Solon (639-559 BC) was a celebrated Athenian lawgiver and thinker, one of the fabled Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. In 594, in response to social crises stemming from class conflict, Solon was elected first archon (supreme government leader). With his new powers, Solon acted to end the crisis by repealing the repressive laws of Draco, freeing those enslaved by debt, and restructuring the class system by dividing citizens into four income classes and allowing members of all four groups to share power in the assembly and courts. Solon later resisted the power of the tyrant Pisistratus.