...Athenian Democracy Greeks are known to be the creators of democracy. In our readings we find two perspectives on Athenian democracy. The two people in the readings are the Old Oligarch, an anonymous author who in the late 5th century B.C. wrote a short essay that explained Athenian democracy according to his view, and Pericles, a 5th century B.C. statesman who made a speech in honor of those who had fallen in the Peloponnesian war. These two readings show us how two men of seemingly opposite views arrived at the same opinion of democracy in Athens. The Old Oligarch was a critique of Athenian democracy. He was more liberal in saying that the structure of the Athenian government favored the rich aristocrats and suppressed the poor. When in his opinion he thought it was fairer that the common and poor classes should have been given more consideration than the rich and men of birth. He argued that it was the common people that made Athens great because it was the People that gave the city more power than the aristocratic class (Sourcebook, p153). Another thing that differentiated the Old Oligarch from Pericles is the fact that the Old Oligarch recognized slaves in Greek society praising Athens for treating them with some equality. For example, in the city where there would be slaves and aristocrats, a slave is not entitled to bow and step aside to let the aristocrat pass. He also states that it is not legal to beat a slave or alien resident. This is not because Athens believes...
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...Ancient Greek democracy came about in circa 507 B.C. Cleisthenes, who was the Athenian leader, set forth a system of rules and reforms which he called demokratia, or “rule by the people.” This new ruling system had three separate institutions. The first institution, The Ekklesia, was responsible for writing the laws and dictating foreign policy. The Boule, which was the second institution, was a council of representatives from all ten Athenian tribes. Lastly, The Dikasteria was the court system in which citizens argued out their cases before a group of jurors, who were selected in a lottery type style. Athenian Democracy ruled proudly up to around 460 B.C but under the rule of Pericles democracy began to evolve into what we call an aristocracy. However, during Athenian Democracy’s run there...
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...To begin with, Athens was not a true democracy because the number of people who could participate in the government was very limited. Conversely, a democracy meant that everyone could express their thoughts and ideas through the government by either votes or directly. Consequently, the fact that not everyone could have a say in government unquestionably contradicts the idea of democracy. According to Document B: The Athenian Constitution by Aristotle, “The franchise is open to all men who are of citizen birth by both parents. They are enrolled as citizens at the age of eighteen… citizens give their votes first on whether the candidates are free born, and has two citizen parents as the laws require… If the court decides that he has no right...
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...During the Persian Wars Athens grew in many ways. They changed their government into a democracy. In the democracy the power was with the people. The Athenians had an assembly made up of male citizens over the age of eighteen. This group usually had amount 43,000 people in it but not everyone in the assembly attended the meetings, only about 6,000 attended. The job of the assembly was to pass laws and make final decisions on war and foreign policies (Spielvogel 1). Above the assembly was the a large body of magistrates. They handled the routine administration of public affairs and were usually chosen by lot. Because the magistrates were chosen by lot they only served for one year so many male citizens served throughout their life. Above them...
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...American vs. Athenian Democracy Athens created the first democracy, which redefined the way countries could be run. The city-state of Athens was strong and had a very strong military and naval reinforcements to keep it safe. A democracy is defined as; “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”(Merriam Webster). The development of the Athenian democracy saved the people of Athens from the rule of emperors and military leaders. Even though Athenian Democracy was the most developed political process of running a government, it was still not as efficient and exact as the United States model which more clearly established the rights of the governed because it set up trial by jury, benefits of being a US born citizen and equality for all. Trial by jury is essential to they way of life in America. To be eligible for jury duty in the United States a person has to be at least 18 years of age and cannot have been convicted of a felony. Jurors are interviewed to make...
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...Democracy was comprised of different influential leaders that enforced and created new policies, or developed them further, causing a major upheaval in ancient Athens. Major leaders from many diverse backgrounds grew in prominent power to forever change the influence of their people. Democracy in Athens’s didn’t consist of just an evolutionary or revolutionary transformation alone, but a combination of both. Significant leaders consisted of Solon the law giver, tyrant Peisistratus, democrat Cleisthenes, Athenian statesmen Pericles and Cimon. Prior to the build-up of democracy, Athenian government was ruled by an aristocratic council called the Areopagus. Soon to follow a man named Solon erected a new upheaval in political government to forever...
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...Thousands of years ago, the roots of democracy was developing in ancient athens around 500 BC. Cleisthenes and Aristotle's ideas and elements for a democracy was being developed. I will be talking about essential elements of ancient Athenian democracy created by great thinkers including aristotle and Cleisthenes will be briefly summarised henceforth this the discussion will narrow down and focus specifically on the negative and positive elements of ideas around education and aristotle’s ideas for the middle classes.It is hard to come up with a perfect system but out of all I think democracy’s elements of freedom, equality, and education outweigh the negative elements of democracy. Athenian democracy had many elements that it was made up of. These...
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...development of Athenian Democracy was the period from 510 to 480 BC? Give reasons for your views. The birth and growth of Athenian Democracy saw drastic changes occur for Greek life economically and socially, especially during 510 to 480 BC, hence why this era is said to be when the most radical reforms occurred due to archons such as Cleisthenes who attached people by proposing political power to all. Therefore some would consider this era to be the most important in the development of Athenian democracy despite Solons attempts previously. The consequences of the expulsion of Hippias in 511 BC proved to be vital in Athenian Democracy being developed. The citizens of Athens were becoming restless after the cruel reign of Hippias and were determined for a change. The rival leaders for political power were “Isagoras, son of Tisander, a partisan of the tyrants and Clesithenes who belonged to the family of the Alcmenidea. Cleisthenes was beginning to lose the political battle after Isagoras getting the Archonship in 508 BC, he decided to appeal to the masses and put forward a measure by which all free people in Attica should be legally placed on the citizen roles. This alarmed Isagoras who, after appealing to King Cleomenes, asserted that any member of the Alcmeaonid family is to lose their citizenship and for the Council to become an oligarchy of 300 Isagoras supporters. The council resists causing the Spartans to seize the sacred Acropolis but the Athenians rose against them...
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...The civilization that had a better form of a citizenship out of the Athenian Democracy and the Roman Republic is the Roman Republic. This is because, the definition of citizenship is a position granted by the government given to its people. In the Roman Republic they were more generous in giving out citizenship to people. Athens was much more strict in giving out citizenship. Furthermore, The text says “if parents were free-born Athens.” This shows that only free-born adult males were granted citizenship. In Rome they granted citizenship to everyone but freed slaves and slaves. The Roman Republic was better because this shows that you had a better chance of being a citizen even if you weren’t a free born native male. In Athens citizens...
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...know it. With Philosophy comes questions, with questions come many great answers that impact societies and even the earth. I want to study how Greece’s political economy impacted philosophic thinkers and people alike. In order to help readers understand whether or not outside forces like society’s political economy impacts deeper thinking like philosophy I will dive deep into Athenian Democracy, documents certain philosophers wrote in the day and time in which they lived, and even look into some other people of the time who had strong opinions on what exactly was going on them. Philosophy impacted more than most people think and I am sure in my research I will be able to back that up with primary sources to prove my argument. In writing this research paper I will be exploring the political economy of Classical Greece between 510 – 323 BCE. In addition, the geographic region I will be diving into will be Athens, Greece. I chose this mainly to enlighten myself (and hopefully the readers) on Athenian Democracy. In doing this I plan to ride the historical roller coaster in the time that Athenian Democracy first set its teeth into the minds of the people who lived in that era. Once establishing a good sense of the...
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...In his plague speech, Pericles implies that a citizen supports his polis by surrendering “domestic affiliations” and contributing his services. To begin with, Thucydides writes, “Since then a state can support the misfortunes of private citizens, while they cannot support hers, it is surely the duty of every one to be forward in her defence, and not like you to be so confounded with your domestic affiliations as to give up all thoughts of the common safety.” Because a democracy reflects the views of the people, it is imperative that the common person be able to formulate wise and rational opinions. A citizen might harm his polis by ignoring the welfare of his polis and acting out of personal gain. Furthermore, Pericles tells the assembly that...
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...recovered under the later Byzantine Empire and was relatively prosperous during the period of the Crusades (12th and 13th centuries), benefiting from Italian trade. Following a period of sharp decline under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent Greek state. Contents 1 Name 1.1 Geographical setting 2 Antiquity 2.1 Origins and early history 2.2 Reform and democracy 2.3 Classical Athens 2.3.1 Early Athenian military history 2.3.2 Artists and philosophers 2.3.3 Peloponnesian War 3 Athenian coup of 411 BC 3.1 Corinthian War and the Second Athenian League 3.2 Athens under Macedon 3.3 Hellenistic Athens 3.4 Roman Athens 4 Middle Ages 4.1 Byzantine Athens 4.2 Latin Athens 4.2.1 Burgundian period 4.2.2 Aragonese period 4.2.3 Florentine period 5 Modern history 5.1 Ottoman Athens 5.2 Independence from the Ottomans 5.3 Modern Athens 5.3.1 Population influx 5.3.2 Athens under the Nazis 5.3.3 Postwar Athens 5.3.4 Athens today 5.3.5 Recent historical population 5.4 Notable Athenians 5.5 Ancient sites in Athens 6 Notes 7 Further reading The contest of Athena and Poseidon. West Pediment of the Parthenon. The name of Athens, connected to the name of its patron goddess Athena, originates from an earlier, Pre-Greek language.[1][verification needed] The etiological myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena was described by...
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...The most important word here is compare. Avoid writing about Spartan women and then Athenian women – or vice versa. Rather compare them under specific subject areas such as birth, upbringing, marriage, authority/influence at home, political influence, economic power, status in society… and anything else which you believe is important. The following books (with barcodes in brackets) are available on Short Loan. Bradley’s book is helpful as a general guide to students of Classics. Those by Pomeroy, Fantham and Lefkowitz and Samons focus on women in the Classical World. The other works may not have immediate relevance to this essay, but should be helpful as you study Athenian and Spartan forms of government and the ways of life and values of these two very different societies. Bradley, P. Ancient Greece: Using Evidence. (10021550) Barrow, R. Athenian Democracy. (13143987) Cartledge, P. Sparta and Lakonia. (12667874) Fantham E et al. Women in the classical world. (11621324) Fornara, C., Samons, L. Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles (10112243). Forrest, W G G. A history of Sparta. (12245024) Lefkowitz, M. and Fant, M. Women’s life in Greece and Rome. (13181638) Pomeroy, S. Goddesses, whores, wives and slaves. (10554835) Sinclair, P. Democracy and Participation in Athens (11131361) Thorley, J. Athenian Democracy. (11546542) Recommended length: approx. 1200 words You will need both to email your...
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...In this paper, I intend to explore the conflicts that arose between those of the aristocratic society, and those who composed the vast number of peasants before, as well as after the life and times of Solon, and the effect and solutions that Solon’s rule had concerning these conflicts. Such major conflicts between peasants and aristocrats include, [but are not limited to] land and slavery (Trumbach). Though, these laws will be explored further later on in this essay. The ruler, Solon imposed a number of laws in order to rectify the problems that were arising between aristocrats and peasants, as well as to mold Athenian society in a much more citizen-oriented way of living (Trumbach). Such laws included relieving the prior debts that peasants owed to the aristocrats, as well as outlawing the creation of debts slaves (Plutarch: Solon, 57). Again, such laws will be explained further along in this essay. This essay will consist of three sections. In the first section, this essay will attempt to explain the conflicts that arose between the aristocrats and the peasants on the basis of land and slavery. It will also attempt to describe how Solon’s laws impacted this conflict, as well as the situations that occurred before, and the situations that occurred after Solon. The second section of this essay will explore the conflicts that arose between aristocrats and peasants on the basis of political power, the views of both parties, as well as the reasoning both parties had...
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...• Pericles’ background and rise to Prominence Pericles was born in 494 BC into a very powerful family. His father was a rising political leader and general during the Persian wars. Despite his father’s key role as a strategos in defeating the Persians at Mycale, he was ostracized in 484 BC. At this time, Pericles was only 10 and this left an impact on Pericles as he was afraid of being ostracized himself due to the powerful position he was born into as well as his increasing power and popularity he gained as he grew up. His mother was part of the Alcmaeonids who were an Aristocratic family that was heavily involved in Athenian politics and very influential. His great uncle, Cleisthenes was also a very powerful political figure who had reformed Athenian government in 507 BC, creating a more democratic system. During the time Pericles was being educated, the main subjects studied were gym, music and the recital of epic poems by Homer. Pericles had three main teachers, Damon, Zeno and Anaxagoras. Damon was his teacher of music and poetry. He also trained Pericles for his political contests. It is thought that it was because of Damon that Pericles joined politics as Damon had a love of politics and philosophy. Some believe that it was Damon that convinced Pericles to introduce his law to pay Jurors. Damon was ostracized for suspicion of supporting tyranny. Zeno, was a Greek philosopher and taught philosophy to Pericles as well as teaching him a technique of cross examination...
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