Aristotle's Loss Of Athenian Democracy

The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed the people's government known as demokratia (democracy) was less desirable than other forms of authority such as aristocracy, polity, and monarchy. The root word "demos" has several meanings in the Greek Language. The term democracy means mob or assembly and Aristotle believed a democratic government was an authority ruled by the lesser educated or mob rule. During the period of Athenian Democracy, native male born citizens were strongly encouraged to participate in politics while women, slaves, and aliens were without decision-making priviledges. Some Athenians purchased their positions, while others were not equipped to contribute to politics properly. In time, civil arrogance and complacency softened Athenians. It seems Greece was rarely unified since neighboring territories often

By 404 BC, Athens lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta where the ruling polis imposed an oligarchy upon Athens. Shortly after Sparta's imposition of an oligarchy, Spartan leaders soon understood the need for some form of democracy. In 371 BC, hoplite soldiers (citizen-soldiers) "suffered their first major defeat in 200 years at the hands of the Theban general Epaminondas" (PBS.org, n.d.). Within ten years of Sparta's loss over the Thebans, the military-dictatorship known as Sparta was almost a memory. The years ahead were a struggle for Greece. Greece shifted rulership from the Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottoman Turks. Although Greece would never recover from its loss as a superpower, the structures of government, military, commerce, culture, sociology, and more was not forgotten. Archeologists, anthropologists, historians, and other intellectuals studied and replicated much of what Greece offered. In short, democracy in Greece ended with Alexander the Great from Macedon around 336 BC, but the world continues to benefit from the first known