which two leaders, Isagoras and Kleisthenes, contended
for power. Getting the worst of it, Kleisthenes called on the
common people for help, gained control, and instituted a
new constitution, which went into effect in 508/7. Other
than his name and the fact that he was a member of the
Alkmaionidai, we know almost nothing of the individual
who brought about such radical change. His new system
of government was the foundation on which Classical
Athenian democracy was erected. Its primary achievement
was to break the power of the old aristocratic families which
had been based on control of different geographical regions
of Attica.
Kleisthenes reorganized the social and political struc-
ture of Attica, creating ten new phylai (tribes). Each tribe was
made up of three groups called trittyes (thirds), and each trittys was
drawn from one of the three geographical regions of Attica. All rights and privileges as a
citizen came from membership in the tribe. A citizen served in the boule (senate) in a
tribal contingent. He fought in the army—where his life literally depended on the shield
of the next man in line—in a tribal contingent. There were also special tribal sacrifices.
Each tribe was named after an early hero of Athens, and the members of the tribe dedi-
cated shrines, made sacrifices, and held feast days in his honor in which the other Athe-
nians did not share; each Athenian, however humble, was thereby provided with
a heroic ancestor. Governing, fighting, and feasting with a new group of fellow tribes-
men drawn from all three regions of Attica forged new bonds of loyalty and greatly
diminished the power, inf luence, and control of the local aristocratic families. The
tribes thus became the new focus for political power as well as for social and religious ac-
tivity.
The success of the new system was tested almost at once when Athens was attacked
40 EARLY AND ARCHAIC ATHENS
39
Opposite 39. Map showing the political organization of Attica as a result of the Kleisthenic reforms of
508/7 b.c. Each color stands for one of the ten tribes, each mark for an individual deme. The lines link
the groups of demes which make up each trittys (third) of a tribe. The number inside each deme
symbol shows the number of representatives sent annually from that deme to the boule (senate).
38. Panathenaic amphora, with the tyrannicides as the emblem of
Athena’s shield, 5th century b.c., copied from statues of Harmodios
and Aristogeiton set up in the Agora.