Ancient Greek Government Essay

Introduction Monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all forms of government found at different times and in different city-states in Ancient Greece. Elements of more than one of these forms also co-existed, however, and the modern connotations of labels such as these are not necessarily the same as those that prevailed in Ancient Greece. In this paper I firstly describe these various forms of government and provide examples of their use in Ancient Greece. I then compare and contrast the models.

Compare and contrast monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in Ancient Greek city-states. University of the People Student X Written assignment unit 2 Compare and contrast monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in Ancient Greek city-states. 1 Compare and contrast monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in Ancient Greek city-states. Introduction Before all let define democracy, so it is defined as a type of government where people exert the sovereignty.

3. Compare and contrast the idea of democracy in Ancient Greece and Rome. Which system was more democratic and why?

Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.

What is democracy? For a long time, historians have kept this question in mind while studying laws and methods of the Ancient Athenians. After investigating the given evidence, it can be determined Ancient Athens did not always vote on important matters and only a small majority of the population could vote. Because of this, Athens cannot be considered democratic. “The rule of the people” is the definition of Democracy.

The government in ancient Athens was governed by a radical democratic system from 508-322 B.C. and was very different in its size and how the system allowed all males to participate in the government. The Peloponnesian War effected their government when the oligarchy party overthrew the democracy and replaced it with the modern regime of the Five Thousand. Athenians spent almost 100 year fighting to restore democracy and defeat the Spartans and their allies the Persians. Their style of government goes back even before the Peloponnesian War around the time of 620 B.C. Before the Peloponnesian War, there was a man by the name of Draco. Draco gave the people of Athens a law code of which citizens had to listen to.

As various studies suggested, ancient Athens pursued permissiveness and democracy, which its form of government was the antecedent of nowadays 'rule by the people '. After toppling the dictator Hippias in 510 BC, Athenian demos not only took power, but also introduced electoral system that "with no single ruler. A public assembly of male citizens met 40 times a year to vote on state decisions. The agenda was set and decrees carried out by a 500 strong council, chosen by lot to serve one year each"(Finley, 1983). In my view, the authority was no longer centralized in the hands of one administrator, more ordinary people got a say in running the

Controled by Alexander the Great, the Greeks tried to regain their government but failed. Some parts of the original democratic system remained functioning throughout the the years. But it was no longer the "Demos" or the Assembly that made the political decisions. In my opinion, the end of democracy for Athens was coming.

The rich people began ruling the civilizations whether they actually knew anything or not. Everyone else was basically forced into poverty during that time. People would make pottery just to earn some money it got so bad. This is an example of Greek not being a democracy because in a democracy everyone gets a say, and during that time only the rich people had a say in who became the leaders. I started out with the question, were the Greeks very democratic?

Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. I do not believe that in the 4th to 5th century BCE ancient Athen were democratic for many reasons.

One of the earliest known democracies was in Athens, a city-state in southern, ancient Greece. In Athens, the ruler Draco tried to make many reforms in the city state. Draco organized laws by putting them in a written code, letting everyone know what the laws were and

2). The style in which these governments were set is called a democracy (doc. 2). In this form of government the people have a voice and cast votes for their laws ( O.I.). However in Athens there was a direct democracy where every indval voted on everything (doc. 2). This called a direct democracy ( doc. 2.).

The Spartan Empire Spartan Government: An oligarchy system was adopted in Sparta. In the oligarchy system, few people has the power to rule. Sparta also had an assembly just like Athens, but the main decisions were taken by the “Council of Elders” with two kings and twenty-eight other men as its members. The two kings where born within the royal family while the twenty-eight man where elected by the assembly. For men to be elected to the Council of Elders, they had to be at least 60 years old and approaching from a noble family.

In Athenian society there was a sort of democracy, the first in recorded history, but political rights and the power to vote was held by a relatively small group. Only free adult males with Athenian parents were eligible. While this also seems like an oligarchy today, it gave voice to a much larger portion of society than any of its contemporaries.(Brand,

A democracy is a form of government that is ruled by the people and controlled by the people. For example, here in the United states which is a democracy, everyone is allowed to vote and have land. Also, everyone is allowed to practice a religion of their choice. Athens was truly democratic because everyone had the equal justice, people were voted into office, and one’s social class did not determine what a person could become.