Greek Classical Period: Athenian Democracy

460 to 320 BCE

Athens lasted from _____ to _____ BCE and was the most developed among all the Greek polis.

demos

Refers to the entire citizen body, or the people

kratos

Means ‘rule’

demos and kratos 

Democracy comes from the combination of the Greek words:

Solon and Cleisthenes

These two are the main proponents of Athenian democracy:

freed those who had been enslaved by debt, recalled the exiles, banned enslavement for debtors, allowed all citizens to join the aristocratic assembly that elected leaders, canceled debts for land

These are the reforms made by Solon:

594 

When was Solon elected as chief magistrate?

created the deme to serve as the basis of the political system

What are the reforms made by Cleisthenes?

all demos were sovereign but not all citizens can take time from work to participate in government, thereby delegating

Cleisthenes’ idea of democracy is that:

Boule

This is the council of 500 that supervised the various committees of the government and proposed bills.

Ecclesia

This is the assembly of all citizens where they accepted, amended, and rejected bills. In this arena, every member could express an opinion on any subject on the agenda and a simple majority vote was needed to pass a bill.

• deciding military and financial magistracies

• organising and maintaining food supplies

• initiating legislation and political trials

• deciding to send envoys

• deciding whether or not to sign treaties

• voting to raise or spend funds

• debating military matters

These are the issues discussed in the assembly:

• all male citizens had equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate directly in the political arena

citizens participated in a direct democracy whereby they themselves made the decisions by which they lived,

citizens actively served in the institutions that governed them

• citizens directly controlled all parts of the political process

Because of Athenian Democracy:

• only male citizens who were 18 years or over could speak (at least in theory) and vote in the assembly

• positions such as magistrates and jurors were limited to those over 30 years of age

These were the limitations of Athenian democracy:

1. women

2. slaves

3. resident foreigners

These people were excluded from the political process: