Athenian Democracy

When looking at the political history of Athens, what crudely resembles what we know of today as a democracy starts to form. Granted, there are some differences between a modern democracy and the ancient Athenian democracy, they can both be called a democracy. There is no doubt that in Athenian government the people did have a large say in the matters. This is, in layman's terms, what a democracy revolves around. As Lincoln said, "Government of the people by the people for the people" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml). The Athenians did call it a democracy but there were a few differences to a modern democracy. For instance, women were not allowed to participate in the government in any way, shape or form. They did not have a vote nor could they be a part of a jury of official group. Also, officials and jurymen were not elected rather it was a bit random who was going to be picked, as was believed to be the Athenian way. In a modern democracy women do have the right to vote and a representative is elected by the people. The one aspect of democracies that has stayed constant over time is that the majority of the power goes to the people. The Athenians had a great decision to make regarding which politician should be exiled for a decade. The common group got to vote on who they would like to see step down from power. This sometimes saved the area from turmoil. While the decision being made has reversed from being voting off to voting on, the basic principal of allowing the people to vote has remained. Athens was indeed a basic form of a modern democracy.

"BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: The Democratic Experiment." BBC - Homepage. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml>.


"File:Parthenon from West with deep blue sky.jpg -." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon_from_West_with_deep_blue_sky.jpg>.