why they broke the treaty, I answer by placing first an account of their grounds of complaint and points of difference, that no one may ever have to ask the immediate cause which plunged the Hellenes into a war of such magnitude. The real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Still it is well to give the grounds alleged by either side, which led to the dissolution of the treaty and the breaking out of the war." 

Contextual information:

Thucydides was an Athenian general and historian born around 460 BCE who took part in the Peloponnesian War and was exiled after a military failure in 424 BCE. He spent his exile travelling and gathering information, which he used to compose his account of the war between Athens and Sparta. His work is notable for its analytical rigour and his attempt to identify the true causes of events beneath the stated or immediate reasons given at the time. 

Bibliographical reference:

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War (R. Crawley, Trans., 1874; Book 1, Ch. 96; Book 1, Ch. 23). Longmans, Green & Co. [1910 Dent/Dutton edition]. (Original work composed ca. 431–404 BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain.