Cleisthenes (born c. 570)

Athenian statesman, later celebrated as the founder of Athenian democracy. Although an early collaborator of the Pisistratids, the Athenian tyrants, he was later exiled with his family, the Alcmaeonidae, and intrigued and campaigned against Hippias and Hipparchus. After their removal in 510 BC, in 508 to 507 BC he won over the people by offering to place the constitution on a more democratic basis. His democracy was established by his reforms over the next few years.

The principal elements of Cleisthenes' democratic reforms were as follows: the national local centres or ‘parishes’ (demes) of Attica were grouped together into 30 trittyes (ridings). One trittys from each of the three main geographical subdivisions of Attica was assigned to a new tribe (quite distinct from the previous four ‘kinship’ tribes), thus constituting 10 new tribes, based on locality/domicile and not on real or supposed blood-ties. The demes ran their own local affairs, and all adult male citizens could attend the central assembly in Athens to discuss and decide ‘national’ matters. Cleisthenes also instituted a national Council (boule) of 500 members, each serving for one year, with 50 drawn from each of the 10 tribes. (The constituent demes of each tribe supplied a quota of councillors in proportion to their respective populations.) He may also have introduced the law of ostracism, but that is disputed, and it may perhaps date from as much as 20 years later.