Importance Of Athenian Democracy

Approximately 2500 years ago a series of changes and reformations in political thought led to the creation of the ancient Athenian democracy. Through the changes implemented by Solon and Cleisthenes during the Golden Age of Greece, democracy was born in Athens. Although it was somewhat impractical, exclusionist, and only open to a very small percentage of the total Athenian population, its impact is still felt today. Athenian democracy is widely recognized as the model from which all other forms of democratic rule has evolved from. Through the principles handed down from that Athenian democracy, ancient Greek culture remains a prominent presence in contemporary life, particularly in regard to its democratic policies.

The Greek society was a direct democracy with people voting on the issues themselves instead of representatives voting on their behalf. Any male citizen over the age of eighteen was allowed to vote. Like the Romans, the Greek government was divided into separate parts. The Greek government consisted of an assembly, council, and courts, with each requiring a different number of voters present. The people all gather and vote on issues by hand, and this is the simplest form of majority rules. The role of the people is extremely important in how the society and state is governed and run. This early form a democracy was detailed by Pericles funeral oration during the Peloponnesian War. Pericles was an eminent Athenian politician who states in regards to the government of Athens, “Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy (Pericles, “Funeral Oration”, pp. 2)”. Here, Pericles states that the people have all the power and their opinion is highly valued. Likewise, the Romans valued the people’s opinions so highly that they entrusted with them rewards and punishments, vital aspects that held the society together. Pericles also states, “…nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, here is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition (Pericles, “Funeral Oration”, pp. 2)”. Here is the essence of democracy, every man no

The chain of command for the government of Athens was pretty straightforward. At the very top was the strategoi, the military commanders. There were ten of these, one strategos voted for each tribe. They each served for one year, however unlike the other officials, the strategoi could be reelected to their positions an unlimited number of times. “This is based on the wisdom that frequently overhauling military leadership during a war or other national emergency can prove dangerous or even disastrous” (Nardo 46). One prominent example of this was Pericles, who was extremely popular and was reelected over twenty times before his death. The duty of the strategoi was to carry out orders given by the Council and Assembly. They also regularly carried out foreign policy initiatives.

Democracy, the form of government in which there is a rule by the people, is said to have originated and thrived in the classical period of Athens, from 500-350 B.C.. Democracy inherently gave all that were considered citizens power to participate in politics. That being said, it is highly debated as to how much power the people, also known as the demos, exercised in this democracy. Many practices and informal institutions can be said to have limited the power of the demos. The democracy in Athens could be said to have been a democracy in theory yet not in practice, as can be proven through a variety of primary sources recounting Athenian political institutions and practices. Such primary sources that can demonstrate this include Herodotus’ History, Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, and Demosthenes’ Oration Against Eubulides.

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.

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.

made decisions based on war and peace, and controlled treaties. All men were in the

In the Athenian Democracy, they had a form of government where citizens ruled directly and not through representatives. They had a legislature branch that would pass the laws, the executive branch would carry out the laws, and the judicial branch would conduct the trials with paid jurors. The executive branch was composed of a council of 500 men and the leaders were chosen by a lot. To be a citizen in Athens, you had to be a male, 18 years old, born from citizen parents, and your parents can't be a slave.

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.

When evaluating the government of ancient Athens, some might say that it was a democracy, however, it can be better described as an oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group of people has the power and control (Doc. D by Mogens Herman Hansen). A democracy takes all the citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account, unlike an oligarchy that only takes the male citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account. Thus, Athens is more similar to an oligarchy than a democracy. The people of Athens also decide as a whole what the best government for their city-state was, as opposed to a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions for them and their city-state. Athens could be seen as not a true democracy because of the lack of basic democratic rules and methods such as what they define democracy as, who is able to vote, and how they vote.

Ancient Athens was built on a democratic government. A democracy is when a government allows all of its people, no matter what class and how wealthy they are, to vote and agree on their own laws. There are many documents and resources that can prove that Ancient Athens was truly built to be a democratic government.

The Athenian citizen had a further contribution to the government than Spartans citizens. The Athenian government allowed its citizens to take part in government positions, aside from military positions, as it stated on a textbook, Echoes from the Past that ”Every citizen had an equal chance to hold public office”(Newman, Echoes from the Past, page132). Which signifies that being in the government position means having the capability to rule and not wealth. In the Athenian democracy, each council member and government officials had an

After the wars, Athens emerges as the center of all activity amongst each city-state in Greece. One of the key features within the Athenian society was the arrangement of public assembly and the rule of the people, democracy. In the assemblies, any male citizen could actively vote

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.

In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means “the power of the people.” The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that “Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were