In 6th century Athens, three groups of inhabitants were created after the changes initiated by Solon. First there were the Pedinoi, i.e. the land-owning aristocrats who lived on their estates like forgotten feudal lords. The second group was the Paralioi, who worked in trade and shipping. Among their ranks, a new class was evolving on the basis of money, which provided all the comforts of life, and would sooner or later inevitably create the craving for power. The third group was called the Diakrioi; they were the many. Among them were shepherds, peasants and freemen: i.e. people who had suffered oppression for centuries, but when they suddenly acquired freedom, were easy prey for demagogues.
Solon never became a tyrant, although the state had given him the rights of a dictator. Perhaps he had a strong sense of personal freedom. But Peisistratos, with his implacable thirst for power, knew how to stir the masses, and managed to gain office by using populist promises, flattering the mob and employing unscrupulous strategems. He went as far as to present a false Athena to the dazzled people to persuade them that he had been sent by heaven, and at the same time introduced an election campaign without restriction.
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