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

2. Aristocrats Rule Originally, kings ruled city-states.
Under Draco,
an aristocrat,
loitering was
punishable by
death!
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.
A government in which only a few people have power is called an oligarchy.

3. Today, laws that are seen as “too strict” are called “Draconian” after Draco.
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.
"community of free men who seek justice together rather than having it imposed upon them from a class of nobles.”
However, Athenians were still ready to end the oligarchy.
Discuss with
your neighbor
what an
oligarchy is.

4. The Rise of Tyrants
A tyranny is
a government
in which a
tyrant has
power.
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.

5. Talk to your neighbor about what it might be like to live under a tyrant.

6. Athens Creates Democracy
Under Cleisthenes’
rule, the first
democracy was
created.
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.

7. Democracy Under Cleisthenes
Women, slaves,
and foreigners
weren’t considered
citizens so they
couldn’t vote.
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.
Athenians would assemble
Athenians would debate
Athenians would vote

8. Remember! If you think the U.S. is so much better. . .
Some southern states did not let African Americans vote until the 1960s (Voting Rights Act 1965)
Women could not vote in the U.S. until 1920 (19th Amendment)
Eighteen year olds could not vote until the late 1970s.

9. Democracy Under Cleisthenes Cont.
Debates on Pnyx
were often noisy
and lacked
organization.
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.

10. Changes in Athenian Democracy
Pericles
encouraged
other parts
of Greece
to be
democratic.
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.

11. Democracy Ends in Athens
Nobody could
make decisions
without the king’s
approval.
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.
Democracy

12. Direct Democracy vs. Representative 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.
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.
U.S.
GREECE