Who Were the Sea Peoples?

In 462 BCE, Ephialtes directed a peaceful revolution in Athenian governance, implementing a radical democracy in which the entire body of citizens would theoretically hold power, voting on legislation and policy directly in the Assembly. No more elites! What actually happened? Let us ask Thucydides: "So, in what was nominally a democracy, power was really in the hands of the first citizen (Pericles)." Instead of "power to the people," the revolution produced one-man rule! I am not aware of a single revolution in history, violent or peaceful, that did not produce a result significantly different than that the early leaders intended. Why will yours be any different? "But I'm not power hungry!" Exactly. That is why, when the revolution is over, you won't have powe r. Someone who is hungry for it, and will do whatever it takes to get it, will have power instead. "But my revolution will only occur once people are convinced that grabb...

In 594 BC, Solon tried to persuade the struggling farmers of Athens to switch from grain cultivation to growing olives. They refused, apparently mostly because they were set in their ways. A few decades later, the tyrant Pisistratus (at the time, tyrant simply meant an unconstitutional ruler) forced the change on them, while also lending them money to tide them over until the trees would bear fruit. The farmers stopped struggling and prospered. Athens became a major exporter of olive oil, and as a side effect the leading manufacturer of pottery. In a few decades its golden age would commence. Often, private initiative achieves the best economic results. Sometimes, government economic schemes do better.