Ancient Greek Democracy

Democracy, the form of government in which there is a rule by the people, is said to have originated and thrived in the classical period of Athens, from 500-350 B.C.. Democracy inherently gave all that were considered citizens power to participate in politics in theory. That being said, it is highly debated as to how much power the people, also known as the demos, exercised in this democracy. Many practices and informal institutions can be said to have limited the power of the demos. The democracy in Athens can be proven to have been a democracy in theory yet not in practice, as can be proven through a variety of primary sources recounting Athenian political institutions and practices. Such primary sources that demonstrate this include Herodotus’

Democracy in Athens can be traced back to 594 B.C.E, when Solon was given the

rights and needs and give them a voice in the political decision making; it was called the

Does it make a difference that Athens was a ‘direct democracy’ while contemporary democracies are ‘representative democracy?

Democracy is a form of government where all eligible citizens are meant to participate equally. Democracy is founded on four key elements; protection of citizen rights, laws that apply to all people, the involvement of the people in both social and political life, and a system by choosing government officials by equal elections. As more people focused on equality and the importance of the individual, democracy started to appear in the Ancient World. Despite the fact that democracy in the Ancient World is not like it is today, the Judeo-Christian tradition, Athens, and the Roman Republic helped to influence modern democracy. To begin with, the Judeo-Christian era greatly influenced the ideas of democracy.

When Athens first started, it was a Monarchy or ruled by a king. The king would rule Athens with the aristocrat’s money. When the aristocrats realized they were stronger together than the king they overthrew him. The aristocats soon corrupted the government by making the laws only to benefit the rich. Athenians kept making new types of governments to make everything fair and not corrupt, resulting in a Direct Democracy (Everyone votes on everything).

direct say in government decisions. The citizens chose who they wanted to represent them in the

For the sake of justice, people most have the power to rule themselves. This is what Democracy proponents believe. They believe democracy is the key to a successful nation no matter it is a tyranny democracy or any other kind of democracy, it is still democracy, and it is still the representation for the people’s voice. Everybody is allowed to participate in the country’s

They were classified as the 500, 300, 200 and 199 and below bushel men. The 500 bushel men would usually be elected as generals and into the highest political offices while the 300 bushel men were in charge of the maintenance of horses. The 200 bushel men served as Hoplite soldiers while those at 199 and below bushels could only serve as rowers and on juries too. The lowest income group were also the largest of the lot and thus had a lot of political power at their disposal. Speaking of which, all of these men were allowed to vote because they were free and were of Athenian

Despite being over a thousand years old, Ancient Greece is a culture that influences the minds of modern day humans from around the world. At their time, Greece was considered to be the finest place to receive an education and be enlightened by philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. One could learn the Pythagorean Theorem, Hippocratic Oath, or the Socratic Method. But perhaps the greatest gift a man could receive from his government was democracy. Unlike other empires where a citizen’s opinion was considered inferior to the king’s, Greek leaders cared about their people’s opinion, especially the leaders of Athens. Athens is considered to be the birthplace of democracy. Democracy comes from the ancient Greek word demokratia which means “power from the people.” But what many modern day civilians do not know, is that Athens did not start off as a demokratia.

Democracy first appeared in Ancient Greece, in the political hive known as Athens. It soon caught on and was widely used by the whole Greek country. Granted, there were some opposers, such as Plato. Plato thought that everything about the idea of Democracy was just complete HE THOROUGHLY DISLIKED DEMOCRACY BECAUSE IT WAS HIS OWN OPINION. The reasoning behind that thinking? He thought that letting the Citizens decide would be giving the power to the masses and they’d use it for personal matters other than the general good. He also attacked Athenian Democracies for being Libertarian societies where anarchy is mistaken for freedom. Democracy WAS UNUSED AND NOT INCREDIBLY POPULAR until the 1600’s. Even still, in the 1600’s only 10~ societies

To many, Athen is known as the birthplace of democracy. It’s considered to be the first place where the citizens had a say in the decisions of the land. However, did everyone have a say in Athens? Democracy in Athens developed due to years of political reforms from the rise of new leaders, but their version of democracy is not how we see fit today.

Democracy began to emerge in Greece during the archaic (800-500) and classic (500-323) period, and it has expanded through the country over time . Greeks came up with the idea of democracy through discussions among citizens and with the majority voting; this was called direct democracy as everyone could debate and vote in one place to determine new policy for the country. During this period, only men were allowed to vote and give their opinions, others were not allowed to participate in government’s decisions . However, over time, the democratic government in Greece changed to be more open for every citizen. The poor, men and women, had the same rights, and equal share of power.

The political system of democracy did not officially start until 510 B.C.E, this is a way for our world to start the foundation of a country (Carr 2013). Athens , Greece was the first recording of the use of any of a democratic system around the world to this day. Our political systems have come a long way from ancient Greece’s political systems, we have taken the idea of democracy , autocracy, and oligarchy and formed them into a modern way of constitutionally ruling the country.

    So we know from above that a democracy is run by the majority, that means if the majority likes it then it will be followed by all. If the majority does not agree with it then it will be taken away just as easily as it was given. In a democracy all people are allowed to take a vote on laws that will govern them. It is like asking your family if they want fish or chicken for dinner and of course the majority vote wins and that is what everyone will eat for dinner. Anyone that is a minority does not have the power to practice their religion of choice, dress, way of living or many other things that make a person who they are if the