Democracy in Ancient Greece
For more than two centuries the Athens was a pre-eminent power at the Mediterranean. This empire of the Athens was made up of 172 states that paid tribute and were entirely controlled by the Aegean. Athens had a lot of wealth which was in terms of literature, architecture, politics, art and philosophy which still is a source of inspiration to many in the whole world. Till the start of the 6th century, Athenians were ruled by generals and aristocrats. The peoples position on the hierarchy relied on their level of wealth, which caused the idea that poor people in the society had no rights. At that point in time Lycurgus was in charge of the Spartan state and he was spearheading the legal systems reforms. Consequently, in Athens there was a deepening political crisis that had rendered may bankrupt due to their effort to trade with everything they owned in order to get food whose scarcity was enhanced by the rapidly growing population. This crisis was solved when a poet as well as a law giver Solon came in to power, he formed the first basis of democracy in Athens by declaring that all citizens were equal by law and he abolished the inheriting of privileges from parent. He further ordered the cancellation of all agricultural related debts and he also freed all the slaves. It is still under this system that the Athens successfully took the lead in the Marathon and Salmis battles through the resistance against the Persians (Raaflaub, Ober and Wallace, 2007, 100).
In 561 B.C, Pisistratus, a former leader in the military took over the rule in place of Solon. He rewarded peasants in the society by giving them land confiscated from families that were wealthier. Pisistratus also encouraged people to undertake trade and get involved in programs that enhanced their economy. He initiated the building of religious centers as well as encouraging the introduction of religious festivals. Hippias, his eldest son succeeded him. Hippias was similar to his father in terms of administration. However, when Hippias brother Hipparchus was killed he became suspicious and nervous. The Sparta in support of the Delphi clan took advantage of the same by attacking the Athenians hence deposing Hippia who ran to Persia. Cleomenes who was the leader of the clan took over the position but still he was under great opposition from Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes took an unprecedented initiative by seeking his political support from the citizens which he won. In 508 B.C., he established a political organization that allowed the citizens to be more powerful and involved them in the direct duty of running the businesses of the city state. The new organization was known as demokratia a Greek word for democracy, which meant a rule led by the total citizens body (Cartledge, 2004, 50). He divided the entire Athenian society into ten tribes which replaced the initial four formed by Solon. The tribes had names for fallen local heroes and they included Aegeis, Leontis, Oeneis, Erechthesis, Pandianis, Acamantis, Hippothontis, Cecropsis, Antiochis and Aeantis.
The archons and aropagus continued but he revised the four hundred council created by Solon and changed it to a five hundred council in which every tribe contributed fifty members. The tribes shared common activities in terms of religion and they were fighting as regimental units. This ensured that no region was dominant in a tribe as well as assured increased devotion. To ensure accountability and effectiveness each group of fifty men form each tribe carried out executive and administrative functions for a tenth of a year. However, the council had no power to declare war rather it was the duty of the entire citizen assembly. The assembly carried out four meeting every year where the first meeting tackled issues on ostracisms, corn supply, officials qualifications, security and defense. In the second meeting they tackled any issues arising, while in the third and fourth meetings they had debates on foreign, secular and religious affairs. Finally, he reformed the military by requiring and ensuring the every tribe supplied horsemen as well as hoplite regiments (Gill, 2009, 6).
In 461 B.C. Pericles came into power and he established the concept of democracy by building huge architectural monuments for instance the Parthenon to hire employees and to symbolize the Athens majesty. He was a brilliant statesman who ruled for fifty years hence that period was considered the Golden Age for the Greeks since they had embraced civilization. Pericles collaborated with Ephialtes to ensure that there was a shift of balance in terms of power to the poorest segment of the society.
During that period Parthenon was constructed in Acropolis which made Acropolis an intellectual, cultural, artistic and commercial city in the Hellenic world. Through the leadership of Pericles the Athenians continued with their battles against the Persian thereby liberating the Aegean islands as well as the Ionian Greek cities at the Asia Minor. Together with their allies at the Delo Island, the Athens also formed the Delian League by forcing all the people through threats and swearing an oath. They raided the Persians land enable setting freedom to the seas which were under pirates. The enemies of the Athens became fewer and hence everyone in the league started devoting the resources they had to endeavors that were peace oriented. This guaranteed the power of the Athens hence influencing their neighboring members to do the best for them. This was evident by how they made payment to Athens so that they could maintain the fleet. This money was used to build monuments and temples of the city. In some situations the residents of the Thassos Island rebelled against making the set payment which led to attacks by the Athens. In 454 B.C. Pericles initiated the movement of Delos treasury to Acropolis to enable the safer keeping of their treasures. The democratic Athens was also able to give a stage to Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes which formed the foundations upon which the critical thoughts and western rational were laid.
However, the democratic system had several internal critics who emphasize their negativity about democracy in occasions when the Athens got weak. For instance during the Peloponnesian War between 431 and 404 B.C., many catastrophes were experienced giving the conservatives an opportunity to prove that democracy was not the best option. Further, the Athenian oligarchs in 411 and 404 B.C. caused counter revolutions that enabled oligarchy to replace democracy to the extreme. The 404 B.C. oligarchs were upheld by Sparta one of Athens oldest enemies. However, the Athens oligarchs were unable to maintain and retain their position in power and just after twelve months or so democracy was gotten back. For the first time in history, a declaration of general amnesty was made as well as the notorious trial of Socrates. The democracy restored flourished effectively and with stability for over eighty years.
Lastly, in 322 B.C., the Macedonian Kingdom had risen through Philip and Alexander the Great who was Philips son and became the suzerain of all the Greece. The Kingdom brought to an end a portion of the most ever successful experiments in self-government for the citizens. Due to this enormous growth, many states viewed Athens as a threat. There arouse differences between Athens and Sparta which led to the Peloponnesian Wars, which were the longest wars of Antiquity. This led to the defeat of Athens thereby marking the end of the classical period (Martin, 2009, 100).
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