How Democratic Was Ancient Athens Dbq

Democracy is a system of government where the people equally run a country. For example, America practices a form of government where the people have the right to elect those who are in power when they become eighteen years of age. In addition, a citizen of this country can practice a religion of their choice along with several other freedoms. In my opinion, Athens was not a democratic society by today’s standards.

Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. These members have the rights to vote, have well-paying jobs, and be able to serve their country during a war. However, in ancient Athens only a very small population of citizens had the rights to do these things. In ancient Athens, the Athenian government was not truly Democratic because only a little population of citizens could vote, the city can decide whether or not you have the right to be a citizen, and only a few citizens had the full amount of rights.

Democracy is defined as the the rule by the people which Athens did not show in their government. The Athenian Democracy was ruled by The Ekklesia, The Boule, and The Dikasteria. The Ekklesia, Boule, and Dikasteria were made of the assemblies, council of 500, and courts, which does not include all the people of Athens. Demokratia exemplifies that all the people have the right to power/rule the government.

In Document A, it distinctly states “ Our constitution favors the many instead of the few,’’ however if that were so, why could only twelve percent of the population vote (Document C). Plato, a wise philosopher, concluded that women should have the same education and withhold all positions in society (Guided Reading Activity 1-2 question 10). A dispute that even the American government had to fix back in the 1920s (Amendment 19), and still this day, has been addressed. As shown, if the constitution favors the many, 100 percent of the population should vote.

Democracy is thoroughly known as the power of the people in which that citizens are able to control their own cities and or states without an overruling government. Many civilizations follow the rules of democracy, one of these civilizations include the ancient Greek state Athens. Research from ancient Athens philosophers; Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle has shown that Athens is a so called democratic government. Aristotle stated in his writing “The Athenian Constitution” that, “ The franchise is open to all men who are citizen birth by both parents.” (Document B) Due to Aristotle's intelligent appearance towards others, people soon found Athens as a truly Democratic state. Although there are many that disagree with this point, strong studies

Democracy is a form of government. Demokratia is democracy in greek,Demo meaning the people and Kratia meaning power or rule. In ancient greece there were different empires or states with democracy and some did not have democracy at all. For example here in the United States there is democracy not much of democracy but for the most part there is democracy. Using the 4th and 5th century athens was generally a democracy. Even though athens was said to be a democracy they really were not a democracy.

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

Democracy is the freedom for the citizens to be a part of the governments decisions. Although many do not like the decisions made within a democracy they do not understand that they are part of the reason why they are living with the laws or rules that they have within a country. While democracy was first brought about by the Greeks many Americans wanted to live within a democracy because they had the idea that being under a democratic government was going to make their lives better because they could put their say within the laws and rules made. As the Britannic Library explains “The Greeks were also the first people to think about the nature and value of democracy in a logical and systematic way.”

Was Ancient Athens Truly a Democracy? Ancient Athens was a democracy because people were not in charge of the city, but only the citizen men were allowed to suggest towards the law. Also, citizen men were the only people who could actually vote and have a say in the laws. Women, children and slaves were given no rights and freedom of speech. Women were like slaves to the “citizen” men, but if they had the right to vote then it is a democracy because it won’t have everyone's decision.

In Athens not everyone had equal rights. An example of this would be the voting system. The total population of Athens was 240,235 and of that only the male citizens could vote, which leaves out citizen women, children of citizens, metic or foreign settlers, and slaves. This means that only 12% of the total population could vote that’s only 29,000.

Democracy in modern terms is “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.” This common definition differs in a few ways to that of Athenian democracy. For example, today the law comes before the person. Meaning that the law is upheld no matter who it is or the circumstances under which a person committed an offense. In Athens the people came before the law. Who the person was and why they did what they did was though of before a decision on their guilt and punishment was conceived. Another example is the focus on one ruler versus many. In today’s democracy people are under the

Was Ancient Athens truly democratic? Ancient Athens was not democratic, only male citizens were able to vote, excluding women, free foreigners and slaves, it was oligarchy, not democracy only 12% of the population are able to vote and they're all men, all military officers are elected by vote. All the magistrates that are responsible for the ordinary routine of administration are elected by lot in the assembly and the superintendent of the water supply is elected by vote, if a majority of people voted yes then they dispersed and resembled two months later. Second rule was exercised directly by the people, whereas democracy today means government by representatives of the people but today it’s more democratic by being government by the people

Due to the prosecution of the Chalcis decree, the power Athens held over the rest of the League was undoubtedly clear.

Democracy: rule by the people. It was pure and direct. It allowed all citizens of the city-state of Athens to attend and speak at assembly and vote for the decision that they believe it would be the best for them what makes them easily obey the rules. Developed in Athens by Kleisthenes and others.

A true democracy is one that gives power to the people by letting them make choices. In the Athenian democracy, all people would take a drastic part in the government as well as society. Socrates, a philosopher, had many beliefs/teachings on Athens and the way it had been run, which included his questioned holiness of the gods, introduction of new ones, and corruption of youth. These were the harsh charges that the city of Athens had given to Socrates because of the rules of the gods and what had been established. Athens is not a true democracy due to the fact that people were prevented from voicing their perspectives, including speaking against the gods, and unjust charges against people.