Ancient Athens Dbq Analysis

Athens was not truly a democracy. The definition of democracy states that it is a system of government by the whole population. In ancient Athens the only people that were eligible to make decisions were citizen men. Women did not have the right to vote which contradicts the definitions of democracy. Only twelve percent of the Athens population were able to vote meaning that eighty-eight percent were left powerless. Metics were not even eligible to vote and they were a key part of Athens economy.

The following documents will argue why Athens was a democracy, and why the Greek city truly gave all the power it had to it’s citizens. All the following documents come from reputable sources and documents based from Ancient Athens and Greece itself..

In doc A paragraph two, I think that The Ancient Athens Democracy is democratic because it claims in the document that the Athens leader clearly respects his soldiers. This is noticed because he made a speech at a funeral for all of them that had died in the first year against Sparta’s soldiers.The leader did this to respectfully show his appreciation about how they fight for their democracy.

Athens was a Democracy because, sense they created Democracy then it is what they want it to be. For example, if you created the word “Welcome” and that word meant nothing in that point in time, then wouldn't you be able to use that word anyway you want and no one could argue it isn’t what you want to be. So if Athens created Democracy wouldn’t it be what they wanted it to be. I read in Document D all male landowner citizens come together in a small group and vote over future laws.

Athens and Rome were two powerful civilizations. Their impact still influence us today. About 500 BC, people were no longer considered subjects. They are now called citizens, and had to meet certain responsibilities. If you meet the requirements then you could be granted citizenship. Only certain people could be granted citizenship, and it was to be honored and protected. Athens had a better system then Rome, because the Athenians where more cautious and gave people equal chances for obtaining citizenship. They also did ostracism, and believed in The Old Oligarch.

Athens has a better citizenship system than Rome because they believed that every citizens place was to vote, citizen responsibilities were important in keeping a strong government, and equal rights were granted when you became a citizen.

Ancient Athens prided itself upon being a democratic society, but was it really? It's true that it was ruled by the people, however only a small percentage of people. Document C states that only 12 percent of people actually vote. And who are those 12 percent? The 12 percent of the whole population that voted was men whose parents were both citizens of the city (see Document B). Slaves, women, and resident foreigners were barred from voting.

The whole of the people, also, what the people want is democracy (Document D). Athens did allow the men to vote, the women, slaves, and metics were not allowed (Document B). The past shows the dictators or emperors have been men and in this case it is the same except with a vote. This voting is a simple assembly meeting to come to a common ground (Document E). This makes Athens classified as not democratic because it is not what all the people wanted.

The unifications of distinctive cities was justified by the communication and diffusion of various beliefs that brought the empires together (Doc. 3, 4 & 7). Under the Athenian laws, a philosopher by the name of Plato interpreted the gods of Athens to be the ones who have established the laws. The belief in the gods such as Zeus and Athena explains how the Athenians lived their life under the god’s “reign”. The gods initially settled laws and ideologies for the citizens of Athens to follow. In doing this, Athens is unified through one common belief in their gods and justified their actions through it (Doc 3). The philosopher, Han Fei, believed order and prosperity is only achieved by negative punishment when needed. He communicates that superiors

There are other reasons why Athens is truly not a democracy. They did not let women, children of citizens, metics, and slaves vote. This was made up of 88% or 210,335 of the population (Document C). Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding minors and women, free foreigners

What is democracy? Historians have, for a long time, kept this question in mind as they studied the methods and laws of the Ancient Athenians. After studying the given evidence it can be determined that Ancient Athens was not truly democratic.

I think that the ancient Athens was a democratic city. The reason that I believe that it’s a

Lastly, Democracy was combating the conception of “Lawlessness of Liberty”. (Document 3) This means that a democracy was seen as allowing corruption but it wasn’t, but it helped combat

Democracy. A democracy is a government which all the people of the state are involved in making decisions, such as voting for representatives. So was there a democracy that was set by the Athens? Or was it an oligarchy that represents how everyone is supposed to live. Although many say the athens lived a democratic life, the evidence says it itself, they didn’t.

When evaluating the government of ancient Athens, some might say that it was a democracy, however, it can be better described as an oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group of people has the power and control (Doc. D by Mogens Herman Hansen). A democracy takes all the citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account, unlike an oligarchy that only takes the male citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account. Thus, Athens is more similar to an oligarchy than a democracy. The people of Athens also decide as a whole what the best government for their city-state was, as opposed to a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions for them and their city-state. Athens could be seen as not a true democracy because of the lack of basic democratic rules and methods such as what they define democracy as, who is able to vote, and how they vote.