Trial by Jury
Greek
Columns
Greek
Architecture
Fables and Legends
Greek
Myths
Comedy, Tragedy, Satire, Theatre
The Olympics
Roots of
Democracy
Ancient
Greece Hall of Fame
The earliest Greek civilizations thrived nearly 4,000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks lived in Greece and the countries that we now call Bulgaria and Turkey.
The Greek Empire was most p
Each state had its own laws, government and money but they shared the same language and reli
The influence of the Ancient Greeks are still felt by us today. The major impact in our lives today are in the arts, in philosophy, and in science, math, literature and politics.
Trial by Jury
Greek Myths
Democracy
The word 'democracy' is Greek. It means 'government by the people. We have a form of democracy in Britain, and this is a legacy of the Athenians and their
Acropolis in Greek means "The Sacred Rock, the high city". All around the world
the Acropolis of Athens is known as 'The Acropolis'. There are many Acropolises
in Greece but the Acropolis of Athens is the best known. The Acropolis is
primarily dedicated to the Goddess Athena. But humans from the prehistoric era
have populated the Acropolis and the caves around it. Situated in the middle of
Athens, many myths, festivals and important events are connected to the sacred
Acropolis. The Acropolis echoes the grandeur and the power of the Athenian
empire....
The ancient Greeks developed new ideas for government, science, philosophy, religion, and art.
The influence of the Ancient Greeks are still felt by us today. The major impact in our lives today are in the arts, in philosophy, and in science, math, literature and politics.
Trial by Jury
Greek Myths
Democracy
The word 'democracy' is Greek. It means 'government by the people. We have a form of democracy in Britain, and this is a legacy of the Athenians and their assemblies and councils.
Tragedy and Comedy
he first two letters of the Greek alphabet - alpha and beta - have given us the word 'alphabet'.
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.
There's a theory that the word demokratia was coined by democracy's enemies, members of the rich and aristocratic elite who did not like being outvoted by the common herd, their social and economic inferiors.
By the time of Aristotle (fourth century BC) there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece in those times was not a single political entity but rather a collection of some 1,500 separate poleis or 'cities' scattered round the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores 'like frogs around a pond', as Plato once charmingly put it.
cities that were not democracies
power was in the hands of the few richest citizens
monarchies, called 'tyrannies' in cases where the sole ruler had usurped power by force rather than inheritanc
most stable,
most long-lived,
most radical, was Athens.
origin of the Athenian democracy of the fifth and fourth centuries can be traced back to Solon,
flourished
600 BC.
was a poet and a wise statesman
but not - contrary to later myth - a democrat.
Solon's constitutional reform package that laid the basis on which democracy could be pioneered
Cleisthenes was the son of an Athenian, but the grandson and namesake of a foreign Greek tyrant
also the brother-in-law of the Athenian tyrant, Peisistratus,
eized power three times
before finally establishing a stable and apparently benevolent dictatorship.
Interesting insight on the beginning of democracy.
nder this political system that Athens successfully resisted the Persian onslaughts of 490 and 480/79
victory in turn encouraged the poorest Athenians to demand a greater say in the running of their city
Ephialtes and Pericles presided over a radicalisation of power that shifted the balance decisively to the poorest sections of society
he democratic Athens that won and lost an empire,
built the Parthenon,
eschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides and Aristophanes
laid the foundations of western rational and critical thought
was not, of course, without internal critics
when Athens had been weakened by the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431-404) these critics got their chance
n 411 and again in 404 Athenian oligarchs led counter-revolutions that replaced democracy with extreme oligarchy
oligarchs were supported by Athens's old enemy, Sparta
mpossible to maintain themselves in power
democracy was restored
'blips' such as the trial of Socrates - the restored Athenian democracy flourished stably and effectively for another 80 years
There were no proper population censuses in ancient Athens,
total population of fifth-century Athens, including its home territory of Attica, at around 250,000 - men, women and children, free and unfree, enfranchised and disenfranchised. Of those
250,000 some 30,000 on average were fully paid-up citizens -
adult males of Athenian birth and full status
second key difference is the level of participation.
representative
we choose politicians to rule for us
Athenian
democracy
was direct
and in-your-face.
most officials and all jurymen were selected by lot.
This was thought to be the democratic way, since election favoured the rich, famous and powerful over the ordinary citizen.
mid fifth century, office holders, jurymen, members of the city's main administrative Council of 500, and even Assembly attenders were paid a small sum from public funds to compensate them for time spent on political service away from field or workshop.
eligibility
adult male citizens need apply for the privileges and duties of democratic government, and a birth criterion of double descent - from an Athenian mother as well as father -
Athenian democracy did not happen only in the Assembly and Council. The courts were also essentially political spaces, located symbolically right at the centre of the city.
defined the democratic citizen as the man 'who has a share in (legal) judgment and office'.
Athenian drama,
was a fundamentally political activity as well,
One distinctively Athenian democratic practice that aroused the special ire of the system's critics was the practice of ostracism -
potsherd
rom the Greek word for
decide which leading politician should be exiled for ten years
on a piece of broken pottery.
voters scratched or painted the name of their preferred candidate
6,000 citizens had to 'vote' for an ostracism to be valid,
biggest
political
risked being fried
For almost 100 years ostracism fulfilled its function of aborting serious civil unrest or even civil war
Power to the people, all the people, especially the poor majority, remained the guiding principle of Athenian democracy.
When he finally
came home, his dad got him a job in the royal court in nearby
Macedonia as a tutor to the young prince Alexander.
They taught him the art of war.
Artistotle taught him to admire and respect the Greek
culture. Artistotle was only Alexander's tutor for 3 years,
but he had an enormous affect on the young prince, so much so
that
Alexander soon
convinced himself that his father, King Phillip II of Macedonia, was not his real
father at all.
Alexander was 19 years old, his father (King
Phillip II) was
assassinated. Alexander took over as king of Macedonia in 336 BC. Alexander quickly pulled together all of Macedonia under his leadership.
Alexander turned his attention to the massive Persian Empire.
By the time Alexander was 25 years old, against incredible odds,
and in only six years, Alexander had become
not only the king of Macedonia, but also the leader of the Greeks, overlord of
Asia Minor, pharaoh of Egypt, and the great king of Persia.
Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and
creating an empire that stretched across three continents, and covered around
two million square miles. The entire area from Greece in the west, north to the
Danube, and south into Egypt, and as far to the east as the Indian Punjab, was
linked together in a vast international network of trade and commerce. This
network was
united by a common Greek language and culture."
As a scholar, Alexander felt it was his mission
to spread the Greek culture.
schools everywhere he went to teach Greek philosophy and the
Greek language.
Alexander adopted many of the customs of the local people
he conquered,
blending their culture with the Greek culture.
established
hospitals, built fortified cities, and created the largest library in the
ancient world at Alexandria.