Ancient Greek Government

The Athenians governmental system was a direct democracy. Five hundred individuals would be elected to lead the nation in everyone year. However, it is pointed out that the democracy at that time was not the same with the

Education, The arts, and government are the political and cultural lasting legacies of Greece. Government is one of the political lasting legacies of Ancient Greece. The design of a direct democracy shows the lasting legacy of Ancient Greece’s Government because many of the powerful modern day countries like the United States, Great Britain and France still have a democracy to this day. The concept of citizenship displays the lasting legacy of Ancient Greece's Government because countries like Britain and the United States share the same value of participating in government today. Another example is Assemblies, Assemblies show the lasting legacy of Ancient Greece's Government because the Congress of the United States is an assembly where

The word democracy comes from the Greek terms demos (people) and kratos (power). Democracy developed in ancient Greece around 500 B.C.E. in the city-state of Athens, where many people began to oppose the rule of tyrants. The main governing body of the Athenian democracy was the Citizens Assembly. An important aspect of Athenian democracy was the fact that its public officials did not have much individual power. There was no such office as president of Athens. In wartime, a group of 10 generals made decisions about military matters. These generals were elected annually and could be reelected several times.

According to a report that was published in ‘Ancient History Encyclopaedia’ by Cartwright. M. (March, 2013) about the ancient Greek government, there was a general concern in the ancient Greek about who should rule them and how they should be ruled, and based on this uncertainty, the ancient Greek ended up using different forms of government to rule its people in different city states. This paper is going to compare the five forms of government that were used during the ancient Greek era, namely, monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy in the different city states.

Demokratia, is a greek word meaning “rule of the people.” This meant that every citizen, excluding slaves, immigrants, and women, could vote and serve in a jury. This is the final government of ancient Greece.

The Greece has tried various types of government, they know how to reform the systems and how to corrupt, grow, decline. The rule forms in the ancient Greek took extraordinarily diverse forms. This article will briefly describe the fifth forms of government in ancient Greece. That are monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

Democracy is defined as a government ruled by common people. The power of the should be in the hands of the largest class which is the poorest. The political system of ancient Athens was a Democracy, which involved all of its citizens.This system was divided in three parts: the ekklesia( a sovereign governing body who wrote the laws) the boule(representatives from the Athenian tribes) and the dikasteria, (the courts in which citizens argued cases in front of selected jurors). Every men could participate in the political process, being selected by lot to fill even the highest offices and being paid for pub- lic service. Four times a month proposals were debated and decisions were made openly so and any citizen could speak to the issues of the day.

Ancient Greece was built by its city-states, each varying in its form of government. These

In general, we can think of and consider democracy as a system or a structure of government made up of four key pillars. First, as a political system involved in choosing and interchanging the leadership through free and fair voting. The second pillar would be the active involvement of the citizens both in civic life and politics. Third is the safeguarding of the human rights of every citizen. Then finally as rule of law, which apply equally in the society. However, for the purpose of this paper, we focus on discussions of ancient Greeks on the practice and theory of democracy as a system of government.

The history of the ancient Greece might be possibly the most studied and researched period in human history. The Greeks left behind a lavish legacy; whole cities built of marble and granite, written records of own history in the form of poems, and in prose, the alphabet we use today, they have invented and refined, the set of laws we fallow, they first tested, but by far the greatest contribution they have left for posterity would be the invention of democracy. (Pomeroy, 2011: xiii)

It’s 507 B.C. there are 500 men in a council meeting and discussing, trying to figure out what to do about the rules that need to be made and the guidelines that need to be set in order to oversee the people of Greece. The fact of having a set idea of government is a big deal and has followed us up to today. It decides whether a system or society fails or prospers, the more stable the government the better and longer the society lasts. Greek has been an up and down roller coaster of good government and bad. Greek government had and still does have a huge influence on modern government systems in format, procedure, and policy.

The Greeks had many different styles of government. There were three main types of government, an oligarchy, a monarchy, and a direct democracy. The other types of government were a dyarchy, satrapy, aristocracy, tyranny, and what scientists think was a type of feudalism. Every city-state had its own government.

one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.

The city-states of Athens and Greece were ruled by a diverse range of governments. Under these were the monarchy, the aristocracy, the tyranny, the oligarchy and the democracy. In this paper we will compare and contrast these 5 forms of governments in ancient Greek city-states.