Solon was a
noble born citizen of Athens and was elected as the Eponymus Archon during a period in which there was a great deal of conflict between the
general public and the rich-ruling
classes. Though a noble by birthright he was significantly poorer than most others in his social position, and was sympathetic to the complaints of the
poor. This suggests that he was a very suitable person to attempt reconciliation between the classes.
At the time the level of ill-feeling towards the rich-ruling classes from the general public meant civil war seemed the most likely outcome of things continuing as they were. The
nobles mistreatmented of the poor, denying them the opportunity of running for elected positions, of fair trial by a jury of their peers, laws were excessively harsh and the Hectemorage system exploited the labour of the common folk and often led to them being sold as slaves overseas.
This was of particular distaste to Solon, his first reform was to abolish the unfair system and alter the constitution making it no longer legal for a man to offer himself up as
collateral for a loan (preventing other similar abuses from happening in the
future). He also did his utmost to retrieve the men who had already been sold as slaves and gave the poor plots of land of their own, that they might in future be less dependant on their noble landlords. It is said that he took great pleasure in ripping up the boundary stones that marked out where land ownership began and ended.
He examined a potentially very volatile situation, identified the most immediate problem and rectified it. He did so in a forward-thinking way that would help prevent future problems from arising and did his best to repair the damage that had already been done. With hindsight it seems that he dealt with the problem excellently, but at his time the general reaction was quite hostile. The rich felt cheated out of what was rightfully theirs, and were annoyed that their money-making schemes had been spoiled. The poor were disappointed that there was still so large a gap between their status and lifestyles and that of the nobles, they had hoped that Solon might redistribute the land owned by the nobles in a more even manner. The loss of the right to put themselves up as collateral also meant that they had lost their one effective bargaining tool, there was nothing left to offer the nobles in negotiations.
Though there was such dissent at the time it seems to have been largely unfounded, the Hectemorage system did not resurface in Athens at any time in it’s future and the law of collateral was never reinstated. This suggests that the reforms were for the better, as if this had not been the case future reformists would have been likely to undo the changes (Solon actually secured his laws as being unchangeable for several hundred years into the future, but this would have been unlikely to put off a determined reformist).
More summaries about the Solon's Dissolution of The Hectemorage System