Solon and the Demos in his Poetry

Abstract

I aim in this study to extract from the fragments of Solon’s poetry evidence for what the Athenian demos expected from Solon’s archonship. I assume that where Solon discusses the demos, he necessarily alludes to demotic demands. Solon’s testimony shows the demos to have been concerned primarily with three issues: the enslavement of Athenians, redistribution of land, and establishment of a tyranny. I conclude that the demos expected, vainly, Solon to end the enslavement of their numbers, to redistribute land, and to achieve these goals by establishing himself as a tyrant if necessary.