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Maya Gleich's Radical Democracy In 483 BCE

421 Words2 Pages

Maya Gleich
A3

Radical Democracy in 483 BCE

In 483 BCE, the Athenians are still celebrating their victory over Darius in 490 BCE. To add to their celebration, an abundance of silver in Laurium, a little east of Athens, is discovered. The Athenians are faced with the roadblock of what to do with this precious metal. Themistocles- a famous greek soldier and democratic leader- wishes to use it to enlarge the navy. The radical democrats wish to use the silver to boost the Athenian economy by manufacturing it into products for consumption and making it a currency. At the Battle of Marathon against the Persians, the Athenians were immensely outnumbered, but managed to drive the Persians back with minimal casualties. Themistocles fears that the Persians will attack again and wants to increase the navy as a safety net. But since Kleisthenes' democracy is still young (about 25 years), there is still a sizable gap between the aristocrats and the average citizens. The aristocrats have substantially larger houses and are much richer than the other citizens. …show more content…

To make it more specific, they want equality for free Athenian males. They do not want the aristocrats to be in power because of the previous issue with debt slaves. The Radical Democrats very much support Kleisthenes' Greece because it gives the less wealthy citizens a chance to be in office through the lot, and also gives all citizens a say in their government through the Ekklesia (the Ancient Greek congress open to every citizen). Also, Kleisthenes instated pay for government officials, so if one wishes to be a politician, he can still make a

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