Solon's Reforms in Athens

Around 594 BCE, Athens was on the brink of civil war. The wealthy owned most of the land, and poor Athenians were literally being sold into slavery for their debts. Solon was appointed to fix everything. He cancelled debts, freed enslaved citizens, and created a new constitution giving more people a voice in government. His reforms didn't create full democracy — that came later under Cleisthenes — but they established the radical idea that citizens have rights the state must respect.