Eulogy Of Athens

Introduction

The so called Greek democracy was centered mostly in the Polis of Athens although other Poleis tried to copy the system. This was a system of democracy where qualified participating citizens had to vote directly on legislation and executive bills. With this democracy, participation was not open to all citizens, but only to all adult males who are truly born Athenians and born by Athenian parents. Slaves, females, and other residents were not considered true citizens and therefore do not have the right to participate in any political activity. The longest serving democratic leader was Pericles. His death resulted into some interruption of the Athenian democracy by the oligarchic revolutions toward the end of the Peloponnesian war.

The Greek world war termed civilization-wide “Greek World War”which was fought by Athens, Sparta and the whole of Greek world took place between 431 BCE and 404 BCE. The powerful leader Pericles led Athens to fought with Sparta in the first series of the war. During those days, Athens had the biggest navy and the biggest annual revenue in Greece. This gave her confident that she will subsequently win the war. With all the advantages and confidence, the great leader Pericles thought the war will last only for a few years. Unfortunately two years after the war, Athens way hit hard by a destructive plague which killed thousands of Athenians including their Pericles. The Peloponnesian war lasted for close to 30 years (Brand, n.d).

Athens was hit hard and defeated under the leadership of Thucydides who was then exiled. In the absent of a strong leader, the mob were easily misled demagogues. Later on, a series of political revolutions took place but democracy was repeatedly overthrown and competing factions killed hundreds of their