The pure democracy of Athens did not only concern itself of the people, for the people but prioritized by the people more than current democracies. The Athenian government required large amounts of machinery and paraphernalia as a result of the mass citizen participation in government. As a result of this, historians are able to evaluate the Athenian government through material remains found in the center of civic life, the Agora. Thus, enabling a vivid depiction of the purity of democracy in ancient Athens. Historians are able to understand, “what seemed best to the people” in the words of the Athenians themselves. Through extensive research and evaluation of these artifacts historians have come to conclude, Athenian citizens participated in all aspects of their democracy, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive branches of their government. Thus, creating the purest form of …show more content…
This entailed service of one year on any of the various committee or boards such as, Treasurers, Lessors of Public Contracts, Auditors, Market Controllers, Con¬trollers of Measures, Grain War¬dens, Port Superintendents, etc. All of the highest offices within the Athenian democracy could fall on any citizen however, each position was only held for a certain amount of time. Thus, implementing a constant rotation of power. These elements of the Athenian government maximize participation in the democracy and ensured the people controlled the government.
As a result of the equal spread of responsibility amongst citizens, it was also necessary to have a broad system of judicial control. Citizens were randomly selected to serve on law courts (Heliaia), consisting of six jurors (Thesmothetai). This was a paid position, encouraging citizens to participate. All citizens were eligible to be jurors and all were given the opportunity to serve. Therefore, Athenian citizens were both first and last appeal of