Western Culture Global Presents The Top 100 Heroes of Western Culture #31: Solon (638 BC–558 BC) Solon (638 BC–558 BC) was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet. His reforms arguably set the foundation for liberty. For nearly all of human history, freedom merely meant the absence of being ruled by foreigners. In other words, as long as people were not controlled by a foreign power they regarded themselves as free, even if they were oppressed and enslaved by their own home-grown government. (This definition of "freedom" is still widely accepted today in non-Western culture.) Solon was arguably the first person to challenge this tribal notion of freedom by advocating ground-breaking ideas that would help to ensure a person's freedom from unjust aggression initiated within his own community, especially by the government. Specifically, Solon's ideas laid the groundwork for the constitution of Classical Athens, that is, written laws that protected the liberty of Athenians via a rational (albeit rudimentary) legal process. Or in the words of John Lewis, Solon was the first person to "base a political order on a distinct idea of justice under enforced written laws, promoted by persuasion rather than divine commandment, and legitimated by a claim to have set its inhabitants free."1 Liberty is not a luxury; it is a necessity of proper human survival. Solon's contributions have been highly influential in making possible political institutions that allow human life to flourish. 1 John Lewis, Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens, (Gerald Duckworth & Company 2006) Go to #32: Antony van Leeuwenhoek Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — Home Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Numerical Order Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Century Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Category
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