Athenian Democracy Essay

A democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of the state. According to this definition, Athens was one of the best and first real democracies to exist in the world. Others might say that Athens was more an oligarchy or that they narrowed the meaning demos to mean adult male citizens as said in Document D by Professor Hansen. In my opinion, Athens was absolutely a democracy. People may say Athens was not a democracy because of the fact that only 12% of

relatively radical form of government for the time known as democracy (Hyland Lecture, 26/09/2013). Democracy is a system of collective decision-making in which the participants have equality at least at one essential point of the decision making process (Christiano, “Democracy”). Furthermore, the term ‘democracy’, which comes from the Greeks, literally means rule by the people. The system of government, created by the Greeks, known as Democracy possessed many unique characteristics such as judicial review

Discuss the Athenian definition of democracy. Is the city state the only kind of state in which true democracy can exist? What happens to democracy when it is applied to a society with a large dispersed population? What are other examples of democratic societies besides Athens? Compare and contrast Athenian democracy with American democracy. Is the United States a democracy in the classical sense of the word?      The ancient Greek word "demokratia" was ambiguous

Throughout history we see the progression of democracy and the formation of institutions and laws to preserve certain rights we believe every citizen deserves in a democracy. The Athenian democracy was one the first radical democracies to be implemented in Greece; the citizens of Athens strongly believed in their democracy and worked very hard to preserve it’s essence or the ideas behind their democracy. The Athenian democracy was not a free for all instead it held in place a series of checks and

A democracy is a type of government in which each eligible member of a state can vote. But this was not the case in the Athenian way of democracy, this is because rights were only given to adult male citizens making it was very limited for Athens population. Here are the reasons as to why the Athenian way of democracy was not truly a real democracy. One particular reason on behalf of the Athenian Democracy is that only men of citizens could vote. If only a few could vote this factor would only sound

Democracy is a “Government by the people”, Democracy was a central part of Athenian society and everyday life. The Athenian government held Ekklesia or assembly where citizens could go to vote on laws, issues and practically everything affecting Athenian life. They also had The Boule or council and the Dikastiria or the courts that helped make decisions and enforce laws. Through their actions the Athenians established a very early democracy. In the Athenian government the people had a lot of power

When people think of democracy the first thing that comes to mind is normally the democracy of today. However, democracy was different during the ancient times. The textbook states that “The Athenian democracy was a direct democracy in which the citizens made the laws” (Perry 60). Despite the flaws of today’s democracy, I think that democracy is the best form of ancient government because the people were able to vote on the issues. I think that democracy is the best form of government best the government

regardless of their form of government. At its core, a democracy places its power in the hands of its people and, in doing so, relies on their judgement to determine their course. The system of direct democracy in Athens maximized the freedom for its citizens to establish their ideals and work toward them in times peace. But in times of war and plague, those ideals quickly fall to the wayside in favor of irrational fear. The fundamental flaw of democracy is that it lacks a mechanism to protect itself from

Aristotle once said, “In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.” To make democratic ideas work to their advantages, the people of Athens had to vote for superiors, rather than simply observe. Like other forms of government, democracy has its strengths and its weaknesses. It was very organized and fair, giving people rights and freedoms, and participation in the rule of the city. Though, there were some negatives

Athenian Democracy and Divination Divination was a prevalent feature in Archaic Greece, as it provided objective advice, to assist people in making appropriate decisions in problematic predicaments. In certain situations its ambiguity allowed decisions to be postponed, or blame to be assigned to others. Divination was also used to explain matters that seemed unexplainable, such as crop failure or drought. This is illustrated in the Homeric epics, which depicts numerous