Herodotus:
from The History, c. 430 B.C., I.56-59
These were the Spartans and the Athenians, the former of Doric, the latter of Ionic
blood. And indeed these two nations held from earliest times the most distinguished place
in Hellas, the one being a Pelasgic, the other a Hellenic people, and the one never having
quitted its original seats, while the other had been excessively migratory...What the
language of the Pelasgi was I cannot say with any certainty. If, however, we may form a
conjecture....we must pronounce that the Pelasgi spoke a barbarous language. If this were
really so, and the entire Pelasgic race spoke the same tongue, the Athenians, who were
certainly Pelasgi, must have changed their language at the same time that they passed into
the Hellenic body...The Hellenic race has never, since its first origin, changed its
speech. This at least seems evident to me. It was a branch of the Pelasgic, which
separated from the main body, and at first was scanty in numbers and of little power; but
it gradually spread and increased to a multitude of nations, chiefly by the voluntary
entrance into its ranks of numerous tribes of barbarians. The Pelasgi, on the other hand,
were, as I think, a barbarian race which never greatly multiplied.
Thucydides:
from The History of the Peloponnesian War, c. 404 B.C., II.5
In the days of Kecrops and the first kings, down to the reign of Theseos, Attica was
divided into communes, having their own town halls and magistrates. Except in case of
alarm, the whole people did not assemble in council under the king, but administered their
own affairs, and advised together in their several townships. Some of them at times even
went to war with the king, as the Eleusinians under Eumolpos with King Erectheos. But when
Theseos came to the throne, he, being a powerful as well as a wise ruler, among other
improvements in the administration of the country, dissolved the councils and separate
governments, and united all the inhabitants of Attica in the present city, establishing
one council and town hall. They continued to live on their own lands, but he compelled
them to resort to Athens as their metropolis [i.e., "mother-city"],
and henceforward they were all inscribed in the roll of her citizens. A great city thus
arose which was handed down by Theseos to his descendants, and from his day to this the
Athenians have regularly celebrated the national festival of the Synoikia, or
"union of the communes," in honor of the goddess Athena.
Plutarch:
from The Life of Theseus, c. 110 CE
Now, after the death of his father Aigeos, forming in his mind a great and wonderful
design, he gathered together all the inhabitants of Attica into one town, and made them
one people of one city, whereas before they lived dispersed, and were not easy to assemble
upon any affair for the common interest. Nay, differences and even wars often occurred
between them, which he by his persuasions appeased, going from township to township, and
from tribe to tribe. And those of a more private and mean condition readily embracing such
good advice, to those of greater power he promised a commonwealth without monarchy---a
democracy, or people's government---in which he should only be continued as their
commander in war and the protector of their laws, all things else being equally
distributed among them; and by this means brought a part of them over to his proposal.
He then dissolved all the distinct statehouses, council halls, and magistracies, and
built one common state-house and council hall on the site of the present upper town, and
gave the name of Athens to the whole state, ordaining a common feast and sacrifice,
which he called Pan-Athenaia, or the sacrifice of all the united Athenians. He
instituted also another sacrifice called Metoikia, or Feast of Migration, which is
yet celebrated on the sixteenth day of Hecatombaion. Then, as he had promised, he laid
down his regal power and proceeded to order a commonwealth, entering upon this great work
not without advice from the gods....Farther yet designing to enlarge his city, he invited
all strangers to come and enjoy equal privileges with the natives...Yet he did not suffer
his state, by the promiscuous multitude that flowed in, to be turned into confusion and he
left without any order or degree, but he was the first that divided the Athenian
Commonwealth into three distinct ranks, the noblemen, the farmers, and the artisans. To
the nobility he committed the care of religion, the choice of magistrates, the teaching
and dispensing of the laws, and interpretation and direction in all sacred matters; the
whole city being, as it were, reduced to an exact equality, the nobles excelling the rest
in honor, the farmers in profit, and the artisans in number. He also coined money, and
stamped it with the image of an ox, either in memory of the Marathon bull, or of the
Minotaur, both of whom he vanquished; or else to put his people in mind to follow animal
husbandry; and from this coin came the expression so frequent among the Hellenes, of a
thing being worth ten or a hundred oxen. After this he joined Megara to Attica...
About this time, Menestheos (the son of Peteos, grandson of Orneos, and great-grandson
of Erechtheos), the first man that is recorded to have affected popularity and ingratiated
himself with the multitude, stirred up and exasperated the most eminent men of the city,
who had long borne a secret grudge to Theseos, conceiving that he had robbed them of their
several little kingdoms and lordships, and having pent them all up in one city, was using
them as his subjects and slaves. He put also the meaner people into commotion, telling
them that, deluded with a mere dream of liberty, they were actually deprived of both that
and of their proper homes and religious usages; and that instead of many good and gracious
kings of their own, they had given themselves up to be lorded over by a newcomer and a
stranger....and after Theseos death---by accident or misadventure---Menestheos ruled in
Athens as king.
Aristotle:
from The Athenian Constitution, c. 330 BCE
Not only was the constitution at this time oligarchical in every respect, but the
poorer classes---men, women, and children---were in absolute slavery to the rich. They
were known as pelatai and also as hectemori, because they cultivated the
lands of the rich for a sixth part of the produce. The whole country was in the hands of a
few persons, and if the tenants failed to pay their rent, they were liable to be haled
into debt-slavery and their children with them. Their persons were mortgaged to their
creditors, a custom which prevailed until the time of Solon, who was the first to appear
as a leader of the people. Bu the hardest and bitterest part of the condition of the
masses was the fact that they had no share in the offices then existing under the
constitution. At the same time they were discontented with every other feature of their
lot; for, to speak generally, they had no part nor share in anything.
Herodotus, The History, George Rawlinson, trans., (New York: Dutton & Co.,
1862);
Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives, (The "Dryden Plutarch"), (London: J.M.
Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1910);
Fred Morrow Fling, ed., A Source Book of Greek History, (Boston: D. C. Heath,
1907), pp. 77-79.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg
has modernized the text.
