Greek Democracy

From its beginnings with Solon and Cleisthenes, through the entanglement in the Persian War, and its heyday with Pericles in the mid-5th century B.C., democracy grew as an important means of governing the people. Although democracy provided Athens with a relatively stable government, it still had many problems that even today have not been solved.

The ancient Greek Democracy or demokratia meaning "peoples-power", was a fundamentally different concept that contemporary American democracy for many reasons. When the Greeks established the idea of "rule by the people", they meant rule by the people. Of course the term "people" could be applied quite restrictively. The political participation in Athens for example was limited to male citizens only and was formed by the richest families in Greece. Many great leaders and thinkers of this era did help shape the evolution of Democracy.

Throughout this paper I will provide the historical guidelines of how Democracy was formed during The Ancient Greek society. Next the paper will include a brief comparison on how the ancient Democracy can relate/differ to modern day Democracy. The foundation of historical background will include Solon and Cleisthenes and continue to Pericles and how he impacted the virtues of Athens and his ideology. Finally I will discuss Plato's criticism of democracy and his impact The Republic left on the ancient society.

The roots of the Athenian democratic system were found in the reforms instituted by the leader Solon after his election to the executive position of archon in 594 B.C. According to R.K. Sinclair, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sydney and author of Democracy and Participation in Athens, Solon's main mission as leader was to "restore stability to his native city Athens when it was threatened by bitter civil strife"( Sinclair, R.K.). To achieve this goal, Solon established "objective property qualifications for the different classes of Athens' citizens," according to David Stockton. However, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his classic work Politics, sums up Solon most succinctly, "Solon put an end to the exclusiveness of the oligarchy, emancipated the people, established the ancient Athenian democracy, and harmonized the different elements of the state" (The Republic). For instance it is believed that Solon established the Council of Four Hundred as a way for the Athenian population to influence the formation of laws in the polis by allowing the Athenian people to put forth proposals to be heard in the general assembly. This new transformation of political participation represents the modern day political involvement of the Senate and The House of Representatives.

However, the main catalyst for the introduction of democracy into Athenian politics was the statesman Cleisthenes, who came to power in 510 B.C. Known as the "Father of Democracy," Cleisthenes quickly abolished the old system of tribes and reformed social organization and put an end to the aristocratic rule. His ideas for democracy and the abolishment of the old system is truly the birth of a modern day democratic system. He quickly redistributed Athens into ten sections, known as demes which (was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens). This action "undercut the hold which the nobles had earlier exercised over the political machinery of the state" (Stockton 24).

In addition, Cleisthenes transformed the boule, from its traditional tribes of Athenian elites to the advisory councils of ancient Athens. Under the reforms of Cleisthenes enacted in 508 BC, the boule was expanded to 500 men, 50 men from each of the ten new tribes. The 500 men were chosen at the deme level, each deme having been selected certain number of places proportional to population. This is similar to our modern day bicameral system of congress for instance The House of Representatives allocates the amount of legislative body proportionally to its population, and is entitled to at least one Representative.

"Membership was restricted at this time to the top three of the original four property classes (the Pentacosiomedimi, Hippeis, Zeugitae but not the Thetes) and to citizens over the age of thirty" (wikipedia). These eligibility requirements included a minimum age of thirty years still used in the U.S. Constitution as a requirement for Senate. Most members belong to a higher economic class, and have a vast amount of free time that could be devoted to the boule.

Members of the boule served for one year and no man could serve more than twice in his life. The leaders of the boule (the prytany) consisted of 50 men chosen from among the 500, and a new prytany was chosen every month. The man in charge of prytany was replaced every day from among the 50 members. The boule met every day except for festival days and ill-omened days.

This action was taken to give the general citizenship of Athens, collectively known as the Ekklesia or Assembly; It was the popular assembly, opened to all male citizens over the age of 18 by Solon meaning that all classes of citizens in Athens were able to participate. The ecclesia opened the doors for all citizens, regardless of class, to nominate and vote for magistrates, have the final decision on legislation, war and peace, and have the right to call magistrates to account after their year of office. This greater control over legislation that was presented to the Council for vote these similarities are the basis for the modern democratic system used today. Since the Council was no longer a completely aristocratic institution but a "random and representative cross-section" of the Ekklesia, the laws passed would be better suited for the general assembly, not just the nobles (Stockton 29).

By no means was the democratic system of Cleisthenes a flawless one, however. For example, participation in the Boule required vast amounts of time and, those members whose livelihoods were dependent upon the amount of labor they did were at a serious disadvantage. These men, who were typically described as poor lower class could not fully utilize or voice their opinions on legislation. Also, since some of the demes were primarily in the poorer areas of Athens, the possible applicants to the Council were smaller.

"The same arguments are true regarding participation and attendance in both the Boule and the Assembly. There was a vocal minority who proposed laws and gave policy speeches but, for the most part, ordinary members rarely spoke or proposed any type of legislation at all" (Jones 108). Most importantly, those who lived closest to Athens tended to be richer and more powerful, and were able to attend meetings frequently. Those who lived away from the metro area of