Editing Solon (section)

=== Defeat of Megara ===
When Athens and its neighbor and rival in the [[Saronic Gulf]], [[Megara]], were contesting the possession of [[Salamis Island|Salamis]], Solon was made leader of the Athenian forces. After repeated disasters, Solon was able to improve the morale of his troops through a nationalist poem he wrote about the island. Supported by Pisistratus, he defeated the Megarians either by means of a cunning trick<ref name="autogenerated6"/> or more directly through heroic battle around 595 BC.<ref>Plutarch ''Solon'' 9 [[s:Lives/Solon#9]]</ref> The Megarians, however, refused to give up their claim. The dispute was referred to the Spartans, who eventually awarded possession of the island to Athens on the strength of the case that Solon put to them.<ref name="autogenerated7">Plutarch, [[s:Lives (Dryden translation)/Solon#9|''Solon'' 9]]</ref>  Plutarch professes admiration of Solon's elegy.<ref name="autogenerated6">Plutarch, [[s:Lives (Dryden translation)/Solon#8|''Solon'' 8]]</ref> The same poem was said by [[Diogenes Laërtius]] to have stirred Athenians more than any other verses that Solon wrote:

{{poemquote|
Let us go to Salamis to fight for the island
We desire, and drive away from our bitter shame!<ref>Solon, quoted in Diogenes Laërtius 1.47</ref>}}

One fragment describes assorted breads and cakes:
<ref name=wilkins>{{cite book |last1=Wilkins |first1=John M. |title=Food in the Ancient World |url=https://archive.org/details/foodancientworld00wilk |url-access=limited |date=2006 |publisher=Blackwell |page=[https://archive.org/details/foodancientworld00wilk/page/n144 128]}}</ref>

{{quote|They drink and some nibble honey and sesame cakes ({{lang|grc-Latn|itria}}), others their bread, other {{lang|grc-Latn|gouroi}} mixed with lentils. In that place, not one cake was unavailable of all those that the black earth bears for human beings, and all were present unstintingly.{{efn|The place of abundance described in Solon's fragment about cakes is unknown. Some authors speculate that it may have been [[Persia]] based on comments from Herodotus that cake was the most significant part of a meal, one of the Greek city-states, or even a literary allusion to 'paradise'. Though [[Athenaeus]] is not able to identify the ''hours'' cake from Solon's poem, he describes it as a {{lang|grc-Latn|[[plakous]]}} indicating it was a type of 'flat cake'. Similar cakes are described by [[Philoxenus of Cythera]].<ref name=wilkins/>}}}}
[[File:Solon demands to pledge respect for his laws.jpg|thumb|"Solon demands to pledge respect for his laws", book illustration (Augsburg 1832)]]