Eucleides

Eucleides (Greek: Ευκλείδης) was archon of Athens 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 in the previous years.

Work

During his archonship Greece changed its alphabets to Ionic script. He supported a decree to change the alphabet and adopt Ionian script. Athenians accepted a spelling reform, adopting the Ionian alphabet, which included eta and omega. 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.