Cleisthenes (also Clisthenes or Kleisthenes) was a noble Athenian of the accursed Alcmeonidate family. He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and set it on a democratic footing in 508 BC. He was related to the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon, through the latter's daughter Agariste and her husband Megacles. The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Democracy in its ideal sense is the notion that the people should have the right to rule themselves. ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... Cleisthenes (also Clisthenes or Kleisthenes) was the tyrant of Sicyon, who aided in the war against Cirra that destroyed that city in 595 BC. He organized a competition with his daughter Agarista as a prize; the two main competitors for her were the Alcmaeonid Megacles, and Hippocleides. ... Megacles was the name of several notable men of ancient Athens: 1. ...

With help from the Alcmaeonidae (Cleisthenes' genos, "clan") and the Spartans, he was responsible for overthrowing Hippias, the son of the tyrant Pisistratus. After the collapse of the Pisistratid tyranny, Isagoras and Cleisthenes were in rivalry for power, but Isagoras won the upper hand by becoming archon in 507/8. Cleisthenes responded by gaining support from the hitherto unrepresented masses. Isagoras appealed to the Spartan king Cleomenes I to help him expel Cleisthenes, he did so on the pretext of the Alcmaeonid curse. Consequently, Cleisthenes left Athens as an exile, and Isagoras was singly unrivalled in power inside the city, and attempted to establish an oligarchy. Therefore, he set about uprooting hundreds of people from their homes on the affectation that they too were cursed, and attempted to dissolve the council. However, the council resisted, and the Athenian people declared their support in favour of it. Hence Isagoras and his supporters were forced to flee to the Acropolis, and were besieged there for two days, until on the third, it was agreed that a truce be called so that Cleomenes and his men could be released. Cleisthenes was subsequently recalled, along with the hundreds of exiles, and he assumed leadership of Athens. The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids were a powerful noble family of ancient Athens who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon. ... Sparta (Greek Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Hippias was one of the sons of Pisistratus, and was tyrant of Athens in the 6th century BC. Hippias succeeded Pisistratus in 527 BC, and in 525 BC he introduced a new system of coinage in Athens. ... A tyrant (from Greek τύραννος týrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... Peisistratos (also Pisistratus, Peistratus, or Pesistratus) is the name of a minor character in the Odyssey, and of a major Athenian ruler. ... Isagoras, son of Tisander, was an Athenian aristocrat in the late 6th century BC. He had remained in Athens during the tyranny of Hippias, but after Hippias was overthrown he became involved in a struggle for power with Cleisthenes, a fellow aristocrat. ... Cleomenes (d. ... Oligarchy is a Political regime where most political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). ...

After this victory Cleisthenes began to reform the government of Athens. He eliminated the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations and had led to the tyranny in the first place, and organized citizens into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their deme). Most modern historians suppose there were 139 demes (this is still a matter of debate), organized into thirty groups called trittyes ("thirds"), with ten trittyes divided among three regions in each deme (a city region, asty; a coastal region, paralia; and an inland region, mesogeia). He also established legislative bodies run by individuals chosen by lot, rather than by kinship or heredity. He reorganized the Boule, created with 400 members under Solon, so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. The court system was reorganized so there were 5000 jurors selected each day, 500 from each tribe. It was the role of the Boule to propose laws to the assembly of voters, who convened in Athens around forty times a year for this purpose. The bills proposed could be rejected, passed or returned for amendments by the assembly. A tyrant (from Greek τυραννος) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... In biology, a deme (rhymes with team) is another word for a local population of organisms of one species that actively interbreed with one another and share a distinct gene pool. ... The term boule can be used to describe a large block of synthetically produced crystal material. ... Solon Solon (Greek: Σόλων, ca. ...

Cleisthenes also seems to have introduced ostracism (first used in 487 BC), whereby the citizens voted to exile a citizen for 10 years. The initial trend was to vote for a citizen deemed a threat to the democracy e.g. by having ambitions to set himself up as tyrant. However, soon after, any citizen judged to have too much power in the city tended to be targeted for exile e.g. Xanthippus in 485/84 BC. Under this system, the exiled man's property was maintained, but he was not physically in the city where he could possibly create a new tyranny. Ostracism was a procedure under the Athenian democracy where a prominent citizen could be expelled from the city for ten years. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 492 BC 491 BC 490 BC 489 BC 488 BC - 487 BC - 486 BC 485 BC...

Cleisthenes called these reforms isonomia ("equality under the law"), rather than demokratia. Soon after his reforms, his life becomes a mystery since none of the ancient texts available to use mention him thereafter.