Download GREEK DEMOCRACY (ATHENS) Introduction The Greeks use to

GREEK DEMOCRACY (ATHENS)
Introduction
The Greeks use to live in small, independent citystates. At first kings ruled these city-states. Later
nobles governed them. Gradually, however, the
Greeks of some city-states came to govern
themselves and choose their own leaders. In
developing the idea of government by the people,
the Greeks had a lasting influence on Western
civilization.
The Greeks were the first people in history to
establish a government in which free citizens ruled
themselves. The Athenians were the people who
took lead in the creation of democracy, which
comes from a Greek word meaning “rule by the
people.”
Some Words
Polis - city-state. These were male-dominated and
bound together by race. What this means is that
membership in the polis was hereditary and could
not be passed on to someone outside the citizen
family. The citizens of any given polis were an elite
group of people – slaves, peasants, women and
resident aliens were not part of the body of
citizens.
Archons - a chosen a group of officials made to
rule the city-state. They were chosen by the
wealthiest landowners or nobles who were very
powerful during 800 B.C. They were nobles
themselves and tended to favor the upper class
Tyrant - someone who becomes the sole ruler of a
polis because he uses the power of force.
Demes – are the ten areas Athens was divided
into. Each deme would have 50 representatives for
the council.
The Council
- The Council was made up of about 500 citizens.
- It was responsible for the daily runnings of the
city-states.
- The Council carried out the laws and policies,
which were debated at the Assembly.
- No citizen could be a counselor for more than
two years.
The Assembly
- The Assembly was a gathering of all citizens. It
occurred once every 10 days on a hill called the
Pnyx.
- Every citizen was expected to attend and had the
right to speak and vote at the Assembly.
- The Assembly used lotteries to choose officials,
juries for courts, and army commanders.
- The main job of the Assembly was to propose
laws and policies. The
Assembly could purpose changes or reject the
Councils suggestions.
- Once a year the Assembly could also vote an
ostracism.
Ostracism was the system used for removing
unpopular politicians. During ostracism, the name
of the unpopular politician was written on a broken
piece of pottery called an ostrakon. If more than
6,000 votes were cast against the politician, he
had to leave Athens for ten years (but he would
not lose his citizenship).
The Board of Generals
This was a board of ten elected generals. The
Assembly elected the members of the Board
annually. This board operated much like a modernday governmental cabinet. The generals urged the
popular assembly to adopt specific measures, and
the success or failure of their policies determined
whether they would be re-elected at the end of
their annual term.
The Legal System (the jury)
- All citizens over the age of thirty were expected
to volunteer for jury services. Any citizen who
wanted to serve as the juror went to court.
- Each court had a jury of over 200 men to ensure
jurors would not be intimidated.
- The Athenian legal system had no lawyers or
legal officials. Citizens had to conduct their own
cases. Some people employed professional
speechwriters to prepare their cases.
- Only citizens could speak in court. A metic, a
foreign resident living in Athens, who was accused
of a crime had to persuade a citizen to speak on
his behalf.
- Certain jurors who were chosen by lottery were
given special tasks:
One took charge as judge, four counted votes, and
one worked the water clock. (The water clock was
used to limit the time the speaker was allowed to
talk.)
- Each juror was issued two different bronze
tokens, which were used for voting. At the end of
the trial, jurors handed in one of two tokens. The
token with the solid center represented an
innocent verdict and a hollow center represented a
guilty verdict.
The Age of Pericles
At around 460 B.C. during the age of Pericles
Athenian democracy came to mean the equality of
justice and the equality of opportunity. The
equality of opportunity said that the criteria for
choosing citizens for office were merit and
efficiency and not wealth. Whereas Solon had used
the criterion of birth for his officials and
Cleisthenes had used wealth, Pericles now used
merit. The Age of Pericles was considered great
because there was much freedom at the time.
Pericles was a great leader mainly because he
believed that the government of Athens “is in the
hands of the many not the few.”
Sources:
http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/Notes%20Gre
eececoherenc.htm
http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture6b.ht
ml
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/class/edlf/589_0
04/Carter_Shreves/textg.html