Democracy in Ancient Athens
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Democracy in Ancient Athens

Athenian Democracy flourished under the newfound sense of responsibility for citizens and their chosen leaders and representatives.  "The prinicple of responsibility was paramount in the Athenian concept of democracy" (80, Claster).  It was important under this governing system to represent the citizens of Athens and give more power to the people.  Although the democracy that existed in ancient Athens does not perfectly paralell modern democracy, it is still crucial to grasp the concept of its origins in the ancient world.

The Structure of Ancient Democracy

Ekklesia (Assembly)- This part of ancient democracy truly put the power in the people's hands.  During any of the 40 meetings a year, the Athenian citizens (adult males) were welcome to attend.  Although only about 5,000 of the 40,000 citizens attended these meetings, they were nonetheless important and much different from traditional ancient ruling ("Ancient Greek Democracy", www.history.com).  This branch was no doubt the prime democratic body, "…They were there for the hearing on all business of the state; for, with some exceptions but no systematic exceptions, it was the Council of 500 which chewed over all business that was to be discussed by the Assembly, and made more or less definite recommendations about what the Assembly should decide" (Osborne, 28). The Ekklesia had a structured relationship with the Council, but had options to disagree with them, "The Assembly did not always accept the advice of the Council, but it rarely formulated detailed decisions different from those recommended by the Council without referring the matter back to the Council in some way or other" (Osborne, 28).  Participation in the Ekklesia and Council proved to be a popular thing in the ancient world, "…It is now evident that between a quarter and a fifth of the Athenian citizen body--and not the same quarter every time! --regularly attended the Assembly (ekklesia), and that a clear majority of Athenian citizens served at least once in their lives in the Council (boule)" (Osborne, 40).

Boule (Council)- The Council of ancient Athens was the part of the democracy which decided on topics and issues for the Assembly to further investigate and make their final political decision. The Boule was made up of 500 individuals that were meant to be representatives of the community, "…The Council of 500 in which all ten of the artificial tribal units created by Keisthenes c. 507 were equally represented, was, more importantly, a body on which member of every community in Attica, every deme, always served in numbers more of less in proportion to the size of the community." (Osborne, 28).  These particular individuals were chosen not through an election and were limited in the amount of time they could serve, "There were representatives of each community, but those representatives were chosen by lot (from whoever volunteered), not by election; they served for only a year at a time and not more than twice in a lifetime" (Osborne, 28). 

Heliaea (Popular Courts)- The third important branch of Athenian democracy was the popular courts.  These three made up the structure of ancient democracy, "The main institutions through which the people ruled athens were ecclesia (the popular assembly), the heliaea (the popular courts), which were given increased importance by Cleisthenes at the close of the sixth century, and the Council of Five Hundred, which he established" (Claster, 2).  These divisions gave the people their voice, "…The use of the same referent for whole body of citizens and for its 139 constituent parts created a strong bond of identity: the demos could not act without associating all the demo in that action" (osborne, 42).

Defining Democracy in Ancient Times

The democracy that existed within Athens was captured well in Perclies' "Funeral Oration".  This is mentioned in Jill Claster's "Athenian Democracy".  "[Pericles'] 'Funeral Oration' is still the best single statement of the claims the full democracy made for itself. Here is what Pericles said: '[Our constitution] favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy.  If we look to the law, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit… The freedom which we enjoy in government extends also to our ordinary life'.  Majority rule, equality before the law, personal freedom--these were the basic assumptions of Athenian democracy" (Claster, 2).  These basic assumptions were just that, basic.  Although ancient democracy was not exactly definable in set terms, it gave us the outline for modern democracy.  Law was practiced at this time, but was unperfected and dissimilar from modern law practices, they "classified legal cases in various ways…there was a division by subject matter between private cases and public cases".  There was also a division depending on the certain procedure involved in the case, "the procedural distinction between graphai and dikai largely with reference to the invention of the volunteer prosecutor by Solon" (Osborne, 171). (Osborne, 171). Democracy in the ancient world had a narrow range in Athens, which is why it was ultimately unable to resist the tides of change (Claster, 119). 

Problems in Ancient Democracy

Becoming a democracy brings on its own set of challenges.  During the time period, the power was suppose to be in the hands of the people, but ended up only in the hands of adult, male citizens of Athens.  The classification of being one of the "people" varied with opportunity and position and wealth and upbringing, and the poorest people had to pay (Claster, 3). Slaves were not able to vote, women were unable to vote, and foreigners were not able to become citizens (Claster, 2).  Although slaves could not vote, the stability and existance of the democracy depended on them. "...Athenians only had the leisure to perform their politcal functions because they were supported by slaves--the democracy was in fact parastic on slavery" (Claster, 25).

Democracy Overview

However, intentions of democracy remained and we can begin to understand that the origins of democracy were not perfected.  They did indeed comprehend the heart of democracy in ancient Athens, "'Our constitution,' said Pericles, 'is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but the whole people'" (Claster, 3).