The Democratic Experiment
By Paul Cartledge (Adapted by Hannah)
We may live in a very different and much more complex world, but without the ancient Greeks we wouldn’t have the words to talk about many of the things we care most about. Take politics for example: apart from the word itself (from polis, meaning city-state or community) many of the other basic political terms in our everyday vocabulary are borrowed from the ancient Greeks: monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and – of course – democracy.
The ancient Greek word demokratia was unclear. It meant literally ‘people-power’. But who were the people to whom the power belonged? Was it everyone? Or only some of the people – the citizens?
Greek political systems
In the 4th century there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece in those times was not a single nation but 1,500 separate city-states around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The cities that were not democracies were oligarchies – where power was in the hands of the few richest citizens – or monarchies, where one ruler had taken power by force. The oldest and most stable democracy was Athens.
Solon and Cleisthenes
Athenian democracy began around 600 BC. Solon was a poet and a wise politician but not a democrat. He did not believe in people-power. But he did work that made it possible for a man named Cleisthenes to start democracy 100 years later.
Cleisthenes was the son of an Athenian, but the grandson of a foreign Greek tyrant, the ruler of Sicyon in the Peloponnese. He started a radical political reform to begin democracy in 508 BC.
Ephialtes and Pericles
Athens was a democracy when it fought the Persians in 490 and 480/79 BC. That victory made the poorest Athenians think that they wanted to have more control in the city, and in the late 460s two men named Ephialtes and Pericles helped make Athens a democracy in which poor people were able to have a voice in the government.
The Athenian democracy had many problems. There was a war from 431-404 which made Athens weak. After that there were revolutions led by people who wanted the government to be an oligarchy. These revolutions were helped by the old enemy of Athens, Sparta. But Athens became strong again, and it was a strong democracy for 80 years.
In 322 the kingdom of Macedon (led by Philip and his son Alexander the Great) became one of the best examples of government led by citizens.
Greek democracy and modern democracy
Modern democracies today are not the same as Greek democracies. There are three important differences: of size, of participation and of eligibility.
First, size. We don’t know the exact population of ancient Athens, but we think 5th century Athens had around 250,000 people.
Of those 250,000, only 30,000 on average were full citizens – adult males born in Athens. Of those 30,000 only 5,000 participated in meetings and voting.
An Athenian men’s club
The second key difference is participation. Our democracy is representative – we choose politicians to rule for us. Athenian democracy was direct. To make people participate, most officials and all jurymen were selected by lot. They thought this was the most democratic way, because if people voted they would choose the most rich, famous and powerful over the ordinary citizen.
The third key difference is eligibility. Only adult male citizens could apply for the privileges and duties of democratic government, and they had to have an Athenian mother and father. Women, even Athenian women, were not allowed – this was a men’s club. Foreigners, especially unfree slave foreigners, were excluded formally and rigorously. The citizen body was a closed political elite.
Download: The Democratic Experiment
Reading Comprehension Questions
Words I don’t know:
- What are some words that English has from ancient Greece?
- How many city-states were there in Greece in the 4th century?
- Which city-state was the oldest and most stable democracy?
- What is an oligarchy?
- What is a monarchy?
- When did Athenian democracy begin?
- Who was the old enemy of Athens?
- What was the population of 5th century Athens?
- What are the three main differences between Greek and modern democracy?
- To be selected by lot: what do you think it means?
