In the years before Cleisthenes' was born, the most influential man in the city had been Solon, an unselfish and model aristocratic reformer who became known as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.

Solon was one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece and dominated Athenian politics for several decades, becoming the city's chief magistrate in the early years of the 6th century BC (594-3 BC).

P er the great historian Herodotus, the mighty king Croesus of Lydia once asked a visitor named Solon, famous for his wisdom, if there was anyone who was happier than he. Being at ...