ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to propose a new solution to the mystery of Solon’s enigmatic Seisachtheia. The first part will argue that it is necessary to abandon the traditional assumption that the reform concerned control over land. This assumption rests on an anachronistic interpretation of lines 5-7 of fragment 36 West of Solon’s poetry. In my opinion, the lines are better interpreted as a metaphor for Solon’s suppression of stasis in Attica. The second part will advance a new interpretation of the reform drawing on evidence from Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, and Thucydides. It will argue that the Seisachtheia abolished a system of payment for protection and maintenance of internal order well attested in the Homeric poems as well as in other areas that did not develop institutions characteristic of the later polis. The new interpretation of the reform puts Peisistratus’ rule in a different light and tentatively suggests a revised model for the development of Athenian political institutions.
