24. Solon an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and Lyric poet, renowned as a founding father of the Athenian polis. The travel writer, Pausanias, listed Solon among the Seven Sages of the ancient world. BACK
25. Pisistratus Pisistratus did a good job as tyrant, even though the other rich men kept trying to get rid of him so they could have their oligarchy back again. Pisistratus taxed everybody equally (instead of taxing the rich less than everyone else), and he organized ways for the government to lend money at fair rates to farmers so they wouldn't have to borrow money from rich people. Pisistratus (pie-SISS-trat-uss) used the tax money to build roads and new public water fountains and new temples for the gods and many other useful things. www.historyforkids.org BACK
26. Cleisthenes Credited with having established democracy in Athens, Cleisthenes' reforms at the end of the 6th Century BC made possible the Golden Age of Athenian civilization that would follow in the 5th Century BC. Born into one of the city's foremost political dynasties, he became the unlikely champion of the people when they rebelled against tyranny. BACK