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Athens City-State
I. Social structure and citizenship in the Greek polis
A. Citizens (free adult males) had political rights and
the responsibility of civic participation in
government.
B. Women and foreigners had no political rights.
C. Slaves had no political rights.
II. Athens Society
A. Classical Athens developed the most democratic
system of government the world had ever seen,
although not everyone could participate in decision
making.
1. It became a foundation of modern democracies.
B. Early Athens was ruled by a monarchy
or king.
III. Early Government (700 BC – 600 BC)
A. After Athens’s monarchy ended, the city-state had an
aristocratic government
1. Aristocracy – rule by an elite group of people
(In this case landholding nobles)
2. Only citizens who owned land held office in
Athens, but all adult male citizens met in an
assembly.
a. Elected Generals in time of war
b. Elected 9 rulers to serve for 1-year terms
IV. Tyrants
A. Tyranny
1. One ruler with absolute power who seizes
control by force
IV. Tyrants
B. Draco
1. Took power and created Athens’ first written
law code around 621 BC
a. Before this the laws were not written
down and this upset many nonaristocrats.
2. Draco’s laws were so harsh and severe that
today we call a harsh law Draconian
IV. Tyrants
B. Draco
The man who was summoned
thus to "codify" the laws was
Draco. So severe were many
of the old half-forgotten laws
that when they were all thus
clearly set forth, men were
horrified at their severity.
Death was made the penalty
for every tiny crime, even the
stealing of an apple from an
orchard.
IV. Tyrants
C. Solon
1. Took power of Athens in 594 BC
2. Big problem in Athens by this time was
farmers were selling themselves into
slavery to pay off a debt.
3. He outlawed slavery to pay off debt and he
freed people who had become slaves already
to pay off a debt.
V. Athenian Democracy
A. Cleisthenes
1. Seized power in Athens in 507 BC and turned it
into a democracy
a. Democracy – government by the people
b. Divided Athens into 10 tribes
c. Each tribe choose 50 men to form the
Council of 500
d. Members served one year and could not
be chosen more than twice.
Council of 500
V. Athenian Democracy
2. This type of democracy is called a direct democracy.
a. All citizens participate directly in making
decisions (voting)
b. Citizens are encouraged to participate in the
public debate of issues
c. It is expected that the duty of the Athenian
citizen is to participate in the development of
laws.
d. The United States today uses a Representative
Democracy in which citizens elect
representatives to govern for them.