Athens in the Seventh Century BC

Our sources:
1. The fragmentary Atthis works of Hellanicus of Lesbos, Cleitodemus and Androtion in the fourth century, and the mostly lost ones of Phanodemus, Demon, and Melanthius.
2. Pseudo-Aristotle(?)'s Athenaion Politeia, which covers the historical development of the state and its form in in Aristotle's time.

     Athens was a continuously inhabited site from before the Dark Age, although if it had any hegemony before them, it was lost as Attica devolved into towns and villages. The legendary kings Theseus and Erechtheus are less than helpful in historical time. Athen's control of Eleusis to the west and the eastern plain of Attica was complete by the middle of the seventh century, but not much earlier.
     By the time of Cylon (after 650) the kings (monarchs who ruled for life) had been replaced by a board of annual magistrates, the Nine Archons. According to Ps. Aristotle, the functions of the king were reduced over time by the creation of the Polemarch (war commander), Archon (various civic functions), and then by the reduction of the term of the king from life to ten years and eventually one year.  There were also six judicial officials known as thesmothetai.
     The Athenian council was known as the Council of the Areopagus, since some of its meeting were held on the hill. It served as an advisory body to the archons. Some assembly existed since much earlier times, and the Areopagus nominally consisted of all the past archons. Ps. Aristotle says the archons were elected by the council before Solon replaced the process with selection by lot from candidates approved by tribe.

    Strong households held much of the power in society coming out of the dark ages. Consolidated houses came to be known as a genos (clan) and humbler dependents and clients of great houses were grouped in organizations called phratries. All Athenian citizens belonged to phratries, and membership in demes and phratries was the earliest criterion of citizenship.

   In 632 Cylon, an Olympic victor, seized the acropolis during an olympic festival, but was pushed out by forces under the nine archons. His coup attempt seemed no to be motivated by popular discontent; those who murdered his followers, specifically the Alcmaeonidae, were said to have fallen under religious pollution.

   In 621 Draco wrote down the first set of Athenian laws, laws which were later revised by Solon, who kept intact only Draco's homicide law. His law posits at least five courts in different places for different crimes, of which the Areopagus council was one; these likely predated Draco in some form.