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36-460: Aristides was a member of a family of moderate fortune; his father's name was Lysimachus. Early in life he became a follower of the statesman Cleisthenes . He probably first came to notice as strategos in command of his native tribe Antiochis at the Battle of Marathon of 490 BC. In consequence of the distinction which he then achieved he is said to have won the election as archon eponymos for

72-618: A deme . This and the other aforementioned reforms had an additional effect in that they worked to include (wealthy, male) foreign citizens in Athenian society. He also established sortition – the random selection of citizens to fill government positions rather than kinship or heredity. It is also speculated that, in another move to lower the barriers of kinship and heredity when it comes to participation in Athenian society, Cleisthenes made it so foreign residents of Athens were eligible to become legally privileged. In addition, he reorganized

108-401: A tyranny has with the democratic concept of having the people (instead of a single person) at the peak of political power. Another by-product of the deme system was that it split up and weakened his political adversaries. Cleisthenes also abolished patronymics in favour of demonymics (a name given according to the deme to which one belongs), thus increasing Athenians' sense of belonging to

144-513: A year for this purpose. The bills proposed could be rejected, passed, or returned for amendments by the assembly. Cleisthenes also may have introduced ostracism (first used in 487 BC), whereby a vote by at least 6,000 citizens would exile a citizen for ten years. The initial and intended purpose was to vote for a citizen deemed to be a threat to the democracy, most likely anyone who seemed to have ambitions to set himself up as tyrant. However, soon after, any citizen judged to have too much power in

180-526: Is praised by Socrates in Plato 's dialogues Gorgias and Meno as an exceptional instance of good leadership. In Plato's dialogue Theaetetus , Socrates refers to Aristides, the grandson of the famous Aristides, less positively, bringing him as an example of a student who leaves his care too soon and realizes later that he is a fool. There is a statue of Aristides in Louisburg Square in

216-426: Is thought that there may have been 139 demes (though this is still a matter of debate), each organized into three groups called trittyes ("thirds"), with ten demes divided among three regions in each trittyes (a city region, asty ; a coastal region, paralia ; and an inland region, mesogeia ). D.M Lewis argues that Cleisthenes established the deme system in order to balance the central unifying force that

252-450: Is unknown as no ancient texts mention him thereafter. In 507 BC, during the time Cleisthenes was leading Athenian politics, and probably at his instigation, democratic Athens sent an embassy to Artaphernes , brother of Darius I , and Achaemenid Satrap , of Asia Minor in the capital of Sardis , looking for Persian assistance in order to resist the threats from Sparta . Herodotus reports that Artaphernes had no previous knowledge of

288-610: The Boule , created with 400 members under Solon , so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. He also introduced the bouleutic oath, "To advise according to the laws what was best for the people". The court system ( Dikasteria – law courts) was reorganized and had from 201–5001 jurors selected each day, up to 500 from each tribe. It was the role of the Boule to propose laws to the assembly of voters, who convened in Athens around forty times

324-636: The Lacedaemonians and Cleomenes to war. When the envoys came to Sardis and spoke as they had been bidden, Artaphrenes son of Hystaspes , viceroy of Sardis, asked them, "What men are you, and where dwell you, who desire alliance with the Persians?" Being informed by the envoys, he gave them an answer whereof the substance was, that if the Athenians gave king Darius earth and water , then he would make alliance with them; but if not, his command

360-660: The Spartan admiral Pausanias , they gave him the chief command and left him with absolute discretion in fixing the contributions of the newly formed (478 BC) confederacy, the Delian League . His assessment, universally accepted as equitable, continued as the basis of taxation for the greater part of the League's duration. He continued to hold a predominant position in Athens. At first he seems to have remained on good terms with Themistocles, whom he allegedly helped in outwitting

396-601: The tyrant son of Pisistratus . After the collapse of Hippias' tyranny, Isagoras and Cleisthenes were rivals for power, but Isagoras won the upper hand by appealing to the Spartan king Cleomenes I to help him expel Cleisthenes. He did so on the pretext of the Alcmaeonid curse . Consequently, Cleisthenes left Athens as an exile, and Isagoras was unrivalled in power within the city. Isagoras set about dispossessing hundreds of Athenians of their homes and exiling them on

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432-552: The 19th century were Atlantic Monthly editor William Dean Howells , architect Charles Bulfinch , painter John Singleton Copley , and teacher A. Bronson Alcott and his daughter, author Louisa May Alcott (who died there). Jenny Lind was married in the parlor of a house on Louisburg Square. As of 2014 , it is one of the most expensive residential neighborhoods in the USA; townhouses on Louisburg Square sold for $ 11.5 million in 2011 and $ 11 million in 2012, for instance. The square

468-479: The 19th-century upper class in Beacon Hill. The square was surveyed in the 1820s, and the houses around it were designed and built between 1834 and 1847. One of the last private residences built on Louisburg Square was 2 Louisburg Square, built in 1847 for wealthy merchant and philanthropist Thomas Handasyd Perkins Jr., known as "Short-Arm Tom", who lived at 1 Joy Street. Among the famous people who lived there in

504-618: The American city of Boston . An 1806 painting of Aristides by Charles Brocas  [ fr ] is at the Musée des Augustins in the French City of Toulouse . Cleisthenes Cleisthenes ( / ˈ k l aɪ s θ ɪ n iː z / KLYS -thin-eez ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Κλεισθένης ), or Clisthenes ( c.  570  – c.  508 BC ), was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming

540-520: The Athenian citizens' assembly and for reducing the power of the nobility over Athenian politics. In 510 BC, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant Hippias , son of Peisistratus . Cleomenes I , king of Sparta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy headed by Isagoras . However, Cleisthenes, with the support of the middle class and aided by democrats, took over. Cleomenes intervened in 508 and 506 BC, but could not stop Cleisthenes and his Athenian supporters. Through Cleisthenes' reforms,

576-476: The Athenians preferred to remain democratic despite the danger from the Achaemenid Empire, and the ambassadors were disavowed and censured upon their return to Athens. After that, the Athenians sent to bring back Cleisthenes and the seven hundred households banished by Cleomenes; then they despatched envoys to Sardis, desiring to make an alliance with the Persians; for they knew that they had provoked

612-533: The Athenians, and his initial reaction was "Who are these people?" Artaphernes asked the Athenians for "Water and Earth", a symbol of submission, if they wanted help from the Achaemenid king. The Athenian ambassadors apparently accepted to comply, and to give " Earth and Water ". Artaphernes also advised the Athenians that they should receive back the Athenian tyrant Hippias . The Persians threatened to attack Athens if they did not accept Hippias. Nevertheless,

648-585: The Athenians, such as their intervention in the Ionian revolt , were perceived as a breach of oath and a rebellion against the central authority of the Achaemenid ruler. Louisburg Square Louisburg Square is a street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston , Massachusetts , bisected by a small private park. The park, which is bounded by Pinckney Street to the north and Mount Vernon Street to

684-545: The Persian invasions, for apparently he did not leave enough money to defray the expenses of his burial, and it is known that his descendants – even in the 4th century – received state pensions. Herodotus is not the only ancient author to evaluate Aristides' life. He is also the subject of one of Plutarch 's Parallel Lives , although Plutarch, writing during the Roman Empire , was several centuries removed. Aristides

720-521: The Spartans over the rebuilding of the walls of Athens. Some authorities state that Aristides died at Athens, others that he perished on a journey to the Black Sea ; the date of his death is given by Nepos as 468 BC. He lived to witness the ostracism of Themistocles, towards whom he always displayed generosity, but he died before the rise of Pericles . His estate seems to have suffered severely from

756-489: The aristocratic council and made it accessible for participation from various groups of people. Historians estimate that Cleisthenes was born around 570 BC. Cleisthenes was the uncle of Pericles ' mother, Agariste, and of Alcibiades ' maternal grandfather, Megacles. Cleisthenes came from the family of the Alcmaeonidae . He was the son of Agariste and grandson of Cleisthenes of Sicyon . Unlike his grandfather who

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792-456: The beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, and were passionate beyond all moderation." The conflict between the two leaders ended in the ostracism of Aristides at a date variously given between 485 and 482 BC. It is said that, on this occasion, an illiterate voter who did not recognise Aristides approached the statesman and requested that he write the name of Aristides on his voting shard to ostracize him. The latter asked if Aristides had wronged him. "No,"

828-510: The city tended to be targeted for exile (e.g., Xanthippus in 485–84 BC). Under this system, the exiled man's property was maintained, but he was not physically in the city where he could possibly create a new tyranny. One later ancient author records that Cleisthenes himself was the first person to be ostracized. Cleisthenes called these reforms isonomia ("equality vis à vis law", iso- meaning equality; nomos meaning law), instead of demokratia . Cleisthenes' life after his reforms

864-411: The constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC . For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy". He was a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid clan. He was the younger son of Megacles and Agariste making him the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon . He was also credited with increasing the power of

900-401: The ensuing year (489–488). Pursuing a conservative policy to maintain Athens as a land power, he was one of the chief opponents of the naval policy proposed by Themistocles . According to Plutarch , citing the philosopher Ariston of Ceos , the rivalry between Aristides and Themistocles began in their youth when they competed over the love of a boy : "... they were rivals for the affection of

936-518: The most exclusive neighborhoods in the United States, with townhouses listing for over $ 15,000,000. The park itself is a small grassy oval surrounded by a wrought-iron fence; there is no public access. There is a statue of Christopher Columbus at the north end, and of Aristides the Just at the south end. The Greek Revival houses around the square reflect the rarefied privilege enjoyed by

972-427: The people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only free men were citizens) —and established ostracism as a punishment. Cleisthenes reforms set up the Athenian population into a total of ten different tribes that were based off of local demes or districts. Because of this there was a more equal representation within the political system. Cleisthenes had replaced

1008-639: The people of Athens. This led Cleisthenes to ask the Oracle of Delphi to persuade the Spartans to help him free Athens from tyranny. Cleisthenes' plea for assistance was accepted by the Oracle as his family had previously helped rebuild the sanctuary when it was destroyed by fire. With help from the Spartans and the Alcmaeonidae (Cleisthenes' genos , "clan"), he was responsible for overthrowing Hippias ,

1044-492: The pretext that they too were cursed. He also attempted to dissolve the Boule (βουλή), a council of Athenian citizens appointed to run the daily affairs of the city. However, the council resisted, and the Athenian people declared their support of the council. Isagoras and his partisans were forced to flee to the Acropolis , remaining besieged there for two days. On the third day they fled the city and were banished. Cleisthenes

1080-683: The south, is maintained by the Louisburg Square Proprietors. While the Proprietors pay taxes to the City of Boston, the city does not own the park or its garden. Louisburg Square was named for the 1745 Battle of Louisbourg , in which Massachusetts militiamen led by William Pepperrell , who was made the first American baronet for his role, sacked the French Fortress of Louisbourg . Louisburg Square has become one of

1116-403: The traditional clans, which had led to the tyranny in the first place, he changed the political organization from the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations, and which formed the basis of the upper-class Athenian political power network, into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their deme ), which would form the basis of a new democratic power structure. It

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1152-430: The victory by landing Athenian infantry on the island of Psyttaleia and annihilating the Persian garrison stationed there. In 479 BC, he was re-elected strategos , and given special powers as commander of the Athenian forces at the Battle of Plataea of August 479 BC; he is also said to have suppressed a conspiracy among some in the army. He so won the confidence of the Ionian allies that, after they had revolted from

1188-487: Was a tyrant, he adopted politically democratic concepts. When Pisistratus took power in Athens as a tyrant, he exiled his political opponents and the Alcmaeonidae . After Pisistratus' death in 527 BC, Cleisthenes returned to Athens and became the eponymous archon . A few years later, Pisistratus' successors, Hipparchus and Hippias , again exiled Cleisthenes. In 514 BC, Harmodius and Aristogeiton assassinated Hipparchus, causing Hippias to further harden his attitude towards

1224-421: Was subsequently recalled, along with hundreds of exiles, and he assumed leadership of Athens. Promptly after his instatement as leader, he commissioned a bronze memorial from the sculptor Antenor in honour of the lovers and tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton , whom Hippias had executed. After this victory, Cleisthenes began to reform the government of Athens. In order to forestall strife between

1260-417: Was that they should begone. The envoys consulted together and consented to give what was asked, in their desire to make the alliance. So they returned to their own country, and were then greatly blamed for what they had done. There is a possibility that the Achaemenid ruler now saw the Athenians as subjects who had solemnly promised submission through the gift of "Earth and Water", and that subsequent actions by

1296-438: Was the reply, "and I do not even know him, but it irritates me to hear him everywhere called 'the Just'." Aristides then wrote his own name on the ballot. Early in 480, Aristides profited by the decree recalling exiles to help in the defence of Athens against Persian invaders , and was elected strategos for the year 480–479 BC. In the Battle of Salamis of September 480 BC, he gave loyal support to Themistocles, and crowned

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