During the Archaic Era in Greece, around 650 BCE, the so-called “hoplite revolution” took place. Hoplites were infantrymen who organized themselves into a tight military formation, called the phalanx, and fought to defend their city-states. Hoplites were generally militiamen, drawn from the ranks of the lower classes in Greek society. These individuals threatened to withhold their military service if they were not granted equal rights to the elites.

Doulos, in ancient Greek society, were slaves. During the Archaic Era, slavery grew dramatically in ancient Greece, to the point that close to the majority of the population living on the Greek mainland were slaves. Doulos had no rights of their own and were considered as “living property.”

It is generally the case, that where the treatment, protection, and status of women is concerned in ancient Greece, Sparta will be the exception. Spartan women had much more social and political influence than their contemporaries in other city-states. Spartan women could seek divorce much more readily than Athenian women, for example. Spartan women could even commit adultery, so long as their own husband was incapable or unwilling to provide a child.

Women were not able to compete in the Olympic games, although there was a separate game for women called the Heraean games. Women were able to attend and observe the Olympic games only if they were not yet married. Married women were prohibited from attending the games on penalty of death.

The Greek concept of kyrios refers to the belief that a man had to act as a legal, moral, and practical guardian over an individual woman. This idea was a manifestation of the extremely paternal nature of ancient Greek society. In practical terms, this meant that every female citizen, particularly in Athens, was required to have a recognized male guardian. This, naturally, infringed upon the rights of women in many, many ways. Women, for example, were completely excluded from the political process and could not attend democratic assemblies. Furthermore, women were not able to speak for themselves in court, instead a man would have to speak on their behalf.

During the Archaic Era, many Greek city-states were ruled by tyrants. These tyrants won their power on the back of popular support and generally overthrew aristocratic oligarchies which were often detested by the common people. Tyranny (in the modern sense of the word) might sometimes seem like an inappropriate word, after all many of the “tyrants” were beloved by the people and able to hold power for decades without fear of reprisals. But, these rulers were autocrats who essentially had absolute power in their lands. The Greeks believed that tyranny in and of itself was not wrong, it was the individual tyrants who could be judged as malevolent or benevolent. Eventually, the Greeks began to view tyranny as a dangerous form of government and, by the Classical Era, democracies and oligarchies had replaced most tyrannies.

Cypselus was a member of the Corinthian aristocracy during the seventh century BCE. He was also immensely popular with the common people of Corinth and utilized this popularity to overthrow the oligarchy of Corinth and replace it with his own tyrannical government. Cypselus was, however, a benevolent tyrant and he ruled with the love of the people. His son, Periander, would also rule Corinth as a tyrant, but eventually he lost favor with the common people and the government was overthrown shortly after his death.

Solon was a legal reformer who was given near-absolute power by the Athenians in the early sixth century BCE. He reorganized the Athenian political system to take power away from the aristocracy and redistribute some of it to the poorest members of society. Nonetheless, Solon continued to group individuals according to their income; with the poorest members of society ineligible for public office. Still, Solon’s system allowed for social mobility and many of the poorest people eventually earned enough to be welcomed into the political class.

Solon was a legal reformer who was given absolute power in Athens in 594 BCE. He was chosen because the Athenians believed his wisdom and legal expertise might avert a civil war between the rich and poor in Athenian society. Whilst Solon’s reforms did prevent an immediate civil war, they did not completely solve class tensions in Athenian society. In the following century, Athens would briefly flirt with tyranny under the rule of Pisistratus and, his son, Hippias. However, these individuals were eventually overthrown and democratic institutions were fully embraced under the rule of Cleisthenes.

Solon was granted absolute power by the Athenian people in 594 BCE. Athenian society, at the time, was on the brink of civil war. Tensions between the poor and the elite had reached a breaking point and the terrified Athenians turned to Solon to reform their laws before it was too late. Solon enacted a series of measures which overhauled Athenian society. Most notably he partially redistributed land, made the judicial system more inclusive and fair, and opened up political participation to most male members of society. These reforms prevented a civil war and laid the foundation for the emergence of Athenian democracy.