Athenian Democracy: Was Ancient Athens Truly Democratic?

Athens was not truly a democracy. The definition of democracy states that it is a system of government by the whole population. In ancient Athens the only people that were eligible to make decisions were citizen men. Women did not have the right to vote which contradicts the definitions of democracy. Only twelve percent of the Athens population were able to vote meaning that eighty-eight percent were left powerless. Metics were not even eligible to vote and they were a key part of Athens economy.

Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Some may say yes and some may say no. But the answer is yes. The reasons are these. “ Fear is our chief protection against this, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws.” (Doc. A) This was one of the many statements Thucydides gave during his speech for Pericles’s funeral. The quoted statement essentially meant that during Thucydides time (460 – 395 BCE) there were laws and government rules that had to be followed. Men, women, and even slaves obeyed the laws and government rules because they thought they made sense and had no other reason to disobey. In that case, they wouldn’t have the need to be angry at their neighbors if they were too loud. This document written by Aristotle is a great example

Although the Athenians didn't quite meet the correct standards of democracy, they did give an effort to try and have one. In Document A Pericle states that “Our constitution favors the many instead of the few. If we look to the laws, they give equal justice to all” (Doc A). The people in Athens did have equal rights but, what were the chances

Athens was Democraticless Democracy can be defined as the power of the people. For example, America is a democracy. Athens claimed to be a democracy. Based on recorded speeches and the Athenian Constitution they did not favor the people. In some ways they did, but there is credible evidence showing Athens was not a democracy. There are statistics, facts, and examples. For instance, in a speech by Aristotle, he states, the citizens had to vote a new citizen. Voting is unjust based on citizens unfair judgments. If the potential citizen is declined citizenship, he must have a trail. If the citizen loses, he is then sold as an Athenian slave. Both of those laws do not favor the people. It is very easy for current citizens to mistreat the system.

Despite having a Limited Democracy, Athens enjoyed many freedoms. An example of these freedoms would be people voting, the Athenians could vote. Athens had a democracy with a very high citizen participation. Athens had a democracy where there was large amounts of participation in it. An example of this would be the Vase in Document 1, it shows multiple Athenian people that are working together on a project.

democracy is a form of government in which people come together and make laws for the benefit of the country for example, here in the united states people have the right to vote, have equal rights, pursuit of happiness and practice in any religion of your choice. ancient athens did not have a true democracy. In ancient athens Women, free foreigners and slaves were excluded from voting, the government body could decide if you were a citizen or not. Also, women weren't allowed to vote unless they married a citizen. Therefor there constitution did not favor democracy.

A by Pericles). However, the data collect by Professor Josiah Ober in 2010 states that the only people who can vote are the citizen men which contradicts Pericles’ previous statement. The rest of the citizens did not have the ability to vote and the slaves’ poverty prohibits them from voting as well. Keeping in mind that both these statements are from different time periods, Professor Josiah is still is very credible and trustworthy source for information seeing as he is teaching at Stanford University. Overall, ancient Athens is not truly democratic due to the small percentage of citizens who are able to

I believe that Athens truly was a democracy. There are pieces of evidence and proof supporting that Athens ran on a Democratic Government.

In Doc D, paragraph two, While in the Doc C chart it explains that Ancient Athens was democratic because according to the article,”It is more democratic by being government by the people instead of government by those elected by the people.” But on the other hand it’s less democratic because of “narrowing down the concept of demos to mean the adult male

The whole of the people, also, what the people want is democracy (Document D). Athens did allow the men to vote, the women, slaves, and metics were not allowed (Document B). The past shows the dictators or emperors have been men and in this case it is the same except with a vote. This voting is a simple assembly meeting to come to a common ground (Document E). This makes Athens classified as not democratic because it is not what all the people wanted.

Democracy is defined as “rule by the people”. The last paragraph of Document B says that the Athens elected all government officials through lot, not voting by the people. This is one reason that Ancient Athens cannot be considered truly democratic.

Have you ever heard of Athens and the first democracy, well I have been studying it for a few months. After studying Athens widespread forms of government and it’s so called democracy, I have come to a conclusion that Athens wasn’t truly democratic for many textual reasons. Here's why

Ancient Athens (800 B.C. - 300 B.C.) is not a democracy. A democracy is a government controlled by the population, whereas the Athenian government was being controlled by only male citizens. According to Doc D, the ancient Athens were in fact an oligarchy, a government ruled by male citizens. The majority of the population does not vote in the Athenian politics.

People may say Athens was not a democracy because of the fact that only 12% of the population could vote. Although, if you look at the definition of democracy, it says, “all the eligible members of state.” In Athens, the eligible members of state were any citizens that were men. It may also be argued that because they had slaves,

One particular reason on behalf of the Athenian Democracy is that only men of citizens could vote. If only a few could vote this factor would only sound like that men ruled the government which doesn’t sound like a democracy. One case that supports that not only Athens wasn’t a true democracy is that only a small amount of the population are only 12% of men who are actually allowed to vote. For instance, in document C it shows the Athenian population and has a chart with citizen men, citizen woman, children of citizens, metics, and slaves in each of their own column. So on, each column shows the total number of people, percentage of people, and also