The Greek World in the 7th Century BC

Between 687 and 622 BC, Greece was a land of contrasts—expanding outward through colonization while wrestling with internal political and social upheavals. Greek settlers, driven by scarcity of land, founded cities from the Black Sea to North Africa, carrying their culture like “frogs around a marsh,” as Plato later described. These colonies, though distant, maintained Greek identity through shared customs, religion, and participation in Panhellenic games.

Yet at home, two emerging powers—Sparta and Athens—took radically different approaches to governance. Sparta, landlocked and militaristic, conquered its neighbors and imposed a rigid, unwritten code of laws. Athens, meanwhile, experimented with early forms of democracy, abolishing its monarchy and struggling to codify justice. Both cities sought to eliminate sin—not just moral failing, but the disorder that threatened their survival.

Sparta: The Warrior State

### Conquest and the Birth of Helotry

Unlike coastal Greek cities that sent out colonists, Sparta expanded through conquest. Around 730 BC, it waged a brutal twenty-year war against Messene, seizing its fertile lands. The Messenians were reduced to helots—state-owned serfs who farmed under harsh conditions, surrendering half their produce. This system allowed Spartan citizens to focus entirely on military training, creating a society where every aspect of life was regulated for war.

### The Dual Kingship and Unwritten Laws

Sparta’s unique two-king system prevented absolute rule, but real power lay in its unwritten laws. From birth, Spartans lived under strict communal discipline: infants were inspected for fitness, boys trained in military “herds,” and women exercised publicly to bear strong warriors. Even marriage was regulated for eugenic purposes. As the exiled Spartan Demaratus later told Persia’s Xerxes, Spartans feared their laws more than any king—a system both liberating and oppressive.

Athens: From Monarchy to Fragile Democracy

### The Archons and the Fading Crown

Athens took a different path. By 684 BC, its kings had been replaced by elected archons, first serving for life, then for ten-year terms, and finally just one year. Power shifted to a council of landowners, but inequality festered. The poor, enslaved by debt, worked as “Sixth-Part-Tenants,” surrendering most of their harvest to wealthy elites.

### Cylon’s Failed Coup and Draco’s Harsh Code

In 632 BC, Olympic champion Cylon attempted a coup, seizing the Acropolis under a misread oracle. His failure exposed Athens’ instability. In response, the lawgiver Draco codified Athens’ oral traditions—infamously mandating death for even minor crimes. His severity, later called “draconian,” reflected a Spartan-like belief that perfect laws could eliminate crime.

Solon’s Reforms and Their Limits

### Debt Cancellation and Land Reform

Around 600 BC, the merchant-poet Solon was elected archon to prevent civil war. He abolished Draco’s laws (except for homicide), canceled debts, and redistributed land. Yet his compromises pleased no one: the rich resented lost privileges, while the poor demanded full equality.

### The Spider’s Web of Law

A visiting critic warned Solon his laws would bind only the weak, likening them to a spider’s web. Solon disagreed, insisting just laws would foster virtue. But after he left Athens to avoid pressure, factionalism returned. His experiment proved that legislation alone couldn’t resolve deep-seated inequality—setting the stage for future tyranny.

Legacy: Two Models of Order

Sparta and Athens, though opposites, shared a belief that law could perfect society. Sparta’s militaristic discipline and Athens’ early democracy both sought to replace kings with systems of accountability. Yet their struggles—Sparta’s helot rebellions, Athens’ class strife—revealed the limits of their visions.

Their stories echo today: the tension between collective discipline and individual freedom, between written codes and cultural norms. As Greece’s colonies thrived abroad, these two cities laid the groundwork for Western political thought—one through iron discipline, the other through fraught but enduring experiments in justice.