Government in Athens Key Terms *democracy *aristocrats *oligarchy *citizens *tyrant *Pericles

Aristocrats Rule Originally, kings ruled city-states. Later, a group of aristocrats, or rich landowners, took power. Under the aristocrats, laws were too strict and other Athenians disliked them. Under Draco, an aristocrat, loitering was punishable by death! A government in which only a few people have power is called an oligarchy. Talk to your neighbor about the geography of Greece.

Aristocrats Rule Cont. With such strict laws, Solon (SOH-luhn) tried to fix them by making everyone a citizen, or someone who had the right to participate in government. However, Athenians were still ready to end the oligarchy. Today, laws that are seen as “too strict” are called “Draconian” after Draco. Discuss with your neighbor what an oligarchy is.

The Rise of Tyrants Eventually, the oligarchy was overthrown by a tyrant, Peisistratus (py-SIS- truht-uhs). A tyrant is a person who held power through force. In ancient Greece, tyrants were good leaders, unifying the city and improving Athens. Today, the word tyrant usually describes a negative, harsh ruler. A tyranny is a government in which a tyrant has power. Talk to your neighbor about what it might be like to live under a tyrant.

Athens Creates Democracy Unfortunately, aristocrats came into power again after Peisistratus died. It remained this way until Cleisthenes (KLYS-thuh- neez) took power. Cleisthenes was a member of a rich family set to take power. However, he had different plans for Athens. Cleisthenes called upon his people to help overthrow the oligarchy once and for all. Under Cleisthenes’ rule, the first democracy was created.

Democracy Under Cleisthenes All citizens had the right and were urged to assemble to participate in the making of laws. Citizens gave speeches and debates on issues. After speeches were over, voting took place. Women, slaves, and foreigners weren’t considered citizens so they couldn’t vote. Athenians would assemble Athenians would debate Athenians would vote

Democracy Under Cleisthenes Cont. Voting was usually done by show of hands. For major decisions, 6,000 citizens were needed to vote. As you can imagine, it was difficult at times to find 6,000 people to come vote. To make it easier, citizens were selected to serve on a smaller council which decided on laws to discuss. Voting took place on Pnyx (pah-NIKS), a small hill that sometimes held 6,000 people. Debates on Pnyx were often noisy and lacked organization.

Changes in Athenian Democracy Citizens began to gain power by serving on juries to decide court cases. Democracy flourished when Pericles was in power. Pericles felt that participating in the government was as important as defending Athens in war. Pericles even paid citizens to serve the government. Pericles encouraged other parts of Greece to be democratic.

Democracy Ends in Athens Athens was conquered by Macedonia to the north. The Macedonian king ruled like a dictator, or a ruler who rules all. The assembly still met, but didn’t do anything to upset the king, making it so citizens had very little say again. Eventually, Athenian democracy was lost forever. Nobody could make decisions without the king’s approval. Democracy Talk to your neighbor about why you think the assembly was afraid to speak up against the new king.

Direct Democracy vs. Representative Democracy Representative Democracy The United States is a representative democracy. Citizens elect officials to represent them. Elected officials meet to make laws and enforce them. For example, the United States have senators and congressmen to represent and vote for us. Direct Democracy Ancient Greece was a direct democracy. All citizens represented themselves directly and could participate in government and voting. Citizens themselves would gather and discuss issues. The population of ancient Greece was large, but still small enough to have a government in place that allowed all citizens to debate and vote. GREECE U.S.