The Sexes in Science and History / An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man

by Eliza Burt Gamble

Prior to the age of Theseus, Attica was divided into petty states, each with a council-house of its own. According to the testimony of Thucydides, from the time of Cecrops to Theseus

the population of Athens had always inhabited independent cities, with their own guild-halls and magistrates; and at such times as they were not in fear of any danger they did not meet with the king to consult with him, but themselves severally conducted their own government, and took their own counsel.[161]

The basileus or war-chief exercised no civil functions,[162] and his services were never called into requisition except in times of danger.

Theseus upon receiving the office of military chieftain “persuaded” the people in the adjacent country to remove to the city.[163] According to Plutarch he “settled all the inhabitants of Attica in Athens and made them one people in one city.”[164] He persuaded them to abolish their independent city governments and to establish in their stead, at Athens, a council-house which would be common to all. Thus, under his direction, the Attic peoples coalesced, or were united under one government. Theseus, we are told, divided the people into three classes, irrespective of gentes, on the basis of property and social position. The chiefs of the several gentes with their families, and the citizens who through their great wealth had become influential, constituted the first class; the second class were the husbandmen, and the third the mechanics. All the principal offices both of the government and the priesthood were in the hands of the nobles or the moneyed and aristocratic classes. Thucydides refers to the fact that “when Greece was becoming more powerful, and acquiring possessions of money still more than before, tyrannies were established in the cities.”[165]

Upon this subject Mr. Rawlinson says:

All important political privilege is engrossed by the Eupatrids, who consist of a certain number of “clans” claiming a special nobility, but not belonging to any single tribe, or distinguishable from the ignoble clans, otherwise than by the possession of superior rank and riches. The rest of the citizens constitute an unprivileged class, personally free, but with no atom of political power, and are roughly divided, according to their occupation, into yeoman-farmers and artisans. The union of the Eupatrids in the same tribes and phratries with the Geomori and Demiurgi, seems to show that the aristocracy of Athens was not original, like that of Rome, but grew out of an earlier and more democratical condition of things—such, in fact, as we find depicted in the Homeric poems.... Thus at Athens, as elsewhere, in the heroic times, there was undoubtedly the idea of a public assembly, consisting of all free-men; but this institution seems entirely to have disappeared during the centuries which intervened between Codrus and Solon.[166]

During the three hundred years which followed the death of Codrus, nothing of great importance is observed concerning the growth of Grecian institutions. Doubtless their development was characterized only by the strengthening of the aristocracy and the stimulation of those egoistic principles which are essential in the establishment of an oligarchy. That in course of time the power attached to the office of archon also became a menace to the people’s liberties is shown in the fact that in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, B.C., 752, the life archonship was brought to a close and the term of office reduced to ten years. Although the office was still limited to the family of Codrus, the incumbent became amenable to the elders or chiefs for his acts. However, that this movement was not wholly in the interest of the masses of the people is shown in the fact that during the following thirty years the Eupatrids, or members of the aristocratic party, had drawn to themselves all the power belonging to the archonship. It is observed that during the reign of the fourth decennial archon, a pretext having been found to depose him, the reigning family or gens was declared as having forfeited its right to rule and the office was thrown open to all Eupatrids. Nine archons from among the aristocratic party, with all the powers formerly belonging to the supreme archon, conveyed to them, were chosen as a governing board,[167] and were to continue in office for one year. Selected by and from among the Eupatrids, their legislation was wholly in the interest of the wealthy and privileged classes.

From 684 B.C. to 624 B.C., the aristocratic party exercised unlimited control over the Athenian state, and during the entire sixty years used their great power to crush out even a semblance of free institutions. The thirst for power among them was equalled only by their greed for gain; hence while wielding the former, they gratified their cupidity by gathering into their own coffers almost the entire wealth of the nation. With the machinery of legislation turned against them, the middle and lower classes were soon robbed even of their means of support. Most of the land was mortgaged, and the persons of the owners held by the Eupatrids for debt. Men sold their children and their sisters to satisfy the demands of creditors,[168] and such was the inequality existing between various classes that dissensions arose on every hand, and a general state of confusion, disorder, and discontent prevailed. Thus may be observed some of the processes by which the early principles of fraternity, liberty, and justice were overthrown.

At length the sufferings of the people caused by the injustice and rapacity of their rulers became unbearable, and by means of various signs of discontent, notably that of a popular demand for written laws, it became evident that a crisis had been reached. The Eupatrids, pretending to heed the popular demand, elected Draco, one of their number, to the office of archon, with the understanding that a code of written laws defining the rights of the several classes be prepared.

As the Greeks of the Draconian and Solonic age were but a few centuries removed from a time when individual liberty and equality had constituted the cardinal principles upon which society was founded, we may believe that that spirit of personal independence and self-respect which had been inherited from gentile institutions, although it had perhaps slumbered, had never been crushed; therefore, a condition of subjection or slavery, although for a time endured, could not be willingly accepted as a settled fact.