1. Democracy in Athens
Chapter 10
Section 3

2. Introduction
One night in 508 B.C.E., the sounds of a power struggle echoed through the streets of Athens. Isagoras, the city’s leading judge, was trying to crush movement for democracy.
He had invited the Spartans to help him defeat this dangerous new trend. He forced the popular leader Cleistenes (KLYS thuh neez) to flee the city. Isagoras also exiled 700 families who supported democratic reform.

3. Introduction
But now some Athenians were fighting back. They chased Isagoras and the Spartans up into the Acropolis.
The Spartans were excellent soldiers, but they were overwhelmed by the Athenian people. After the Spartans surrendered, Cleistenes returned, and Athens continued building its democracy.

4. Before Democracy
Isagoras and the Spartans feared the new political trends in Athens. They were trying to keep government in the hands of the aristocrats, a type of government the Greeks called an oligarchy (AHL ih gahr kee).
In an oligarchy, political power is held by a small group of people.

5. Oligarchies
Oligarchies were usually headed by a council of leaders who belonged to the aristocracy.
One of the aristocratic leaders was a lawgiver named Draco. He created a legal code that specified harsh punishments for all offenses, from serious to minor crimes.
Today, people still use the word draconian to describe laws that seem unnecessarily harsh or severe.

6. The Rise of the Phalanx
In many city-states, power began to shift into the hands of more people. This process may have been sparked by a change in the way Greek armies were organized.
In earlier times, the outcome of battles depended on fights between individual aristocratic warriors. The aristocrats were the most important soldiers of the state.

7. The Rise of the Phalanx
Around 700 B.C.E., a new military formation called the phalanx was introduced. The phalanx was a formation of heavily armed foot soldiers who moved together as a unit.
Before battle, these citizen-soldiers lined up to form a row of overlapping shields. Each man’s shield helped protect his neighbor.
He held the shield with his left arm. In his right hand he held a spear or sword. A well-trained phalanx could overcome almost any other force.

8. The Rise of the Phalanx
As foot soldiers, fighters in a phalanx did not need to be rich enough to buy and maintain a horse. More men could afford the necessary weapons and armor.
As city-states came to depend on the phalanx formation for defense, citizen-soldiers may have gained more political power.
Some historians believe this gave more men a voice in government. Aristocratic leaders risked losing the support of their army if they did not consider the interests of these men.

9. The Rise of the Phalanx
Each city-state set up a different form of government. With so many city-states, great political variety characterized the Greek world.

10. Tyranny
At first tyrants, or strong leaders, emerged to champion the interests of ordinary citizens. Tyrants were usually members of the aristocracy.
But by promising land and other benefits to the poor, they won popular support. Then they were able to set up tyrannies, or governments run by a strong ruler.
Tyrants did not allow others to play a significant role in government. Nevertheless, Greek tyrants were not always bad rulers. In some city-states, they governed fairly and worked to improve life for ordinary people

11. Tyranny
Many tyrants, however, found that they could not fulfill their promises. Other tyrants ruled harshly. Eventually, other forms of government replaced tyrannies.

12. Power of the People
Most city-states adopted tyranny, but some moved toward rule by the many. The Greeks called this form of government democracy, which means “rule by the people.”
In these new democracies, large numbers of men participated in civic affairs.

13. Beginning of Democracy
In the year 594 B.C.E., the aristocrats of Athens chose Solon to lead the polis. Solon reformed the courts. He ended the practice selling into slavery poor people who could not pay their debts.
Solon also gave some non-aristocratic men the right to vote for officials. These measures set Athens on the path to democracy.

14. Later Reforms
In 508 B.C.E., a leader named Cleisthenes gained power in Athens. He made several reforms that reduced the power of the rich.
By increasing the number of citizens who could vote, he brought in many new voters from the lower classes.
Cleisthenes also increased the power of the assembly, which included all male citizens. The assembly met to discuss political issues and make decisions for the city-state.

15. Later Reforms
Another major reform took place in 461 B.C.E., when Athens created citizen juries. A jury is a group of people who hear evidence and decided a court case.
The new system put legal decisions in the hands of the people.

16. The Age of Pericles
More reforms followed in the 450s B.C.E. under Pericles. His first major change was to pay citizens for participating in jury service and in other civic duties.
These payments helped poor people to take part in government. No longer was participation in the legal system restricted only to those who could afford to serve on juries.
These reforms created the world’s first democracy. Athenians were proud of what they had achieved.

17. The Age of Pericles
One factor that encouraged democracy in Athens was the idea of citizenship. Citizenship is membership in a community. Citizenship gives a person both rights and responsibilities.
Elsewhere in the ancient world, people lived as subjects of a ruler whom they were expected to obey without question.
In contrast, the Greeks gave ordinary people the right o help make government decisions.

18. Education for Democracy
Education helped promote the growth of democracy in Athens. The education students received was designed to produce well-rounded citizens who could take part in public life.
Although some girls could probably read and write, most education was reserved for boys. They attended school from an age of seven and studied literature, physical education, and music.
By the 420s B.C.E., there was also higher education. Traveling lecturers taught various subjects such as mathematics and public speaking.

19. Athenian Democracy
Political reforms produced a golden age of democracy in Athens. Citizens ran all parts of the government.
The most important were the assembly, the council, and the courts.

20. The Business of Government
The main political body of Athens was the assembly, which all free adult male citizens had the right to attend. Meetings took place 40 times a year.
Everyone who attended the assembly had the right to speak, from the poorest farmer to the richest aristocrat.
A 500-person council, known as the boule, was the second key component of the Athenian government. The council helped decide which issues should come before the assembly. Members were chosen from amongst the citizens so every male had a chance of serving on the council.

21. The Courts
The governments third key component was the court system. Athens had many different courts, each of which decided different types of cases.
Juries made up of citizens served in the courts, deciding cases by majority vote.
Juries in Athens were much larger than modern juries. Many people, from several hundred to several thousand, might serve on a single jury. Additional laws were passed to discourage bribery.

22. The Courts
As democracy grew stronger in Athens, older governmental bodies lost power. For example, the Areopagus (ar ee OP uh gus), a council of advertisers who decided some court cases, lost all its functions except the right to judge murder cases.

23. A Limited Democracy
Athens was not completely democratic. Women could not vote or hold office.
Foreigners, even if they came from another Greek city-state, could not be citizens and had no voice in the government. Slaves had no rights.
Athens, then, did not have rule by all the people. Compared to most places in the ancient world, however, Athens included far more people in government.

24. Direct Democracy
Athenian democracy depended on active citizen involvement. A political system in which citizens participate directly in decision making is called direct democracy.
Direct democracy worked in Athens because the population of the city-state was small and because of the commitment and hard work of its citizens.
Direct democracy is less practical in large countries like the U.S. In countries spread over a wide area of land, citizens live too far apart to meet.

25. Direct Democracy
Most democracies today are representative democracies. A Representative democracy, citizens elect others to represent them in government.
These representatives then make the decisions and pass laws on behalf of all the people. Despite the differences, modern democracies share the Athenian ideal of rule by the people.