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http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_eponymous_heroes.html The Eponymous Heroes Just as all governmental activity and policy stemmed from the individual Athenian citizen, so there was a center in the Agora from which the lines of power went out to all men in all ... Here, by the hero of his tribe, each man, holding his citizenship through tribe and deme, was in closest contact with the privileges and duties involved in his citizenship. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/democracy_from_the_past_to_the_future.html Democracy from the Past to the Future Searching for models for the new government they were creating, America's Founding Fathers studied both the democracy of Athens and the republic of Rome, but they ... (Rights of Man by Thomas Paine) Written in 1792 in defense of the French Revolution, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man is a statement of republican ideals. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/citizenship_tribes_and_demes.html Citizenship: Tribes and Demes Every male Athenian, above and beyond the regular universal military training for service in the citizen army, was subject to universal political service. Besides being a ... In this way maximum participation was achieved, and every man was a public servant. 6.Oath stone (lithos) of the Athenians, on the steps of the Royal Stoa. ... Thus, the legislative and judicial branches of the government were the people of Athens, who also, as individuals, served in executive capacities and, as a group, elected the chief executives each year. Every man held his citizenship, which he inherited, through membership in a deme, a group which had its origin in a geographical unit (a neighborhood of the city or a village in the countryside) and which gave to each citizen the third element of his official name, e.g., Perikles, son of Xanthippos, of (the deme of) Cholargos. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/ostracism.html Ostracism In addition to the legal assassination condoned in the Law against Tyranny, a less extreme method was also available for removing powerful but dangerous men from public life. This was a formal, ... By these the citizens entered, each with a potsherd (ostrakon) on which he had scratched the name of the man who seemed to him most dangerous to the state. ... The sherds were then tabulated; if more than 6,000 votes were cast, the man whose name appeared on the greatest number was sent into exile for 10 years. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/practice_of_ostracism.html Ostracism Soon after their victory over the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Athenians began the practice of ostracism, a form of election designed to curb the power of any rising tyrant ... At this second meeting each citizen carried with him an ostrakon (potsherd) on which he had scratched the name of the person he wished ostracized. if at least 6,000 votes were cast, the man with the most votes lost and was exiled for ten years. ... While an interesting idea, it did not really work to curb ambition in the long run, for a prominent man, if powerful enough, could use it to eliminate his chief rival. ... The latter was astonished and asked the man what harm Aristeides had ever done him. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/women.html The Unenfranchised I - Women Numerous people resident in Athens and Attica had little part in the political life of the state. Most glaring by modern standards was the exclusion of women, although a similar ... Aeschines says that Lysikles the sheep-dealer, a man lowly born and humble of nature, became the most important man of Athens by living with Aspasia after the death of Perikles. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/solon_the_lawgiver.html Solon the Lawgiver By the early 6th century B.C. social tensions in Athens had become acute, pitting the poorer citizens against rich and powerful landowners. Many citizens were reduced to the status of ... Ownership of horses required a certain degree of wealth and allowed the man who owned them to assume a role in defending the city as a member of a fighting cavalry, the knights. ... The zeugitai (teamsters), those who maintained a pair of oxen for plowing and whose land produced 200 medimnoi a year Terracotta figure of a pair of oxen driven by a man, 6th century B.C. ... As early as the time of Homer, to be a thete was regarded as only just above a slave: "I would rather follow the plow as thete to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be King over all the perished dead" (Odyssey 2.489-491). |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_ten_new_tribes.html The Ten New Tribes Kleisthenes instituted a crucial reform, the reorganization of the citizenry into new administrative units called phylai (tribes). In his attempt to break up the aristocratic power structure, ... Citizenship in Athens required prior enrollment in one of the tribes, and such membership was hereditary. A man served in the Boule (Senate) as a member of a tribe, and fought in the army -- where his life literally depended in part on the shield of the next man in line -- in a tribal contingent. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_athenian_navy.html The Athenian Navy With thousands of kilometers of coastline and hundreds of islands, the Greek world was likely to be dominated only by a naval power. A generation after the establishment of democracy ... My first point is that it is right that the poor and the ordinary people there should have more power than the noble and the rich, because it is the ordinary people who man the fleet and bring the city her power; they provide the helmsmen, the boatswains, the junior officers, the look-outs and the shipwrights; it is these people who make the city powerful much more than the hoplites and the noble and respectable citizens. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_prytaneis.html The Prytaneis (Executive Committee) The senators administered their meetings themselves. Each tribal contingent in the Boule served in rotation for a period of 35 or 36 days as the Prytaneis, or Executive ... On the right, a man reclines on a couch behind a table. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_speakers.html The Speakers Litigants spoke on their own behalf, although occasionally using speeches prepared by trained professionals; skillful rhetoric was necessary in order to sway a jury. The speeches written by ... Demosthenes' skills as a public speaker in the assembly were honed by training and considerable self-discipline: They say that when he was still a young man he withdrew into a cave and studied there, shaving half of his head to keep himself from going out; also that he slept on a narrow bed in order to get up quickly and that since he could not pronounce the sound of R he learned to do so by hard work, and since in declaiming for practice he made an awkward movement with his shoulder, he put an end to the habit by fastening a split or, as some say, a dagger from the ceiling to make him through fear keep his shoulder motionless. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/slaves_and_resident_aliens.html The Unenfranchised II - Slaves and Resident Aliens Also excluded from political participation were two other large segments of the population: slaves and metics (resident aliens). Slavery was common in ... Let me explain the reason for this situation: if it were legal for a free man to strike a slave, a metic, or a freedman, an Athenian would often have been struck under the mistaken impression that he was a slave, for the clothing of the common people there is in no way superior to that of the slaves and metics, nor is their appearance. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/theater.html Theater Western drama was an Athenian invention which developed late in the 6th century B.C. out of the festivals celebrated in honor of the god Dionysos. Originally held in the Agora, the plays were soon ... : We have a master, boorish, angry, a beaneater, irascible: Demos of the Pnyx, a difficult old man and rather deaf. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_verdict.html The Verdict After the speeches and other evidence had been presented, the members of the jury voted by casting ballots. A series of vase paintings of the early 5th century B.C. show a mythological story, ... The jurors cast their votes in these: the bronze jar counts and wooden does not; the bronze one has a pierced attachment through which only one ballot can pass, so that one man cannot cast two votes. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/state_religion.html State Religion: The Archon Basileus There was no attempt in Classical Athens to separate church and state. Altars and shrines were intermingled with the public areas and buildings of the city. A single ... Public lawsuits fall to him on charges of impiety and when a man is involved in a dispute with someone over a priesthood. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_council_and_magistrates.html The Council and the Magistrates Like selection for military service, allotment to the Council was organized according to the division by tribes; 50 members from each tribe acted as a unit in the Council ... A typical decree of this sort praises Mikalion “as a benefactor of the Athenian people and a man who always shows himself eager to give to private individuals whatever they need. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/judiciary_and_lawcourts.html Judiciary and Lawcourts The lawcourts of Athens, a city notorious throughout Greece for the litigiousness of her citizens, were both numerous and large. Several of these lawcourts were in the immediate ... The tickets of the allotted jurors were given to the archon in charge, who, having identified each man, allowed him to draw from a box a bronze ball inscribed with a letter indicating the court to which he was assigned. |
http://agathe.gr/democracy/sokrates.html Sokrates The philosopher Sokrates was one of many Athenians critical of the people and their control over affairs of state. His probing public debates with fellow citizens led to his trial for impiety ... What else is appropriate for a poor man who is a public benefactor and who requires leisure for giving you moral encouragement? |
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