Unique Traits 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.

This also lessens the power of the people within the current democracy and its makes it where if your elected official does not agree with the law he will not submit the law for debate and passage. Making the elected official in more of a power position than the people. When democracy was officially built on the power of the people not the power of high ranking officials, therefore, ruining the whole point of having a democracy in the first place. Another difference between the two democracies is that in the Athenian democracy, the people who were able to vote were taught and given a proper education, unlike today where everyone can vote, whether they are educated or not. In Athenian time you had to be a boy who was most likely to become a landowner. This eliminated the chances for advancement in technology significantly and made the process of evolution slow down even more. Likewise, now days everyone is given an education. Rich, poor, white or black everyone is given equal opportunity to pursue an education. If they choose to is all up to them.

Athenian Democracy was a direct democracy. This meant that all citizens voted and whatever the majority rule was that was the final deciding factor. Majority rule decided votes and leaders. The only

Though there were rulers, Athenian government was held primarily in the hands of the people of the citizens, thus making it a democratic system. This is beneficial to the Athenian slaves as it means that the voters are not voting for an elite group, but rather the entire group as a whole.

The had prosperous fields of barley and wheat that they prided themselves on. They were the true earth born in their eyes. Athenians were in their own little world since they were isolated from other states. They had superior skill in making pottery and it was the main merchant trade. They had a large gap between the rich Eupatrids and the poor countryside folk. The Eupatrids started to get to big of ahead and finally realized when they were beat by a village of pig-farmers that they could be defeated. They knew reform was needed and appointed Solon to do the job. He knew he needed to give some power back to the working class. He made them debt free and gave them the right to vote. Although this seemed awesome in the beginning, they quickly realized the stipulations. They would soon be in debt again, and they couldn’t voice their opinion about laws or issues that affected their lives. Athens did well after that, although they never left the aristocracy governing. It was indeed a democracy, but it was only for men to spread their opinion and common people to only vote.

The Athenian government was a direct democracy, meaning the citizens of the city-state take absolute control over any vote. This was the plan for the government to control their people since the citizens

Furthermore, another aspect which has been greatly supported and criticized by many great philosophers is freedom. Freedom is where there is no power or control over the citizen’s decisions. Every citizen is entitled to free speech and their right to interfere in political decision making. Additionally, the Athenian democracy ideology supports the freedom theory. The main aim of this democratic thinking was to give the power to the majority rather than the minority as this would take away the inequalities and corruption within society. Therefore the Athenian democracy was ruled by people hence it believes in self governing in which the dedication of citizens in participating and contributing in political decision making is extremely fundamental. The Athenian democracy also has strong views in promoting equality, it believes that every citizen should be treated with equality before the law and should be entitled to vote freely.

The Athenian democracy went as far as being a government by the people within the narrow confines of the polis.# The citizens could pursue their private interests. They were also allowed to seek the seek the highest goals by placing their interests at the service of the city.#Pericles stated during the Funeral Oration at Samos that Athens was a “free state, both in politics and in social life.”# People might say it wasn’t fair because Pericles made Athenian citizenship limited to adult males who had an Athenian mother and father.# Citizens who wanted to, could try to achieve their private goals and manage their private affairs. They could have their interests at the service of the city to help them seek what they desire. “Pericles believed that man’s capacities and desires could be fulfilled at the highest possible level only through government participation.”# The government that allowed you the most active participation in government was a direct democracy, so Pericles chose that form of government for Athens.

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.

Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.

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.

On the other hand, athens was a democracy which meant ruled by the people. In athens they usd a thing called lot voting. Which is basically voting. In the passage “ athens and sparta” it states “ Each would take a charge for a month, and ten generals were automatically elected due to experience.” Likewise, different people would get a chance to make a change or to do something they believed was helping athens.

The aristocrats hold the economic and political monopoly in Athens; since they have the fertile land of the polis. Though, leaders of Athens -like Solon, Cleisthenes- felt the pressing urgency to reform the structure of the country. That’s why; they have been democratizing the state. Particularly, Cleisthenes has changed the social and political system of Athens. Though its reform, he has foster a direct democracy. Grace of the People’s Assembly, any citizen (male) can be elected and have a say in the political affairs of the country. They can also occupy public position regardless of their location or

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