Was Ancient Athens Truly Democratic
Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is defined as rule by the people. The Athenian government was The Ekklesia (Assembly) then The Boule (Council of 500) and then The Dikasteria (The Courts). In my opinion by all the evidence I have analyzed Athens was not a democracy. To explain what the three groups do; The Ekklesia, during the “Golden Age” of the ancient Athens it was the principal assembly of democracy, it was open to all male citizens with 2 years of military service. The Boule, was a council of citizens appointed to run daily affairs of the city. The Dikasteria, the third important institution was the popular courts, more than 500 jurors were chosen by lot from a pool of male citizens older than 30. For my first piece of evidence
to prove ancient Athens was not a democracy is the fact of only 12 percent of the Greeks were allowed to vote as written by Professor Josiah Ober in Document C in 2010. Well if democracy is defined as “rule by the people” well then females, slaves and Metics would be able to vote in this time. But the 12 percent of Greeks were actually only male citizens, which is a strong piece of evidence proving that Athens was not a democracy. Then for my second piece of evidence as written by Mogens Herman Hansen in Document D, he is a professor of Philology and classics at the University of Copen Hagen before he retired in 2010. He wrote that the Athens democracy was known for being too democratic and less democratic as he wrote, it is more democratic by being government by the people instead of government by those elected by the people. But then it’s also criticized for being less democratic for narrowing down the Demos to only the adult male citizens of the Athens. To finalize my essay all my pieces of evidence prove that ancient Athens was not a democracy but it also had some points of it also being a democracy. Going over all this I will have to say it wasn’t a democracy mostly but did have some stuff proving it was also a democracy.
to prove ancient Athens was not a democracy is the fact of only 12 percent of the Greeks were allowed to vote as written by Professor Josiah Ober in Document C in 2010. Well if democracy is defined as “rule by the people” well then females, slaves and Metics would be able to vote in this time. But the 12 percent of Greeks were actually only male citizens, which is a strong piece of evidence proving that Athens was not a democracy. Then for my second piece of evidence as written by Mogens Herman Hansen in Document D, he is a professor of Philology and classics at the University of Copen Hagen before he retired in 2010. He wrote that the Athens democracy was known for being too democratic and less democratic as he wrote, it is more democratic by being government by the people instead of government by those elected by the people. But then it’s also criticized for being less democratic for narrowing down the Demos to only the adult male citizens of the Athens. To finalize my essay all my pieces of evidence prove that ancient Athens was not a democracy but it also had some points of it also being a democracy. Going over all this I will have to say it wasn’t a democracy mostly but did have some stuff proving it was also a democracy.