Discover what DEMOCRACY was like in ancient ATHENS

Many times we can find certain elements in ancient times whose influence has survived to this day, although only the foundations remain. One of these elements is democracy, being a denomination of government that we currently use, although the classic form and the current one differ greatly. To know the old democracy in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about how was democracy in Athens.

Before talking about the main characteristics of democracy in Athens we must talk a little about the polis where this model Politics became so relevant, understanding with it the reasons that led to democracy, its evolution and its end slope.

Ancient Athens was one of the most important polis of Ancient Greece, being considered by many as the cradle of Greek knowledge and as the most powerful polis for many years. Athens was located in the area of ​​Attica, in southeastern Greece, being the most important polis of the zone, and state located in a maritime zone that served to have the best merchant fleet of all Greece.

Against the Greek mentality of other polis where the army was the most important, Athens grew thanks to commerce, art and intellectual development, having many of the greatest geniuses of the ancient world. This is what caused the greek democracy and the great subsequent influence in the western world in so many areas.

To continue with the lesson on what democracy was like in Athens, we must talk about the origins of democracy in Athens since This polis did not always have the same political system, but democracy was caused by a series of events that led to its creation.

Democracy arose as a consequence of a stage of great economic and social prosperity, which caused a series of reforms in the way in which Athenian society was organized, leading to greater political intervention by citizens.

Slowly, farmers and ranchers took more importance, joining the military and political life and therefore reaching an influence similar to that of the Greek aristocracy. All this was kept on the shoulders of the slaves who worked the fields and other areas of production materials so that Greek citizens could spend their time discussing life politics.

End of democracy in Athens

The end of Athenian democracy came with the first military crises of the Greek polis. The rivalry between Athens and Sparta It ended up causing a warlike conflict between both powers, of which Sparta was the winner, due in part to a series of diseases that devastated the Greek city.

After the defeat in the war, the Athenian democratic system entered a small crisis, and although it still lasted for several years, the arrival of the Macedonians led to the end of democracy by annihilating the various democratic institutions of the Athenians to fix those of the Macedonian system.

To continue this lesson about what democracy was like in Athens, we must talk about the main features of Greek democracy to get to know it in depth and see the great relationships it has with current democracies. The most outstanding characteristics are the following:

• The only ones who could participate in political life were the citizensThese being the male Athenians born in Athens who had passed the compulsory military training, regardless of their profession or economic power.
• The women, foreigners and slaves were not citizens according to the vision of the Athenians, so they could not participate in political debates or make any kind of decision.
• Political offices could be elected in two ways, by vote and by lottery, being the second most used form because it was thought that it was more democratic since all citizens could pass for some position throughout their lives.
• One of the institutions of Athens was the Citizens Assembly, being a place of free entry for all citizens and where the most important decisions were made.
• The courts were run by citizens over 30, chosen by lottery, and had greater authority than the Assembly.
• Another of the Athenian institutions was Council of 500, made up of 500 randomly chosen citizens who dealt with day-to-day matters that were not important enough to require the assistance of all citizens.
• It should be noted that the concept of citizen evolved over the years, causing some reforms that the number of citizens increased or decreased in a greater or lesser way.
• In the assembly everyone could speak, but there was a word order based on age of the people, the oldest being those who spoke first and the youngest being the last.
• The democracy of Athens was not the only one in Ancient Greece, but it was the most similar to what we now call democracy.
• It was vital the civic virtue, according to which the Athenians should think before the common good than their own, so as not to get carried away in decisions by selfish interests.
• Although almost all the charges were made by lottery or vote, the elections of military leaders they had a more closed system, because they were positions of greater responsibility.