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Democracy in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece experienced various forms of government, including democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and tyranny, with democracy becoming prominent in Athens after social tensions. Athenian democracy allowed citizen participation through random selection for political offices, although it was limited to free male citizens, excluding women and foreigners. Despite its flaws, this system aimed for fairness and civic engagement, reflecting the ideals of the time.

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17 views2 pages

Democracy in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece experienced various forms of government, including democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and tyranny, with democracy becoming prominent in Athens after social tensions. Athenian democracy allowed citizen participation through random selection for political offices, although it was limited to free male citizens, excluding women and foreigners. Despite its flaws, this system aimed for fairness and civic engagement, reflecting the ideals of the time.

Uploaded by

isabellelai2008
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Democracy in Ancient Greece

The types of government in ancient Greece changed quickly due to the people
never agreeing and settling on how they should be ruled and by who. Overtime,
ancient greece went through a variety of types of government these four were the
most common: Democracy- which is when the citizens ruled the city and had the
most say, monarchy- when it was ruled by an individual who had power that was
inherited from mostly a family member, oligarchy- when a small amount of
wealthy and powerful individuals rule the city, tyranny- when an individual had
taken power by force.
Democracy became an ideal idea for Athenians after long periods of time of
political and social tension between the wealthy and powerful. Overtime the
privilege such as speaking at the assemblies and having votes counted that was
originally restricted to those only with money slowly became more open and
expanded to ordinary citizens
Most political offices were filled by random
citizen volunteers as the ancient Athenians
believed in the principle ‘Ho Boulomenos’
which means ‘anyone who wishes’, also
meaning that any eligible citizen could
attend the Ecclesia, which was a general
assembly meeting that occurred several
times in a month.
In order to keep these meetings civil, they
relied on a 500 member governing council
called the ‘Boule” to which the members
were chosen randomly through a lot as they said that elections “favoured the
rich, famous, and powerful over the ordinary citizen” which was true. The
positions that did require voting were the ones that required a field of expertise
such as generals etc. as they were more important that the Boule and had a lot
more say in what happened throughout the city.
Voting in ancient Athens took place on Pnyx Hill, a very special meeting place to
the Athenians. It could hold up to about 6000 citizens and the Assembly
occurred once every month. Any free male citizen over 18 who had completed
their military training in ephebes had the right to vote and was allowed to voice
their thoughts and contribute to the meeting, along with voting for important
matters and decisions for their city.
Democracy in Ancient Greece was very
confronting as they wanted as much
participation as possible, only from
Athenian men. As welcoming as they may
have seemed, women and foreigners
were unable to be included in the
government parties which is something
the modern day could consider a flaw.
Their system seemed too perfect to be
true- random civilians being chosen by lot to help run a country? There was
bound to be some conflicts and problems. Overall ancient Greece's democracy
was all about trying to be as fair as possible during that time period. It didnt last
very long but seemed to be a good system for them at the time.

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