2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Under this system, all male citizens - the dmos - had equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate directly in the political arena. In a democracy, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law. It was true that Cleisthenes demokratia abolished the political distinctions between the Athenian aristocrats who had long monopolized the political decision-making process and the middle- and working-class people who made up the army and the navy (and whose incipient discontent was the reason Cleisthenes introduced his reforms in the first place). (There were also no rules about what kinds of cases could be prosecuted or what could and could not be said at trial, and so Athenian citizens frequently used the dikasteria to punish or embarrass their enemies.). But what form of government, what constitution, should the restored Persian empire enjoy for the future? At best it was mere opinion, and almost always it was ill-informed and wrong opinion. They butchered and ate all their cattle, then boiled the hides. The Pontic troops had built other lunettes inside, but the Romans attacked each wall with manic energy. However, Plutarch drew on Sullas memoirs as a source, so these anecdotes may be unreliable; Sulla had an interest in denigrating his opponent.). This is a form of government which puts the power to rule in the hands of . Rome, which was preoccupied fighting its former Italian allies in the Social War (9188), failed to step in to settle matters, increasing resentment in Athens. It is understandable why Plato would despise democracy, considering that his friend and mentor, Socrates, was condemned to death by the policy makers of Athens in 399 BCE. But what did the development of Athenian democracy actually involve? The Pontic king sent his Greek mercenary, General Archelaus, into the Aegean with a fleet. "If history can provide a map of where we have been, a mirror to where we are right now and perhaps even a guide to what we should do next, the story of this period is perfectly suited to do that in our times," Dr. Scott said. Other city-states had, at one time or another, systems of democracy, notably Argos, Syracuse, Rhodes, and Erythrai. Athens, meanwhile, was devastated. World History Encyclopedia. Once near his target, Sulla moved to isolate Athens from Piraeus and besiege each separately. At the start of the century Athens, contrary to traditional reports, was a flourishing democracy. Critically, the emphasis on "people power" saw a revolving door of political leaders impeached, exiled and even executed as the inconstant international climate forced a tetchy political assembly into multiple changes in policy direction. Sulla eventually gained the upper hand, thanks to large devices that Appian said discharged twenty of the heaviest leaden balls at one volley. These missiles killed a large number of Pontic men and damaged their tower, forcing Archelaus to pull it back. 'So', persists Alcibiades, 'democracy is really just another form of tyranny?' One of the indispensable words we owe ultimately to the Greeks is criticism (derived from the Greek for judging, as in a court case or at a theatrical performance). The Roman leaders, he said, were prisoners, and ordinary Romans were hiding in temples, prostrate before the statues of the gods. Oracles from all sides predicted Mithridatess future victories, he said, and other nations were rushing to join forces with him. S2 ep4: What would a more just future look like? A mass slaughter followed. And its denouement is the Roman sack of Athens, a bloody day that effectively marked the end of Athens as an independent state. He and his allies then retreated to the Acropolis, which the Romans promptly surrounded. The name of "democracy" became an excuse to turn on anyone regarded as an enemy of the state, even good politicians who have, as a result, almost been forgotten. Blood flows in the narrow streets, as the Romans butcher the Athenianswomen and children included. The group made decisions by simple majority vote. It was too much. Actor posing as Socrates This demokratia, as it became known, was a direct democracy that gave political power to free male Athenian citizens rather than a ruling aristocratic read more, The amazing works of art and architecture known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World serve as a testament to the ingenuity, imagination and sheer hard work of which human beings are capable. A very clever example of this line of oligarchic attack is contained in a fictitious dialogue included by Xenophon - a former pupil of Socrates, and, like Plato, an anti-democrat - in his work entitled 'Memoirs of Socrates'. A marble relief showing the People of Athens being crowned by Democracy, inscribed with a law against tyranny passed by the people of Athens in 336 B.C. The word democracy (dmokratia) derives from dmos, which refers to the entire citizen body, and kratos, meaning rule. Athenian democracy refers to the system of democratic government used in Athens, Greece from the 5th to 4th century BCE. But without warning, it sank into the earth. Inevitably, there was some fallout, and one of the victims of the simmering personal and ideological tensions was Socrates. "There are grounds to consider whether we want to go down the same route that Athens did. In 129 BC, after Rome established its province of Asia, in western Anatolia across the Aegean, Delos became a trade hub for goods shipped between Anatolia and Italy. The third important institution was the popular courts, or dikasteria. In hard practical fact there was no alternative, and no alternative to hereditary autocracy, the system laid down by Cyrus, could seriously have been contemplated. Yet the religious views of Socrates were deeply unorthodox, his political sympathies were far from radically democratic, and he had been the teacher of at least two notorious traitors, Alcibiades and Critias. Demagogue meant literally 'leader of the demos' ('demos' means people); but democracy's critics took it to mean mis-leaders of the people, mere rabble-rousers. In an effort to remain a major player in world affairs, it abandoned its ideology and values to ditch past allies while maintaining special relationships with emerging powers like Macedonia and supporting old enemies like the Persian King. The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the sovereign governing body of Athens. After all, at the time of writing, Athens was the greatest single power in the entire Greek world, and that fact could not be totally unconnected with the fact that Athens was a democracy. Of all the democratic institutions, Aristotle argued that the dikasteria contributed most to the strength of democracy because the jury had almost unlimited power. When a Roman ram breached part of the walls of Piraeus, Sulla directed fire-bearing missiles against a nearby Pontic tower, sending it up in flames like a monstrous torch. They therefore in a sense deserved the political pay-off of mass-biased democracy as a reward for their crucial naval role. The result was a series of domestic problems, including an inability to fund the traditional police force. The answer lies in a dramatic tale starring the demagogue Athenion, a mindless mob, a tyrant, and a brutal Roman general. By Athenian democratic standards of justice, which are not ours, the guilt of Socrates was sufficiently proven. Athenion at first feigned a reluctance to speak because of the sheer scale of what is to be said, according to Posidonius. Why, to start with, does he not use the word democracy, when democracy of an Athenian radical kind is clearly what he's advocating? Sulla had reason to let Mithridates off easyhe was anxious to deal with his political opponents back in Rome. One night Sulla personally reconnoitered that stretch of wall, which was near the Dipylon Gate, the citys main entrance. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. laborers forced into bondage over debt, and the middle classes who were excluded from government, while not alienating the increasingly wealthy landowners and aristocracy. It was this body which supervised any administrative committees and officials on behalf of the assembly. Not all the Anatolian Greeks wanted to do the dirty work: the citizens of the inland town of Tralles hired an outsidera man named Theophilusto kill for them. This was because, in theory, a random lottery was more democratic than an election: pure chance, after all, could not be influenced by things like money or popularity. An early example of the Greek genius for applied critical theory was their invention of political theory, probably some time during the first half of the fifth century BC. With winter coming on, Sulla established his camp at Eleusis, 14 miles west of Athens, where a ditch running to the sea protected his men. Ancient Greece saw a lot of philosophical and political changes soon after the end of the Bronze Age. The main interest for us centres on the arguments of the first speaker, in favour of what he calls isonomy, or equality under the laws. Chiefly because of a fatal ambiguity: to its opponents democracy was no more, and no better, than mob-rule, since for them it meant the political power of the masses exercised over and at the expense of the elite. After suitable discussion, temporary or specific decrees (psphismata) were adopted and laws (nomoi) defined. known for its art, architecture and philosophy. Chronological order of government in ancient Athens. His influence and that of his best pupil Aristotle were such that it was not until the 18th century that democracy's fortunes began seriously to revive, and the form of democracy that was then implemented tentatively in the United States and, briefly, France was far from its original Athenian model. Greek Bronze Ballot DisksMark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA). Athenions fate is not clear. It only hastened Athens' eventual defeat in the war, which was followed by the installation at Sparta's behest of an even narrower oligarchy than that of the 400 - that of the 30. This money was only to cover expenses though, as any attempt to profit from public positions was severely punished. As the Pontic general Archelaus persuaded other Greek cities to turn against Romeincluding Thebes to the northwest of AthensAristion established a new regime in Athens. He disappears from the historical record; Aristion must have deposed him. Jurors were paid a wage for their work, so that the job could be accessible to everyone and not just the wealthy (but, since the wage was less than what the average worker earned in a day, the typical juror was an elderly retiree). At the kings order, the locals slaughtered tens of thousands of Romans and Italians who lived among them.