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Compare And Contrast Athens And Athenian Government

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Classical Athens and Rome, both innovated the way of government by creating the first forms of government in which the people have power. Classical Athens was known as the first civilization to use a direct democracy in which the people governed. Male citizens above the age of 30 (12% of the population) were the only part of the Athenian population that could take part in the government of Athens. The Greeks also relied on the lottery to elect the council and the court. These lottery machines were called the kleroterion. The use of the kleroterion made sure that rulers did not pick jury members based on a bias and gave more power to the people. Using the kleroterion, male citizens above the age of 30 all had a chance of serving in the Athenian government at one point in their lives. After the male citizens were selected by the lottery they would serve a one year term until it expired. Although these terms might seem short, the jobs of those elected were very important. The Assembly voted on the most important topics from voting to foreign policies. Moreover, the Council of 500 decided on what problems should be presented to the assembly. Finally, the third branch also known as The Courts decided on whether or not something was legal. The Courts also consisted of a jury similar to the one of the judicial branch. Unlike a representative republic which was later used by the Romans, the Greeks had plenty of free time to invest in direct democracy, hence, they didn’t need to

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