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→Rise to Prominence
==Rise to Prominence==
At around 508 BCE, Cleisthenes rose to power as a leader of Athens. He is typically credited with being the father of Athenian democracy. While Athenian democracy looks very different from our own democratic systems, his reforms gave more power to the common gentry. <ref>For more on this period of Cleisthenes' rise to power, see: Fine, John Van Antwerp. 1983. The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Pr, pg. 122.</ref> Both the nobility and common free citizens of Athens were able to participate in the city's government assembly. Common citizens were also able to be appointed to key government posts. While one might assume these democratic style reforms led to the rise of power, the reality is Athens was already beginning to benefit from its control of key trade along the Mediterranean. <ref>For more on Athens' maritime power, see: Nijf, Onno van, and Fik Meijer. 2014. Trade, Transport and Society in the Ancient World a Sourcebook, pg. 33.</ref> The region of Attica is not highly fertile, leading to Athens becoming a city highly dependent on its external links to colonies and trade.
The bases of city wealth helped Athens to use that wealth in subsequent events that were to shape all of the Greek world. Athens was involved in the rebellion in Ionia, along the coast of Asia Minor, that saw the Greek cities revolt against their Persian overlords. These revolts were put down; however, Persia was agitated by Athens' support for the rebels. This led to Darius, the Achaemenid Persian king, to invade the Peloponnese peninsula to take revenge against Athens. In particular, the burning of Sardis by the Ionian rebels greatly upset the Persians, given that city's great wealth and importance to the Persians.
