Athenian Democracy 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.

In ancient Athen their total population was 240,775, also in ancient Athens, the total number people allowed to vote is only 29,900. That is only 12% of the total population, this means that 88% of the total population does not have the right to vote. In Athens according to Professor Josiah Ober, “the only people allowed to vote are citizen men, everyone else including citizen women, children of citizens, metics, and slaves did not have to right to vote,” (Ober 5). This means the government in ancient Athens is not a Democracy because in a Democracy it states that either the whole population or all eligible members, meaning citizens, of the state can vote or they can elect representatives to vote. However, in ancient Athens the citizen men were not elected to vote, they just have the right to vote. This means the government isn’t a true Democracy because they didn’t elect

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

their high standards and they were not going to change it. Athenian was most criticized for being

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

Ancient Athens was truly democratic because everyone should have the equal justice of everyone else because we should all have equal rights. Also, an example is in document A: Our constitution favored the many instead of the few. This is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they give equal justice to all. I believe that everyone should have the rights to vote, not only men.

In my opinion Athens Life was not truly democratic for many reasons. For my first source I am going to use document c for evidence on my performance task. I would consider this type of government to be more of an oligarchy with just a few ruling a whole civilization out of 240,000. My first piece of evidence from (Doc C Paragraph Two Line 5), it states “therefore by our modern standards it is more of an oligarchy,” not a democracy.” This evidence supports my answer because it shows that they did invent democracy but it wasn’t truly a democracy because only the free males could rule or

I believe that Athens truly was a democracy. There are pieces of evidence and proof supporting that Athens ran on a Democratic Government.

Democracy is defined as “rule by the people”. The last paragraph of Document B says that the Athens elected all government officials through lot, not voting by the people. This is one reason that Ancient Athens cannot be considered truly democratic.

There are multiple reasons why ancient Athens was not a Democracy in its truest sense. In Document A of the Athenian constitution, it clearly states.. “ Our constitution favors the many instead of the few,’’ however, if that were accurate, why could only twelve percent of the population vote (Document C).The Philosopher, Plato, concluded that women should have the same education and hold all positions in society (Guided Reading Activity 1-2 question 10); this is the very same conundrum that the American government had to face back in the 1920’s (Amendment 19), and it still has not been completely addressed to this day. If the Athenian constitution had favored the many as it claimed than 100 percent of the population should been allowed to vote.

Government was a form of order among both the Athenian Democracy and the Roman Republic. It lead to a simple unification as a whole, causing their separate civilizations to prosper. It allowed the citizens to become a part of leadership that wasn’t so enforced from the beginning of civilization. Through agreements as a society joined together, they established firm laws and developed different systems that each reaped their own benefits. Each had similar yet contrasting outcomes through organization and development, leading to a new perspective for both governments. However, despite the fact both had exceptional ideas of government, the Athenian Democracy stands out as more prominent because they gave quality citizenships, they gave the opportunity for common men to participate in affairs, and they strictly enforced

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

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.

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City-State of Athens. This is actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens of the city-state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens’s collapse during the Peloponnesian War, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government.