Solon

(circa 638-558 BCE) The Athenian statesman who introduced the idea of a just constitution that recognized the necessity of including all classes of citizens in the government.

His most liberating innovation was the return of all mortgaged land to the debtors and freeing of people who had been sold into slavery or exiled because of debt; Solon lived to see his constitution abolished by the tyrant Pisistratus.

The four classes under Solon’s constitution were:

1. Pentakosiomedimnoi (the owners of large, productive tracts of land);
2. Ippeis (named for their social class as horsemen or charioteers);
3. Zeygitai (named for their social class as ox drivers); and
4. Thetes (the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens, literally they were hired farm workers and served as lightly-armed soldiers and common seaman).

Solon was always honored by his inclusion as one of the Seven Sages.