During the classical period Athenian democracy was a show of smoke and mirrors. Proclaimed ideas within texts such as Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians claimed to give the common people power. In reality the demos had little to no power and the so called democracy was governed by a select elite. Certain institutions assisted in the concealment of true power while others sometimes called attention to the fact.
The Athenian Democracy, created as a response to the period of tyranny in greek history by Cleisthenes was not was the dream that had been envisioned. The people of the era believed each and everyone one of them had a power to influence society in someway. Democracy was created to provide that opportunity and yet the people failed to rise to the occasion. Society remained governed by the elites even if the evidence of such behavior was hidden behind a screen of institutions. All who were men and citizens of Greece could potentially participate in the demos.The supposed goal of the democracy was maximum participation, equality among citizens, and freedom. This goal could only be achieved if one had citizenship. Nonetheless, there were stipulations to the amount of participation of the everyday man. A common man
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All the men in the family were heard from and Euxitheos worked to prove his landownership and placement within the demes. If in fact Euxitheos was convicted of being an alien within the democracy he would have been “sold to the state as a slave”(Aristotle 42). Euxitheos argues that he has never paid the tax required by foreigners, and that it can be seen through testimony that both his father and his mother were citizens of the Athenian State(Demosthenes 178). The fate of a greek citizen to lose their citizenship would mean he would be cut off from not only the illusion of democracy but also his freedom, equality, and