Direct Democracy In Ancient Athens

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.

In ancient Athen their total population was 240,775, also in ancient Athens, the total number people allowed to vote is only 29,900. That is only 12% of the total population, this means that 88% of the total population does not have the right to vote. In Athens according to Professor Josiah Ober, “the only people allowed to vote are citizen men, everyone else including citizen women, children of citizens, metics, and slaves did not have to right to vote,” (Ober 5). This means the government in ancient Athens is not a Democracy because in a Democracy it states that either the whole population or all eligible members, meaning citizens, of the state can vote or they can elect representatives to vote. However, in ancient Athens the citizen men were not elected to vote, they just have the right to vote. This means the government isn’t a true Democracy because they didn’t elect

Ancient Athens was not truly democratic because the middle class was in charge of politics. The upper and lower classes were not in politics at all. It was not democratic because the only people that could vote were men who are of citizen birth by both parents. People whose parent is a slave could not become a citizen so they could not vote. Democracy was excluding women, free foreigners and slaves.

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.

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.

Ancient Greece was famous for its art and ideas. Greek people were very creative in great epics, history, dramas, philosophy, science, mathematics, and medicines. The ancient Greece was covered with mountains, rocky hills, and narrow valleys. Greek later became educated about trading with the Mediterranean. Modern Democracy is more concerned about peace, division of power and providing equal rights of every citizen of a country however, in the ancient Greece was involved with war among the state, misuse of political power, discriminate slaves and poor farmers.

The athens lived their lives as an oligarchy. According to The Athenian Constitution “The franchise is open to all men who are of citizen and birth by both parents.” This means that women or anyone else except for men who were citizens could not vote whatsoever. In document A it says “That their constitution favors many instead of the few”. Although Women, Children of citizens, Metics,

There are multiple reasons why ancient Athens was not a Democracy in its truest sense. In Document A of the Athenian constitution, it clearly states.. “ Our constitution favors the many instead of the few,’’ however, if that were accurate, why could only twelve percent of the population vote (Document C).The Philosopher, Plato, concluded that women should have the same education and hold all positions in society (Guided Reading Activity 1-2 question 10); this is the very same conundrum that the American government had to face back in the 1920’s (Amendment 19), and it still has not been completely addressed to this day. If the Athenian constitution had favored the many as it claimed than 100 percent of the population should been allowed to vote.

In doc A paragraph two, I think that The Ancient Athens Democracy is democratic because it claims in the document that the Athens leader clearly respects his soldiers. This is noticed because he made a speech at a funeral for all of them that had died in the first year against Sparta’s soldiers.The leader did this to respectfully show his appreciation about how they fight for their democracy.

Ancient Athens prided itself upon being a democratic society, but was it really? It's true that it was ruled by the people, however only a small percentage of people. Document C states that only 12 percent of people actually vote. And who are those 12 percent? The 12 percent of the whole population that voted was men whose parents were both citizens of the city (see Document B). Slaves, women, and resident foreigners were barred from voting.

Unlike our government, the people of Athens ran their government, compared to our government, where we elect representatives to run our government for us. “First, democracy is the rule of the whole of the people, excluding minors and maniacs only” (Doc D). The only people who had a say in the Athenian government were the male citizens. Women, children, and slave had no say whatsoever. The males had all the say on what they felt the city-state needed in

There are other reasons why Athens is truly not a democracy. They did not let women, children of citizens, metics, and slaves vote. This was made up of 88% or 210,335 of the population (Document C). Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding minors and women, free foreigners

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,

The Greeks created first democracy in the world. People voted for their leaders, and were involved in public life. Greeks philosopher provided the origin of western philosophy, medicine, and natural sciences. Greek architecture is evident in every court in the U.S. Greeks invented drama. Drama is the form of tragedy and comedy. Minoan culture around (2000 B.C.E. - 1400 B.C.E.) was earliest civilization in the Aegean region emerged on the large island of Crete. By 2800 B.C.E., to make weapons they used metals, especially bronze. Minoan had many trade networks. The peasant paid high taxes. Mycenaean culture around (1600 B.C.E- 1100 B.C.E.) was highly militaristic society. The king collected taxes and controlled bronze and wooden production. The

Was ancient Athens truly democratic? The definition of “democratic” by Google definitions is “favoring or characterized by social equality.” I support that ancient Athens was democratic, because it’s a lot like the United States, and we are a democratic society. A question pondered down through history about ancient Athens is “were they a true democracy?” I believe yes they were. One example is citizens were allowed to vote. If a person was not a citizen, they would have to appeal to the low-courts. If the courts decided that a person had no right to be a citizen, the person was sold as a slave. However if the person won, he or she had a right to be a citizen without any further questions. Also, citizens could vote for various offices. For