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AP World History
Document Based Question Essay
Historians have often credited Ancient Greece as “the first democracy”. As Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers sat to draft our
Constitution, they looked back upon the works of the Ancient Greeks for inspiration and guidance. Analyze the extent to which the ancient
Athenian government was democratic.
Task: -- Write a clearly developed thesis in response to the question above
--Provide evidence from the documents to support your thesis as well as outside knowledge.
--Analyze point of view in at least 3 documents
--Identify and explain an additional document that would aid in the analysis
Document 1: from Philochorus, 4th century B.C.E
From: The Online Ancient History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook07.html
Philochorus is probably the best known of the many chroniclers of events in Athens and surrounding Attica. He wrote extensively on Greek religious
customs including a 17-volume history of the region from mythological times to 260 B.C. In 250 B.C., Philochorus was murdered by political enemies.
“Ostracism is as follows: The Demos [translates as assembly of Athenian citizens] takes a vote before the 8th Prytany, as to whether it
seemed best to hold an ostracism. When the response is positive, the Agora is fenced off with barricades; ten entrances were left open,
through which they entered according to Phyle and deposited their potsherds, keeping face-down what they had written. The Nine Archons
and the Boule presided. After they added up the results, whoever received the largest number, and it had to be not less than 6,000, was
required to pay the penalty: he had to settle his private affairs within ten days and to depart from the City for ten years. Hyperbolus was the
sole undistinguished person to suffer ostracism, on account of the degeneracy of his habits, not because he was suspected of aiming at
tyranny.”
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Document 2: Solon, 7th-6th century BCE
From: Solon, Select Fragments, http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/DeptTransls/Solon.html
Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and
moral decline in Athens and was thus called “the law-giver of Athens”.
The mortgage-stones that covered her, by me Removed, -- the land that was a slave is free; that some who had been seized for their debts
he had brought back from other countries, where --so far their lot to roam, They had forgot the language of their home; and some he had set
at liberty,-- Who here in shameful servitude were held.
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Document 3: from Constitution of the Athenians, by Aristotle c. 330 BCE
From: The Ancient History Sourcebook: Fred Morrow Fling, ed., A Source Book of Greek History, (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1907), pp. 77-79
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who made important contributions by systemizing deductive logic and wrote on physical subjects. His philosophy
had a long-lasting influence on the development of all Western philosophical theories. The Constitution of the Athenians, attributed to Aristotle and
his students, describes the political system of ancient Athens. The treatise was made between 330 and 322 BC.
“Not only was the constitution at this time oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer classes---men, women, and children---were in absolute
slavery to the rich. They were known as pelatai and also as hectemori, because they cultivated the lands of the rich for a sixth part of the
produce. The whole country was in the hands of a few persons, and if the tenants failed to pay their rent, they were liable to be haled into
debt-slavery and their children with them. Their persons were mortgaged to their creditors, a custom which prevailed until the time of Solon,
who was the first to appear as a leader of the people. But the hardest and bitterest part of the condition of the masses was the fact that they
had no share in the offices then existing under the constitution. At the same time they were discontented with every other feature of their lot;
for, to speak generally, they had no part nor share in anything.
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Document 4: The following are excerpts from Aristotle’s The Politics
From: Thomas R. Martin, with Neel Smith & Jennifer F.Stuart, “Democracy in the Politics of Aristotle ,” in C.W. Blackwell, ed., Dêmos: Classical Athenian
Democracy
Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The title of the Politics literally means "the things concerning the polis."
“…But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all
slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some
should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for
subjection, others for rule.”
“Democracy is when there is a majority of free, poor men who have authority to rule, while oligarchy is when it is in the hands of the
wealthy and well-born, who are a minority.”
“Democracy is not necessarily only wherever the multitude has authority. Oligarchy is not necessarily wherever a minority has power
over the system of government. If the majority of a city-state were wealthy and had authority, nobody would call it a democracy, just as
if a small group of poor men had control over a larger rich population, nobody would call it an oligarchy. Rather, democracy is when
every free citizen has authority and oligarchy is when the rich have it…”
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Document 5: Excerpt from Pericles’ Funeral Oration, given to Athenians in about 430 B.C.E.
Pericles was a leader of Athens who was responsible for rebuilding Athens following the Persian Wars. He was also leader of Athens during the
Peloponnesian War, but he died of the plague that ravaged the city. Pericles was so important that the era in which he lived (5th c B.C.) is known as
the Age of Pericles. Pericles' Funeral Oration is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was delivered by
Pericles at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead.
“Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors', but is
an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But
while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is
in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty
an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and
in our private business we are neither suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not put on
sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of
reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a
particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as those unwritten laws which bring upon the
transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment.”
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Document 6: Herodotus' Inquiries, Book 5: installment 29
From: Translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain
extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The Histories—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have
produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of history), being an investigation of the origins
of the Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were not completely
accurate, he claimed that he was reporting only what had been told to him. Little is known of his personal history since ancient records are scanty,
contradictory and often fanciful
“Cleisthenes' reforms were important in breaking down old allegiances and jealousies. Athenians came to see themselves as citizens of
Athens first and foremost. The number of citizens now involved in government was considerable. Aside from engaging in the local
affairs of demes and the so-called tribes, all adult males, possibly about 30 000 at this time, were members of the Athenian assembly,
and 500 representatives from the 10 tribes constituted the council, where one-year terms meant an annual turnover of members. “
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Document 7: The Polity of the Athenians, c. 424 BCE by Xenophon
From: Fred Fling, ed., A Source Book of Greek History, (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1907), pp. 155-159
Xenophon was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the
history of his own times, the 4th century BC, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and descriptions of life in ancient Greece and the Persian Empire.
Xenophon was later exiled from Athens, most likely because he fought under the Spartan king Agesilaus II against Athens at Coronea. However,
there may have been contributory causes, such as his support for Socrates, as well as the fact that he had taken service with the Persians.
“First of all, then, I shall say that at Athens the poor and the commons seem justly to have the advantage over the well-born and the
wealthy; for it is the poor which mans the fleet and has brought the state her power, and the steersmen and the boatswains and the
shipmasters and the lookout-men and the shipwrights---these have brought the state her power much rather than the hoplites and the
best-born and the elite. This being so, it seems right that all should have a share in offices filled by lot or by election, and that any
citizen who wishes should be allowed to speak ... They do not think that they ought to have a share through the lot in the supreme
commands or in the cavalry commands, for the poor realize that they reap greater benefit by not having these offices in their own
hands, but by allowing men of standing to hold them. All those offices, however, whose end is pay and family benefits the poor do seek
to hold.
Secondly, some people are surprised that everywhere they give the advantage to thieves, the poor, and the radical elements rather
than to the elite. This is just where they will be seen to be preserving democracy. For if the poor and the common people and the worse
elements are treated well, the growth of these classes will exalt the democracy; whereas if the rich and the elite are treated well the
democrats strengthen their own opponents. In every land the elite are opposed to democracy. Among the elite there is very little license
and injustice, very great discrimination as to what is worthy, while among the poor there is very great ignorance, disorderliness, and
thievery; for poverty tends to lead them to what is disgraceful as does lack of education and the ignorance which befall some men as a
result of poverty.
As it is, anyone who wants, a thief maybe, gets up and makes a speech, and devises what is to the advantage of himself and those like
him. From such procedure then a city would not attain the ideal, but the democracy would be best preserved. For it is the wish of the
poor not that the state should be well-ordered and the poor themselves in complete subjection, but that the poor should have their
freedom and be in control; disorderliness is of little consequence to it. From what you consider lack of order come the strength and the
liberty of the commons itself.”
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Document 8: Population estimates from Thucydides’ Athenian army recruitment figures, 432 BCE
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta
and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history", because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering
and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. His text is still
studied at advanced military colleges worldwide.
Athens: Population Distribution circa 432 B.C.E.
Free male citizens (mostly landowning farmers)
Free male non-citizens (all males under 18 and residents without Athenian parentage)
Free females (all ages)
Slaves
Total population of Attica (Athens plus environs)
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50,000
50,000
100,000
115,000
315,000