Pericles Reflection Of Athenian Democracy

In his eulogy delivered before the Athenians in 431-430 B.C during the Peloponnesian wars, Pericles states, “we are called a democracy, for the administration, is in the hands of many and not of the few.” In this quote, Pericles is communicating the idea that they are a democracy because the type of government that they have is special to them as well as very inclusive, unlike other governments at the time. The eulogy of Pericles should be considered accurate to a moderate extent because while on one hand, it is accurate in saying that their power is distributed among many and not a few because men from all walks of life share equal political power, on the other hand, the Pericles is inaccurate in claiming that because of this they are a democracy.
“The Greek city-state was, above all, a male community. Only male citizens took part in public life. In Athens, this meant the exclusion of women, slaves, and foreign residents, or roughly 85% of the total population of Attica” (Spielvogel 6). What this is showing is that Athens is a male dominant society, where women children slaves as well as foreign residents are excluded from public life and almost all public aspects of life including their government. As seen by the exclusion of women, slaves, and foreign residents, in public life, Pericles is incorrect in saying that Athens is a democracy because this does not show power of the people because 85% of Athens population was excluded from public life and from the government. This proves the argument that the eulogy of Pericles should not be considered accurate because it is flawed and the government is it actually a democracy. This evidence is important because it shows that even though women were citizens they couldn't demonstrate political power so their democracy wasn't really the power of the people instead it was the power of just Athenian
“ The men on the council came from every walk of the city life from peasants to politicians Cleisthenes himself might sit in the counselor next to a farmer who had never been more than a day's walk from home and both were expected to have something to say the constitution required that all citizens be involved.” (Morris 10). This shows that all of the men on the council were able to participate with equal chances of being acknowledged for their ideas and thoughts from the noblest of men to the poorest of farmers all men were able to participate and they were by law supposed to participate. As seen by the inclusion of all adult men in the council Pericles is correct in saying that The government of Athens are in the hands of the many and not the few because men from all walks of life were able to participate in the Athenian government. This evidence proves that the eulogy of Pericles should be considered accurate because although 85% of Athens population wasn't able to participate in the government everyone who was able to participate in the government was required to. This evidence is important because it shows that even though women are allowed to have political power to some extent it does show power of the people and their government is in the