Cleisthenes' reforms and the birth of democracy
Supreme power passes to the Athenian citizens' assembly
Cleisthenes reorganised Athenian society into ten territorial tribes and gave the citizens' assembly supreme power. His reforms are regarded as the birth of democracy, government in which citizens themselves decide.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 6th century BC
Did you know
Rome expelled its last king in 509 BC and Athens got democracy from Cleisthenes in 508: republic and democracy were born almost side by side.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Asia
- c. 483 BC Death of the Buddha — 25 years later
Alive at the time
- Pythagoras (aged 62)
- Gautama Buddha (aged 55)
- Confucius (aged 43)
- Darius the Great (aged 42)
- Sun Tzu (aged 36)
- Leonidas I (aged 32)
- Xerxes I (aged 10)
- Heraclitus (aged 27)
- Themistocles (aged 16)