Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance

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 ...

Including:

• 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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia - Athenian democracy

There were three political bodies where citizens gathered in numbers running into the hundreds or thousands. These are the assembly (in some cases with a quorum of 6000), the council of 500 (boule) and the courts (a minumum of 200 people, but running at least on some occasions up to 6000). Of these three bodies it is the assembly and the courts that were the true sites of power — although courts, unlike the assembly, were never simply called the demos (the People) as they were manned by a subset of the citizen body, those ove ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia II - Athenian democracy - Main bodies of governance

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 ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia II - Athenian democracy - Criticism of the democracy

Athenian democracy - Size and make-up of the Athenian population. The population of Attica can only be roughly guessed at as the Athenians themselves never conducted a complete census. Numbers of slaves and metics (resident aliens) in particular will have fluctuated. During the 4th century BC, the population of Athens may well have comprised some 250,000—300,000 people. Citizen families may have amounted to 100,000 people and out of these some 30,000 will have been the adult male citizens entitled to vote in th ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia II - Athenian democracy - Participation and exclusion

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 ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia II - Athenian democracy - Officeholders

Athenian democracy - Assembly. The central events of the Athenian democracy were the meetings of the assembly or ekklesia. Unlike a parliament, the assembly's 'members' were not elected, but attended by right when and if they chose. It was open only to adult male citizens, but to all of them: unlike earlier schemes there was no property qualification. Although the entire citizen body never gathered in one place at one time, this body did not represent the people — it was them. That is to say, the version of Gre ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » Athenian democracy: Encyclopedia II - Athenian democracy - Overview