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Democracy In Western Civilization

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The Greeks played an important role in the foundation of Western Civilization’s political science (Wolfe 1). Behind the establishment of democracy lies a legacy filled of empowerment, strategic leadership, and loyalty that lead to the ultimate victory of political freedom. There were many Greeks however, who opposed and argued against democracy, but for the Athenians it’s what made Athens great. Athenians enjoyed a life enriched with their views of freedom, believing this is what allowed humans to reach their fullest potential (8). Political freedom did not come easy, yet was birthed from a war that changed the course of Civilization worldwide.
In the film The Greeks: The Crucible of Civilization - Part 02 - Golden Age, Athens go to war against …show more content…

Plato views democracy as complete chaos and disorder (5). He expresses his concerns that poor people will view the rich in the assembly as mortal enemies, and eventually rob them, causing an overthrow of the government (4). This is because a democratic state is filled with people who do not have to answer to anyone, and is completely free of any responsibilities (5). Plato explains, through his character Socrates, how democracy is rebellion against oligarchy (5). Oligarchy desires money, but can control its desires, whereas democracy is driven by unnecessary pleasure and cannot control itself (5). Plato fears that this major weakness would lead to democracy to fall into the control of a tyranny …show more content…

Athenians took pride in the establishment of their democracy built from empowerment, strategic leadership, and loyalty. This is evident in Pericles’ famous speech delivered at a funeral to honor those who have previously died in war. In his speech, Pericles boasts about all the different virtues that make up the great and successful Athenian democracy, declaring that “the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be ours” (2). The citizens of Athens have proven themselves patriotic, courageous, loyal, and honorable- all attributes that cultivated the ultimate political freedom found in their democracy. Impressive how we view and understand this ancient city as the place of origin for equal rights and democratic values that we incorporate in today’s

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Athenians Democracy 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.”

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In a true democracy, nothing is random. Everyone should have a vote and the right to voice their thoughts. With this system they have put in place, people’s roles in the government are completely arbitrary. Thus proving, Athens was not a true democracy because government roles were picked at

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First, Pericles strongly promoted the benefits of an organized democracy at a funeral orientation for fallen Roman soldiers. He cried, “While every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we rewarded our most distinguished citizens by asking them to make our political decisions” (2). This encouraged citizens to work hard. They elected people to office similarly to how Americans elect people for office today. The Greek democracy heavily impacted the modern day American democracy because every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public and make important political decisions.

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Much of Athenian life and politics was based on stories of Athenian history. These historical events shaped the way and life of Athenian actions. Yet what happens when the histories that become integral aspects of Athens are based on inaccuracies? The history of Harmodius and Aristogeiton and the impact that it had on Athens was so deep that it led to the catastrophe that was the trials surrounding the defacement of the statues of Hermes. However, Athenian misunderstanding of the situation brings into question the legitimacy of Athenian democracy as a whole, something Thucydides uses his retelling of Harmodius and Aristogeiton to convey.

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Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally. 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.

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Without the courage to rebuild Athens through the foundations of democracy, the structure of the modern world would not have discourses built from those established in the ancient Greek

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Athens, located in southern Greece, experienced an expansion in culture and education during the years between the Persian War and Peloponnesian War (477-431 BC) which set the stage for future expansions of culture in civilizations like Ancient Rome and Europe during the Renaissance. Although Athens was very prosperous, innovative and ruled by strong leaders during their Golden Age, they still didn’t have a perfect government or social structure which puts into question how successful this period actually was. 1st Paragraph (Outline) Pericles 's had great success in beautifying Athens and increasing its culture, through innovative art and architecture, as well advances in theater, which created a Golden Age because the people of Athens experienced

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While reading the King essay “I'd Rather Smoke than Kiss” King goes talks about how smoking affected her youth, life today, and even her love life. She also touches on anti-smokers and the role they play in society. While king's essays is a fun to read, it is full of errors and fully emotional based. In this essay King’s main point is that smoking is not bad because she smokes and nothing dreadful has happened to her because of her habit.

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Today, many of the world’s government structures were based on the principle of one of Greece’s city-states. Greece became a country advancing well before its time, strong in both military and brain power. This country was able to produce two city-states that became foundations to advancing the rest of the world. The first city-state, Athens, is thought to be the first to implement a democratic government while Sparta became known for their military power. While Athens and Sparta provide the world with advancements they differ in the ways of government structures, social motivations, and cultural differences.

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In this essay, I would like to answer and discuss the following questions: How did the people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How were two city-states similar in their governmental structures and how did they differ with each other? For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta.

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Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.

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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.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

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

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The Greeks displayed their humanistic values through government by they utilizing an effective system of self governing. This system was a direct democracy, defined as “government by the people” or “rule of the majority.” In the Athenian Democracy, the Assembly was the regular

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Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.

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