The Athenian democracy (sometimes called classical democracy) was the democratic system developed in the Greek city-state of Athens (comprising the physical city of Athens and its surrounding territory Attica). Athens was the very first known democracy, and the most important in ancient times. Other Greek cities set up democracies, most but not all following an Athenian model, but none were as powerful or as stable (or, relatively speaking, as well-documented) as that of Athens. It remains a unique and intriguing experiment in ...

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Athenian democracy - Overview
Athenian democracy - Assembly Athenian democracy - Officeholders Athenian democracy - Council of 500 Athenian democracy - Courts Athenian democracy - Shifting balance between Assembly and Courts Athenian democracy - Citizen-initiator
Athenian democracy - Participation and exclusion
Athenian democracy - Size and make-up of the Athenian population Athenian democracy - Citizenship in Athens
Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance
Athenian democracy - Council of 500 Athenian democracy - Assembly Athenian democracy - Athenian Courts
Athenian democracy - Officeholders
Athenian democracy - Selection by lot Allotment Athenian democracy - Elected
Athenian democracy - Individualism in Athenian democracy Athenian democracy - Criticism of the democracy

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Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Overview, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Courts, Athenian democracy - Shifting balance between Assembly and Courts, Athenian democracy - Citizen-initiator, Athenian democracy - Participation and exclusion, Athenian democracy - Size and make-up of the Athenian population, Athenian democracy - Citizenship in Athens, Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Athenian Courts, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Selection by lot Allotment, Athenian democracy - Elected, Athenian democracy - Individualism in Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Criticism of the democracy

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Citizens active as office holders served in a quite different capacity from when they voted in the assembly or served as jurors. The assembly and the courts were regarded as the instantiation of the people of Athens: they were the people, no power was above them and they could not be reviewed, impeached or punished. However, when an Athenian took up an office, he was regarded as 'serving' the people. As such, he could be regarded as failing in his duty and be punished for it. There were two methods of selecting people as officeholders, lotte ...

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Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Overview, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Courts, Athenian democracy - Shifting balance between Assembly and Courts, Athenian democracy - Citizen-initiator, Athenian democracy - Participation and exclusion, Athenian democracy - Size and make-up of the Athenian population, Athenian democracy - Citizenship in Athens, Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Athenian Courts, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Selection by lot Allotment, Athenian democracy - Elected, Athenian democracy - Individualism in Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Criticism of the democracy

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The grassy area in front of the bema was in ancient times an area of bare rock, in which about 6,000 men could stand. This can be taken as a reasonable estimate of the number of politically active citizens (citizens were free males born in the city, or perhaps 20% of the adult population). There were wooden seats for the members of the Council of 500, who were elected by the Assembly to run the city on a day-to-day basis. In later times two stoas, or covered galleries, were built to protec ...

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Pnyx, Pnyx - The site, Pnyx - Athenian democracy, Pnyx - Excavations

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Athenian democracy has had many critics, both ancient and modern. Modern critics are more likely to find fault with the narrow definition of the citizen body, but in the ancient world the complaint if anything went in the opposite direction. Ancient authors were almost invariably from an elite background for whom giving poor and uneducated people power over their betters seemed a reversal of the proper, rational order of society. For them the demos in democracy meant not the whole people, but the people as opposed to the elite. Instea ...

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Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Overview, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Courts, Athenian democracy - Shifting balance between Assembly and Courts, Athenian democracy - Citizen-initiator, Athenian democracy - Participation and exclusion, Athenian democracy - Size and make-up of the Athenian population, Athenian democracy - Citizenship in Athens, Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance, Athenian democracy - Council of 500, Athenian democracy - Assembly, Athenian democracy - Athenian Courts, Athenian democracy - Officeholders, Athenian democracy - Selection by lot Allotment, Athenian democracy - Elected, Athenian democracy - Individualism in Athenian democracy, Athenian democracy - Criticism of the democracy

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The Delian League was an association of Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. It was led by Athens. Because many of the league's Polis' were too poor to contribute ships to the collective navy, they paid taxes to Athens so that there would be enough money to build the expensive triremes. In 478 BC, following the defeat of Xerxes' invasion of Greece, Pausanias the Spartan led Hellenic forces against the Persians. He was an unpopular commander (who may have conspired with the Persians), and Sparta was eager to stop prosecuting ...

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The history of Athens is the longest of any city in Europe: Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. It was the birthplace of democracy and it became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC. Its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilisation. During the Middle Ages, Athens experienced decline and then a recovery under the Byzantine Empire. Athens was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting from Italian trade. After a long period o ...

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History of Athens - Origins and setting History of Athens - Early history History of Athens - Reform and democracy History of Athens - Classical Athens History of Athens - Byzantine Athens History of Athens - Ottoman Athens History of Athens - Modern Athens History of Athens - Notable Athenians History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 492 BC 491 BC 490 BC 489 BC 488 BC - 487 BC - 486 BC 485 BC 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC 487 BC - Events. Egypt revolts against the Persians. Aegina and Athens go to war. Athenian Archonship becomes elective by lot, an important milestone in the move towards radical Athenian democracy. 487 BC - Births. Including:

487 BC - Events 487 BC - Births 487 BC - Deaths

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The word is derived from the Greek word ιδιωτης, idiôtês, "a private citizen, individual", from ιδιος, idios, "private". Idiot - Antiquity. In Athens, an idiot was a person who declined to take part in public life, such as democratic city government. Since such activities were considered honorable and could directly affect all citizens, "idiot" became a term of derision. See Athenian democracy. In hellenistic Egypt, it was simply a term for soldier (and etym ...

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Idiot - Antiquity Idiot - Handicap Idiot - Use as an abuse Idiot - Other uses Idiot - Quotes

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Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC - 410s BC - 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 416 BC 415 BC 414 BC 413 BC 412 BC - 411 BC - 410 BC 409 BC 408 BC 407 BC 406 BC 411 BC - Events. The Four Hundred take over in Athens, abolishing the democracy, but their rule lasts only four months. Alcibiades returns to Athens. Battle of Cynossema - The Athenian fleet under Thrasybulus and Thrasylus defeats the Spartan fleet. The anti-war comedy Lys ...

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411 BC - Events 411 BC - Births 411 BC - Deaths

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From 501 BC the Athenian democracy elected ten generals elected each year, one for each of the ten democratic 'tribes'. Originally the generals worked together with the old polemarch ('war leader'), but while the name remained this figure soon lost all military function . Strategos literally means 'leader of the army', hence the translation general, but once Athens at the instigation of Themistocles became a naval power, the generals had charge of the navy as well. The ten generals were equals of each other without any ranking: at the ...

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Strategos, Strategos - The office of Strategos in Athenian democracy, Strategos - References, Strategos - The office of Strategos in other ancient Greek states, Strategos - Modern use, Strategos - Fictional uses

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Compared to the better known surviving monuments of ancient Athens, such as the Parthenon, the Pnyx is unspectacular. It is a small hill surrounded by parkland, with a large flat platform of eroded stone set into its side. But it is one of the most significant sites in the city, and indeed in the world. For the Pnyx was the meeting place of the world's first democratic legislature, the Athenian ekklesia (assembly), and the flat stone is the < ...

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Pnyx, Pnyx - The site, Pnyx - Athenian democracy, Pnyx - Excavations

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The name of Athens in Ancient Greek was Athḗnai (Ἀθῆναι, IPA /ʔa.ˈtʰɛː.nai/, pronounced roughly At-heh-nigh). This is a plural form: the city was called "The Athenses" since it was originally a group of villages which coalesced into a city. The name has no definite etymology in Greek. The Greeks believed the city was named for its protectress, the goddess Athena, but it is equally possible that the goddess took her name from the city. Athens began its history as a Neolithic hill-fort on top of the Acropolis ("high city" ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Voting system - Early democracy. Voting has been used as an essential feature of democracy since the 6th century BC, when democracy was introduced by the Athenian democracy. One of the earliest recorded elections in Athens was a plurality vote that it was undesirable to "win": in the process called ostracism, voters chose the citizen they most wanted to exile for ten years. Most elections in the early history of democracy were held using plurality voting or some variant, but as an exception, the state of Venice i ...

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Voting system, Voting system - Aspects of voting systems, Voting system - The ballot, Voting system - Weight of votes, Voting system - Status quo, Voting system - Constituencies, Voting system - Single-winner methods, Voting system - Binary voting methods, Voting system - Ranked voting methods, Voting system - Rated voting methods, Voting system - Multiple-winner methods, Voting system - Non-proportional and semi-proportional methods, Voting system - Proportional methods, Voting system - Criteria in evaluating voting systems, Voting system - History, Voting system - Early democracy, Voting system - Foundations of voting theory, Voting system - The single-winner revival, Voting system - Influence of game theory, Voting system - Current developments

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Accurate majority rule (by using polls in order to define accurately what the majority really wants today and make every decision based on that majority will) has never been tried as a political system in human history, with the exception of the majoritarian system which had been used in Athenian democracy and some other ancient Greek city-states. However, some argue that none of those Greek city-states were perfect with respect to accurate majority rule, and most of the time due to technical reasons: an aggressive minority (mob) with the he ...

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Majoritarianism, Majoritarianism - Concept in depth, Majoritarianism - History and legacy, Majoritarianism - Reform and backlash, Majoritarianism - Majoritarianism in the United States

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The Acropolis of Athens was inhabited from Neolithic times. By 1400 BC Athens had become a powerful centre of the Mycenaean civilization. Unlike other Mycenaean centres, such as Mycenae and Pylos, Athens was not sacked and abandoned at the time of the Doric invasion of about 1200 BC, and the Athenians always maintained that they were "pure" Ionians with no Doric element. However, Athens lost most of its power and pro ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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The reforms of Solon dealt with both economic and political issues. The economic power of the Eupatridae was reduced by abolishing slavery as a punishment for debt, breaking up large landed estates and freeing up trade and commerce, which allowed the emergence of a prosperous urban trading class. Politically, Solon divided the Athenians into four classes, based on their wealth and their ability to perform military service. The poorest class, the Thetes, who were the majority of the population, received political rights for the ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Prior to the rise of Athens, the city of Sparta considered itself the leader of the Greeks, or hegemon. In 500 BC Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire (see Ionian Revolt). This provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were defeated under the leadership of the Athenian soldier-statesmen Miltiades and Themistocles (see Persian Wars). In 490 BC the Athenians defeated the first invasion at the Battle of Marathon. In 480 BC the Persians came back, and captured and ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Athens was chosen as the Greek capital for historical and sentimental reasons, not because it was a functioning city: there are few buildings in Athens dated between the Roman Empire and the 19th century. During the reign of King Othon (1832–1862) a modern city plan was laid out and public buildings erected. The finest legacy of this period are the buildings of the University of Athens, the Greek National Library and ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Although the Byzantines retained control of the Aegean and its islands during this period, direct control did not extend far beyond the coast. The city shrank considerably, and was reduced to a shadow of its former self. During the period of the Byzantine Empire Athens was a provincial town, and in the early years many of its works of art were looted by the emperors and taken to Constantinople. In the seventh century, Greece was overrun by Slavic peoples from the north, and Athens entered a period of uncertainty and insecurity. From t ...

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History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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