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.”
Amanda Milito HI 101-OL3 Professor Brozyna October 21, 2016 Essay #1 Athenian Democracy & American Democracy Similarities The similarities between Athenian Democracy and American Democracy are uncanny. The Athenian democracy was the first of its kind developed in 508BC.
In the year 461 BC, after the ostracism of the politician Cimon, Pericles started his rule in Athens where he developed Athenian culture, starting with the development of the Delian League to the Athenian Empire. Using the money from the League, Pericles was able to lead the project of the new Parthenon, which allowed Athenians to hone their artistic skill through attention to detail. In his reign, Pericles also allowed for any person no matter what their class may be to watch plays for free, so literature could be widely developed on a greater scale throughout Athens. Following the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt, the Delian League was formed in order to protect the Greeks who were still threatened by Persians. Members of the league were required to pay tax to support the cause and so with the big treasury, Pericles was able to get the money to build a new Parthenon.
In Ancient Greece,four reformers changed they way Athens lived their daily lives. Their names were Draco, Solon, Peisistratus, and Cleisthenes. The reformer that believed to have put the most positive impact onto the Athenian government is Peisistratus, the mentee of Solon. Peisistratus was known as the champion of the poor for all he did and the new reforms and laws Peisistratus added on to their government. He gave the poor jobs so they had a way to make some money for them to provide for themselves and reduce taxation, which have helped a lot for most.
Athenian democracy only lasted around two centuries, and the system was introduced in 507 B.C by an Athenian named Cleisthenes. The democratic political system of Athens was often referred to as the "demos", which translates to "the people". This meant that it was governed by the rule of the people of Athens. The three most important parts of the system included the ekklesia (the Assembly), the council of 500 men that represented the ten Athenian tribes (The Boule) and lastly, the popular courts (The Dikasteria) that were filled by citizens and jurors. Although Athens was democratic, this did not mean that there was equality.
Citizenship : Why Athens was the Better System Athens was a small city compared to Rome that honored and protected citizenship. There was a constant importance of acknowledging all citizens hard work and participation. Athenians made it clear that the poor helped build the city 's power and not just the wealthy. They took politics very seriously and made sure that everyone had a voiced opinion. Hard work and equality is what makes a nation outstanding.
Essentially he went so far as to find enslaved Athenians in faraway lands to bring them back from economical enslavement. The second of his reforms brought an early form of democracy, giving the power of juror to the common man. With such a strong economy supported by their fair justice system, Solon ensured that Athens had room to grow and
3. Compare and contrast the idea of democracy in Ancient Greece and Rome. Which system was more democratic and why? Democracy is the modern day standard for governmental systems. However up until 500 BCE, the concept of Democracy was a foreign concept, and the great civilizations of that era were run by monarchs, aristocrats, and religious leaders of sorts.
Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. I do not believe that in the 4th to 5th century BCE ancient Athen were democratic for many reasons.
When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.
Pericles was an Athenian Statesman born in 495 BC in a small town named Holoros, north of Athens. He came from a family of rich Aristocrats, and was deeply involved with changing the structure of Greek government. In 461 BC, Pericles was pronounced the leader of Athens. He created laws that allowed every citizen to be a part of the government, and laws that balanced the rich and the poor. Pericles strengthened Athens by creating and introducing direct democracy to them, and also by valuing their arts and literature.
According to Socrates perspective, the democracy of Athens was corrupt and even though they courts were made in such a way that everyone was judged fairly, it wasn’t such because there were no rules or principles set forth. When a person was brought to court in the Athenian court and the person spoke against the jurors or offended them, he or she could be prosecuted based on that. In summary, judgment was passed based on emotion rather than on justice. In the Apology, Socrates stated, “my present request seems a just one, for you to pay no attention to my manner of speech-
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.
As we had read in the assignment titled ‘Boundless World History’, “Democracy in Athens was overthrown in 411 BCE because of its poor handling of the Peloponnesian War.” Athens and Sparta had engaged in the Peloponnesian War that was between 404 and 431 BCE. In ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta were two of the most important city-states. According to most historians, the Peloponnesian War battle, which was supposed to have almost consumed the entire Greek world, was the most important battle of its time. Since Sparta won and Athens ultimately lost the Peloponnesian War, it can be stated that Athens was unable to accomplish the Peloponnesian War successfully.
The concept of leadership was prevalent in the ancient world. It had a place in the way the people of ancient times governed their lives. Greece, and especially Athens, is the cradle of democracy in the western civilization. Athens owes the first penal and civil law code to Draco. An outstanding statesman and poet called Solon acted in Athens at the same time as Draco.
