The Business Life of Ancient Athens

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.

Fifth-century Athens refers to the Greek city-state of Athens in the period of roughly 480 BC-404 BC. This was a period of Athenian political hegemony, economic growth and cultural flourishing formerly known as the Golden Age of Athens or The Age of Pericles. The period began in 480 BC when an Athenian-led coalition of city-states, known as the Delian League, defeated the Persians at Salamis. As the fifth century wore on, what started as an alliance of independent city-states gradually became an Athenian empire. Eventually, Athens abandoned the pretense of parity among its allies and relocated the Delian League treasury from Delos to Athens, where it funded the building of the AthenianAcropolis. With its enemies

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.

The city-states of Ancient Greek provide examples of different types of government structures that, even

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.

In Mesopotamia, people had no money so they traded barley, pottery, fish, and other foods and inventions they made. They needed a way to keep up with what they traded, so Sumerians created the first form of writing over 5000 years ago which they called Cuneiform. They used Cuneiform for business dealings such as trading barley, keeping records, and new ideas changed between different generations.

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.

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 Acropolis (Athens, Greek) is a city on the hills with four magnificent buildings around. The city built 495-425 BC near the Athens, city of Athens. The meaning of the Acropolis is come from an Acro means highest point and the polis means city. Persians in 490 BCE and again in 480-479BCE destroyed the city in the early Classical period and Athens becomes the dominant political power in that time and a great see and trading power. The Acropolis is a proof of human and Greek ancient who they were created, these huge architectural buildings with a lot of work and creativity this city is a great example of architectural ancient Greek history.

Athens was located in the region of Attica, a fertile valley and rich in minerals. The city was a cultural powerhouse: the cradle of democracy, the birthplace of many great philosophers, of politics, of architecture and theatre, of history, science and mathematics, with a formidable naval fleet that defeated the Persian army. Athenians had access to education and freedom to pursue their interests in war or business. (Mark, 2011)

Athens took advantage of the other members states of the Delian League. The text says, “In terms of uniform training and discipline this system had its advantages, but the Athenians gained the experience in ware ware and the allies, growing ever weaker, were paying for it” (175). This shows that not only was Athens using resources owner by other member states, but they were using it all for themselves while the people they took from grew weaker. They used the Delian Alliance as an excuse to grow themselves at the expense of others.

This proves to show that not only the Athenians had a trade market, but they hard one that was always occupied and in use. In comparison, the ancient Spartan economy was relied on farming and conquering other people. The ancient Spartans stole everything they needed, instead of trading. Given this information, the ancient Athenian economy was much more honest to their people, basing their economy off of trade. In addition, the Ancient Athenians were very successful in making their own currency. According to Bower and Lobdell, “Like most city-states, Athens developed its own coins to made trade easier. Coins were made of such metals as gold, silver, and bronze (Bower, Lobdell 262). The ancient Athenian currency was far more effective than the ancient Spartan currency because it was accessible to carry around. As clearly stated, Bower and Lobdell established that Sparta had “used heavy iron bars as money” (Bower, Lobdell 266). The ancient Athenians had to carry around as many light-weight coins as they wanted, whereas the Spartans had to carry weighty iron bars. Ultimately, due to its light weight capacity, the ancient Athenians’ currency was more successful than the ancient Spartans currency. Furthermore, ancient Athens had an economy that was useful to every social class. When citizens came to the agora, they usually sold and bought goods they needed. Fortunately, in ancient Athens, the agora was accessible to all

How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community?

The Economy of Ancient Greece can probably be described as the base of economy for future societies and civilizations. The system that Greece used was the bartering system which is also known as trade. The city-state that was the most important and was the center of trade and commerce was none other than Athens. With the change of democracy and the political system, accumulation of wealth was discouraged and encouraged that the rich contribute their money and services to polis. The economy of Greece was largely dominated by a middle class of small landholders, merchants, and

one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.