How did democracy develop in Athens?

Athenian democracy did not emerge overnight — it developed through a series of reforms spanning roughly a century, each building on the last and each driven by specific political crises.

The groundwork was laid by Solon around 594 BCE. Facing a severe economic crisis — many Athenians had been enslaved for debt — Solon canceled debts, freed debt slaves, and reorganized the citizen body into four wealth-based classes. He opened the assembly and courts to all citizens, though the highest offices remained reserved for the wealthy. Solon's reforms didn't create democracy, but they established the principle that citizenship conferred political rights regardless of aristocratic birth.

The decisive step came from Cleisthenes in 508 BCE. After a period of tyranny, Cleisthenes reorganized the Athenian citizen body into ten new tribes, each composed of members from three different regions of Attica. This brilliant structural innovation broke the power of aristocratic family networks that had dominated politics through regional patronage. The new tribes formed the basis of the boulē (council of 500), which set the assembly's agenda, and of the military organization.

Ephialtes' reforms in 461 BCE stripped the aristocratic Areopagus council of most of its political powers, transferring them to the assembly, the courts, and the boulē. This democratized the system further by removing the last institutional check that the old aristocracy held over popular decision-making.

Pericles completed the democratization by introducing pay for jury service and other public offices, enabling poorer citizens to participate without losing income. Under Pericles' leadership (roughly 461–429 BCE), Athens entered its Golden Age — the extraordinary period of cultural, intellectual, and political achievement that made the city a permanent reference point in the history of governance.