Democracy: A New Idea in Ancient

Greece
By History.com, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.25.17
Word Count 650
Level 830L

A painting of the city of Athens showing the buildings ordered built by the ruler Pericles. It was painted by Leo von Klenze in
1846 and is called "Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areus Pagus in Athens."

About 2,500 years ago, a man named Cleisthenes introduced political changes in
ancient Greece. He called his new system democracy, or "rule by the people." It
was made up of three separate groups. The first was the ekklesia, which made
laws. The second was the boule, a group of people chosen to represent the ten
tribes in Athens, Greece. The third group was the dikasteria, the popular courts
where citizens argued cases. Although this democracy would last for only 200
years, it was one of ancient Greece's most important contributions to the modern
world.

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A new system

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that everyone is equal in a democracy.

Before Cleisthenes introduced his changes, the richest people in Athens
controlled the government. Democracy opened it up to the poorer people who
made up the army and navy. However, not everyone was allowed to take part in
the political process. This privilege was still limited to a small part of the
population. At the time, there were about 100,000 citizens in Athens, along with
150,000 slaves. But only male citizens older than 18 were allowed to be part of
the democracy. This group of male citizens was known as the demos.

The ekklesia

Athenian democracy was made up of three important groups. The first was the
ekklesia, the group of lawmakers. Any member of the demos was welcome to go
to the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times a year in an auditorium
on a hill. Only about 5,000 men went to each meeting of the ekklesia. The rest
were serving in the army or navy or working to support their families. At the
meetings, the ekklesia made decisions about war and wrote and revised laws. The
group made decisions by voting.

The boule

The second important group was the boule, or Council of Five Hundred. The boule
was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of the 10 tribes in Athens. Each member
served on the council for one year. The boule managed government workers and
was in charge of things like navy ships and army horses. Its main job was to
decide what problems the ekklesia would talk about at its meetings. In this way,
the 500 members determined how the entire democracy would work.

The members of the boule were not chosen through elections. Instead, they were
chosen through a random lottery. In other words, it was just as likely that one
person would be chosen to serve on the boule as another. The ancient Greeks
used a lottery because it was supposed to be more democratic. After all, pure
chance could not be influenced by money or popularity. However, historians argue
that selection to the boule was not always just a matter of chance. In fact, rich
people served on the council much more frequently than would be likely in a truly
random lottery.

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The dikasteria

The third important group was the dikasteria, or the popular courts. Every day,
more than 500 jurors were chosen by lottery from a group of male citizens. The
jurors listened to cases and made decisions about who was guilty or not guilty.
They all voted to decide punishments.

Jurors were paid for their work. This was so that the job could be open to
everyone and not just the rich. Since Athenians did not pay taxes, most of the
money came from contributions from allies and other sources. The only money
that came from Athenians was the liturgy. This was money that rich people
volunteered to give to support important projects.

The end of Athenian democracy

Over time, Athenian democracy started to change. It began to develop into

something known as an aristocracy. This is when a small group of powerful people
rule over a country. Although the idea of democracy did not last in ancient
Greece, it has continued to influence lawmakers and governments ever since.

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