How Greek democracy worked
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If for something the Classic Greece It is due to the creation of a political system that deviated from the prevailing norm in the East and in other European civilizations. In these, the monarchy was the chosen system of government, a period through which the Hellenes had also passed, but eventually they decided to change this form for democracy. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about how greek democracy worked, focusing on the most important polis in all of Attica, Athens.
Index
- When did democracy originate in Greece?
- Background to democracy
- What does the word democracy mean?
- The functioning of Greek democracy?
- What were the institutions in Ancient Greece?
When did democracy originate in Greece?
We began the lesson of how Greek democracy worked, stopping at the moment of the creation of such a system of government.
According to the chronicles that have survived to this day, we have to place ourselves in the 6th century BC C
, and more specifically in the city of Athens. It was here that a governmental system began where a group of men were chosen to lead all community affairs.Thus, we can establish that between the years 508 a. C. until 322 a. C. we will find this system working without interruption.
In this other lesson we will discover the Ancient Greece and its cities so that you know better what this great empire was like.
Background of democracy.
But where did the idea of democracy come from? We have to go until 594 BC. C. at which time Solon ruled in Athens. A very influential character in the society of the moment and who had a totally different way of thinking from the rest of the world.
This man thought that only the most prepared could access power, that is, only philosophers. The truly learned had the full capacity to bring all the businesses of the city to fruition. This form of government has been called timocracy and in 594 a. C. a Constitution was created for that political system.
It seems that it was from this idea that democracy would later be born.
Image: Socialesjaranda
What does the word democracy mean?
Before delving into the workings of Greek democracy, we take a brief parenthesis to see the meaning of the word. According to philologists, this word is made up of two Greek words:
- Demos: what does it mean town
- Kratoswhose meaning is can
Therefore, the word comes to say that it is the Power of the people.
The functioning of Greek democracy?
Although it has always been said that today's democracies come from Greek democracy, we must know that they are almost nothing like it. So we have to know that only adult males "Citizens", who had completed their military training, they had the right to vote. In this way, a very small part of the population had the right to be able to exercise this privilege. Likewise, a man who fell into atymia, that is, debts, he could not exercise his right.
While it is true that there was no difference for wealth, only the truly rich could attend the voting, given that the rest of the free men were carrying out their work activities in order to feed their families
Even so, it is known that many laws favorable to the people Plain thanks to the votes of the most humble people, who managed to create a quite important pressure group.
Image: Young man without ideals
What were the institutions in Ancient Greece?
Like any political system, Greek democracy had its own governmental institutions such as:
- Assembly: or also called Ekklesía, it was the place where citizens met to exercise their right to vote. There the executive and legislative branches, in addition to being the place where elected officials of the city and where is they tried crimes.
- The council of the 500 or Boulé: It was a place where the president of the Assembly was elected, every month, he rotated and among his responsibilities included keeping the keys to the public treasury, the seal of the city, and dealing with foreign.
- Courts: here we will find a rather curious fact, since the components of the courts were citizens of more than 30 years, who were rotated annually. In this institution private and public trials were carried out.
From the year 416 a. C. we are going to see a constant loss of power by the Assembly in favor of the Courts, which were gaining more and more power. That imbalance was what, in the long run, would end up unraveling the Hellenic city-states.
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