What Was The Role Of Democracy In Athens
Democracy In Athens
The city state of Athens was thought to be one of the first democracies ever. Cleisthenes made final reforms to the Athenian constitution and united four separate tribes in 507 B.C.E.. This became the seed of Athenian democracy. To this day, about 60% of all governments are democracies, which makes Athens the father of modern governing. However, by today’s standards, Athens was far from what one would call “democratic”. Athens had several democratic aspects to its society, but also several laws that were tough and unfair, because democratic government was still developing.
The idea of power lying within the people was very new during the time of ancient Greek city-states. Athens was very avant-garde to lay this idea in the …show more content…
They had a system called ostracism, which forced individuals into exile for ten years. “Common citizens were determined that the victory won by the hoplite phalanx at Marathon should not be lost to an aristocratic faction at home. To guard against this danger, the Athenian assembly began to practice ostracism, ten year exile… imposed on those who threatened to undermine the constitution of Cleisthenes… No charges or accusations had to made, much less proven.” (Kishlansky, 73) This meant that someone could be forced into exile without trial or evidence against them. In the American government, every person has the right to a fair trial and the verdict is determined by randomly chosen citizens to ensure nonbias. In Athens however, no one had to prove anything as long as a certain number of people didn’t like you. Innocence did not factor in at all. All that mattered was perception. Additionally, virtually anyone could be ostracized. “Anyone who had offended the Athenians or who, by his prominence, seemed a threat to democracy, could be ostracized.” (Kishlansky, 73) If an individual was powerful enough, citizens could vote to kick him out without any proof. Furthermore, if the person was not a threat to the government, but many perceived him to be, he could still be
The city state of Athens was thought to be one of the first democracies ever. Cleisthenes made final reforms to the Athenian constitution and united four separate tribes in 507 B.C.E.. This became the seed of Athenian democracy. To this day, about 60% of all governments are democracies, which makes Athens the father of modern governing. However, by today’s standards, Athens was far from what one would call “democratic”. Athens had several democratic aspects to its society, but also several laws that were tough and unfair, because democratic government was still developing.
The idea of power lying within the people was very new during the time of ancient Greek city-states. Athens was very avant-garde to lay this idea in the …show more content…
They had a system called ostracism, which forced individuals into exile for ten years. “Common citizens were determined that the victory won by the hoplite phalanx at Marathon should not be lost to an aristocratic faction at home. To guard against this danger, the Athenian assembly began to practice ostracism, ten year exile… imposed on those who threatened to undermine the constitution of Cleisthenes… No charges or accusations had to made, much less proven.” (Kishlansky, 73) This meant that someone could be forced into exile without trial or evidence against them. In the American government, every person has the right to a fair trial and the verdict is determined by randomly chosen citizens to ensure nonbias. In Athens however, no one had to prove anything as long as a certain number of people didn’t like you. Innocence did not factor in at all. All that mattered was perception. Additionally, virtually anyone could be ostracized. “Anyone who had offended the Athenians or who, by his prominence, seemed a threat to democracy, could be ostracized.” (Kishlansky, 73) If an individual was powerful enough, citizens could vote to kick him out without any proof. Furthermore, if the person was not a threat to the government, but many perceived him to be, he could still be