Download Athenian Democracy – Outline

Here is the outline you all came up with
1. Introduction
a. Mention the documents being analyzed
b. Brief amount of context (very general)
i. The first example of democracy can be traced back to early Athens.
This period has often been debated by historians.
c. Thesis (argument)
i. Athenian democracy has often been romanticized, as historians have
claimed, following Pericles, that it truly favored “the many over the
few.” Recent historical work shows, however, that Athenian
democracy might have more complex origins.
2. Analysis of Funeral Oration
a. Pericles glorifies democracy
b. Analysis of his claims
c. Democracy = great
d. Democracy = Equality
e. Democracy = working (military victories and prosperity)
f. Democracy = many over the few
g. Democracy = virtuous and kind to one another
3. Discussing supporting evidence
a. Age of Pericles
b. The history before Pericles
i. Solon
ii. Peisistratus
iii. Cleisthenes
iv. Opening of access to the government as a tool for undermining elite
opponents, or, as in the case of Solon, for establishing order in a
period of disorder.
4. Discussing supporting evidence
a. Centaurs and Amazons
i. Maltreatment of women, slaves, animals, and the poor
ii. Evolution of thought about hierarchy and subordination
5. Athenian Government: Modern Mythmakers and Ancient Theorists
a. The glorification of Athenian democracy attempted to blind us to the realities
of conflict within Athens.
b. Although Plato and Aristotle had anti-democratic ideas, they nonetheless
believed they were devising systems that would lead to the best society. The
reaction against the demos makes sense when understood as attempts to put
an end to disorder and chaos, and as a reaction to the military losses in the
Peloponnesian wars.
6. Conclusion
a. restate the thesis
b. show what has been added throughout the course of the paper
c. additional impactful point.