Democracy In Ancient Athens

When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.

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.

No i don't think Athens was truly democratic because, all the rules of ancient Athens are very unfair with all their rules and rights for all citizens. The first reason is because Our constitution favors many instead of the few, this is also why it's called a democracy. This basically means that if you are not wetly than they won't treat us the same as wealthy people. And they only let men vote which means that only 12% in ancient Athens can vote.In Athens no one had freedom of thought and expression either. if the majority of the citizens didn't like the ideas of a single citizen they were to be banished or killed. (Document B): The second reason is that if the court decides that someone has no right to be enrolled as a citizen he becomes

Firstly, only male citizens had equal rights to vote, freedom of speech, and opportunities to participate directly in political arenas, which is only 12% of the population. For example Citizen women, Children of citizens, Metics, and Slaves did not have the right to vote which is the other 68%. This shows the Athenians were not democratic because not the whole population wasn 't a system of government, when not even half of them were.

Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote. This group of people only included white male citizens, meaning that slaves, foreign born residents, women and some men who hadn’t obtained citizenship couldn’t vote (Doc D). This completely contradicts the all-inclusive concept of direct democracy that the Athenian government preached so frequently. To have a powerful and lasting empire with great prosperity you must have a series of strong leaders. The period of prosperity in Athens was so short lived because they only had one strong leader, Pericles. After Pericles died Athens could not defeat Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and also couldn’t hold the truce that was signed in 421 BC which allowed Sparta to gain overall victory in the

Additionally, the reliability affected by the emotive language being employed in this article as the author utilises this language it demonstrates that bias is present. This article was useful to my essay as it provided detailed information on the gaps in Athenian democracy. Moreover, the article provided a perspective that highlighted the differences in Athenian democracy such as that Athens was a direct democracy and that only some of the population was eligible, it mainly created a feeling that Athens was advanced for its time however the system had discrepancies. This information provided significantly when comparing modern societies to ancient Greece and also in justify as to why democracy was significant to Greece. A source that shares this view is the Ted-Ed video this also similarly to historian Paul Cartledge states that Athens was a direct democracy and also that not all of the population had the right to

Ancient Athens has two documents that discuss democracy. The first one is “Document A: Pericles” and the other one is “Document B: The The Athenian Constitution”. In document A, I found that is truly democratic because your social class is not allowed the interfere with someone 's merit. For example, if you’re poor you’re still able to serve the state or be part of the government. In document A it also states that “you get equal justice.” And that’s the way it should be. The constitution favor many people instead of few people. It seems fair and gives equality to all regardless of social class.

The Democracy of Athens meant that the people rule themselves. It was easy for the Athenians to see who the people are due to the population number at the time. Therefore, they could easily make decisions. The biggest difference between Athenian democracy and almost all other democracies is that the Athenians had a direct democracy rather than being representative. The city-state of Athens, 5th century Athens to be precise, is the inventor and first practitioner of democracy. 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

Overall, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of the government having male citizens have authority, being an oligarchy government instead of a democratic government, and voting not accessible to women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves except for male citizens. So that is why I conclude that ancient Athens was indeed not truly

Democracy is the modern day standard for governmental systems. However up until 500 BCE, the concept of Democracy was a foreign concept, and the great civilizations of that era were run by monarchs, aristocrats, and religious leaders of sorts. The term, Democracy, stems from the Greek word ‘demokratia’ which means rule by the people and it wasn’t until around 500 BCE in Athens where the first examples of democracy originated. While Athens is widely regarded as the first historical example of a democratic system, some scholars believe that the Roman Empire’s republic system was more democratic than that of the Greek. As I will come to

Pericles, a key political figure of 5th century Athens states, “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves.” The Athenians had no desire to follow what appeared as mediocre government, the Athenians pushed for the best form they could find. Arete, for Athens, meant every person had a voice in politics. Politics embraces the reason of the mind as well as the emotion of the heart. Therefore, the very essence of a good human being would lie in being a politically active person. While some, like Plato in his The Republic, thought it weak to give government into the hands of the common people, Pericles countered this argument with a compelling argument of greatness. By putting government into the hands of the people, the people are united and more devoted to their country. Democracy bonds the people together in a way that no other government can understand. Pericles confidently states, “Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbor, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes.” This, Pericles claims, is the might of democracy; the strength and excellence of many people rather than just that of a

According to Socrates perspective, the democracy of Athens was corrupt and even though they courts were made in such a way that everyone was judged fairly, it wasn’t such because there were no rules or principles set forth. When a person was brought to court in the Athenian court and the person spoke against the jurors or offended them, he or she could be prosecuted based on that. In summary, judgment was passed based on emotion rather than on justice.

Ancient Rome is often portrayed as a highly democratic society for the ancient world. After all, the United States’ government is modeled after some parts of the Roman’s structure of government. But,was Rome as democratic as is is commonly thought to be? Contrary to what people may think Rome’s democracy wasn't exactly so democratic for all of its citizens.

Equally, hard workers have brought Athens power just as much as hereditary leaders. According to Document B all citizens should be allowed to speak their opinion and have a share in election because of the hard work they do to make the city powerful. Athenians allowed poor and common men to win a position in government which was a transition from the wealthy having power to everyone having power. Election by lottery allowed everyone to voice their differences and come to an agreement, and it made Athenians stronger. All citizens play a role in the city that they

That's why I think that ancient athens was truly democratic because all the people should be able to vote and own their own land. Also, I think people should have equal justice and they should be able to vote to go to office. another reason is that social class should be able to interfere with other class. That's what I think the ancient athens os truly