Eucleides ( grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης) was archon of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

towards the end of the fifth century BC. He contributed towards the re-establishment of democracy during his years in office (403–402 BC). He is also believed to have contributed to the new political order, with proposals that sought to deal with the challenge of the potentially disruptive minority who had supported

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

in the previous years.

Work

During his archonship many Greek

poleis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

changed their

epichoric alphabet Many local variants of the Greek alphabet were employed in ancient Greece during the archaic and early classical periods, until around 400 BC, when they were replaced by the classical 24-letter alphabet that is the standard today. All forms ...

adopting the Ionic script. He supported a decree to change the alphabet and adopt Ionian script. Athenians accepted a

spelling reform A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples a ...

, adopting the Ionian alphabet, which included

eta Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

and

omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/ isopsephy ( gematria), it has a value of 800. The ...

. There are inscriptions from Athens which used Ionian spelling before it was official and others which continued to use the old Attic spelling after it was repudiated. Eucleides was involved in adoption of the new spelling form that was acceptable to Athenians. The reform meant that the old Attic alphabet traditionally used in all official documents had to be changed in order to conform to Ionic usage, which had become a standard alphabet for the Greeks.

Archinus Archinus ( grc, Ἀρχῖνος) was an Athenian democratic politician who wielded substantial influence between the restoration of democracy in 403 BC and the beginning of the Corinthian War in 395 BC. In the early days of the restored democrac ...

, a political ally of Eucleides, was conspicuously involved in turbulent politics of Athens. It is believed that a decree on adoption of Ionic alphabets was based on political consideration rather than artistic or language development. However, during Eucleides's year as archon, Athenian experienced a spirited attempt to end the civil strife and the contemplation of a new constitution.

Success and legacy

The credit for the success of the reconciliation during archonship of Eucleides is accorded to his most prominent political colleague, Archinus. He is further believed to have come up with the proposal to adopt Ionic alphabets that was decreed by Eucleides during his tenure as archon of Athens. Under the archonship of Eucleides, Athens was recovering from horror; it was threatened with extinction because of the attacks by

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

and the Peloponnesian League Prior to the archonship of Eucleides, Athens was humiliated and had no empire to finance its democratic structures due to persistent civil wars that had threatened to tear it apart. However, peace returned following the amnesty between the enemy parties and the plans of restoration were initiated under the leadership of Eucleides. Consequently, the clamour for alphabet reform could be traced to the end of the hostilities between democrats and oligarchs. After the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants, the new democratic government declared the year 403–402 BC under Eucleides as the inauguration of a new era of harmony. The amnesty, also referred as ‘acts of oblivion’, was designed to heal the wounds caused by the previous years' civil war. The amnesty prevented the prosecution of those considered as political enemies through having supported the Thirty Tyrants. Conclusively, Eucleides supported political tolerance and it was said that he could not be corrupted or commit atrocities like those experienced during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants.

References

{{s-end 5th-century BC Athenians 5th-century BC births 4th-century BC deaths Greek alphabet Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown Eponymous archons