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The ancient greece polis
Evolution of democracy in athens
Evolution of democracy in athens
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“In 508 BCE, the Athenian aristocrat Cleisthenes instituted the first Athenian political democracy.” As the Greek playwright, Euripides wrote in his play that,“ Nothing is worse for a city than a tyrant.” (Section 2.2The Rise of Democracy and the Threat of Persia) Cleisthenes knew that, so he gave every
Understanding the foundations of democracy will allow for a greater knowledge of why these democratic reforms occurred. The three archons and six additional officials called thesmothetae were elected to become the dominant political force in the polis. A fragment of an inscription broken from a large marble block is engraved with a list of archons of Athens, providing archaeological evidence that inscribes influential chief magistrates such as Miltiates, the commander of the battle of Marathon, and Cleisthenes, the later initiator of certain democratic reforms. The three chief magistrates included, the archon polemarch who was the supreme military commander, the archon basileus who was responsible for religious functions, and the archon eponymous who was in charge of civil administrations. Each were responsible for different specific functions that supported the control of the Athenian Empire by establishing laws and policies that further initiated the democratic reforms of Athens.
The Athenians had a direct democracy which allowed the citizens to directly decide and vote for who they wanted to rule their country. In Athens there were three bodies of the government. The Assembly is the first branch which included all citizens that showed up to cast their vote. The Assembly decided what new laws would be and they made important decisions regarding war, laws, etc.
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
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.
Every portion of the government directly represented its people - from the Council of 500 to the Ecclesia and the Court and Jury System - and citizens were payed and thus incentivized to participate in the system. They did their best to make an equitable system with the allocation of members through the 10 tribe system, the potential for scrutinization for any member of the government, and the randomization of jury members for trials. The Greeks were a tier above their Roman counterparts when it came to
Firstly, only male citizens had equal rights to vote, freedom of speech, and opportunities to participate directly in political arenas, which is only 12% of the population. For example Citizen women, Children of citizens, Metics, and Slaves did not have the right to vote which is the other 68%. This shows the Athenians were not democratic because not the whole population wasn 't a system of government, when not even half of them were. Also in Athen nobody had the freedom of thought and or speech. If someone
This group of people only included white male citizens, meaning that slaves, foreign born residents, women and some men who hadn’t obtained citizenship couldn’t vote (Doc D). This completely contradicts the all-inclusive concept of direct democracy that the Athenian government preached so frequently. To have a powerful and lasting empire with great prosperity you must have a series of strong leaders. The period of prosperity in Athens was so short lived because they only had one strong leader, Pericles. After Pericles died Athens could not defeat Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and also couldn’t hold the truce that was signed in 421 BC which allowed Sparta to gain overall victory in the
Isabella Sanner Mrs. Heilman CP English 11 26 May, 2017 Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast ADS-B is a new form of surveillance which locates planes, in the air and on the ground, which broadcasts information about that plane’s location and destination while sending detailed reports about locations of other planes and the weather. It provides information for controllers on the ground, and, unlike radars used today, it also sends this information to the pilots flying the plan (Levin). ADS-B should be required for all commercial and private aircrafts because it would be safer for the pilot and the public, it would relieve air traffic controllers of most stress related to their job, and it would make travel and shipping products faster
While the Athenians did have their government centered on three major institutions, they were not
I believe that ancient Athens was not a true democracy. In a democracy all of the people are able to vote, and have a choice on who runs their city. In ancient Athens only the men were able to vote. Their government was Demokratia, and this excluded the women, the children, the metics, and the slaves. Even though their government was ran by the people themselves, only the men in the city could vote.
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.
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
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.
the idea of representative government began to take root in some city states, specifically Athens. Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, rule by the people. In Athens citizens participated directly in political decision making. However there were limitations on citizenship to ensure that only the most rational people were able to vote. Through the construction of democracy in Athens, equality of all citizens became greater, and the city would become the top democracy of all the democracies.