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Direct Democracy in Ancient Athens

Directions: • Read the descriptions of direct democracy in Athens. • Answer the questions as you read! • Be sure to use evidence from the text in your response.

The Assembly

Ancient Athenians practiced direct democracy in several ways. The first way was through the general assembly. All citizens were able to vote, but first they would debate the issue. Anyone could choose to speak for or against a proposal, responding to the call “Who wishes to speak?” However, it was difficult to address a crowd of thousands, so often only the best speakers, called orators, would speak on different sides

of an issue. After the debate, citizens could vote using either a show of hands, writing their vote on a broken piece of pottery, or voting with either or black or white pebble. Usually there had to be at least 6,000 participating and if there weren’t enough men there, slaves with red ropes would be instructed to harness nearby folks to get them to the Pynx, or meeting place. If they had red on their robes, they could be fined. Later, however, pay for participation was introduced and this helped to get citizens there to vote and made sure that even poor citizens could take time away from work to participate. 1. How were decisions made in the general assembly?

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2. How did Athenians make sure that citizens showed up at the assembly?

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View  of  the  Pnyx  from  the  Observatory  with  the  Speaker’s  platform  (bema)  visible  right  of  center.      http://www.agathe.gr/democracy/the_ekklesia.html  

The Council of 500

In addition to the assembly, there was a council that met daily to set the agenda and carry-out day to day decisions. There were five hundred members that were randomly chosen, and each served as the leader, or “president” for a month. They met together in the circular Tholos and even ate there. Some of them were even expected to take turns living there as well. The Council of 500 were chosen randomly through a selection system. Names were randomly placed in slots in a device, and then small black and white marble balls were sent through a chute that would line up with the names. Citizens were chosen and not chosen based on whether or not they were placed next to a white or black marble. 3. How were “the assembly” and “council of 500” similar and different?

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The Juries

At first the assembly often acted as juries, groups of people who decided whether someone was guilty or not guilty of an accused crime or wrongdoing. Later, however, juries were created. Jury members were also randomly selected. There was oftentimes a minimum of 200 citizens, but there could be over 2,000. Juries were scattered across the city and the “courts.” Just like the Council of 500, jurors were randomly selected through a sorting machine to ensure fairness and equity. Jurors were also paid to participate. People defended themselves, but sometimes had orators speak on their behalf. Trials didn’t last longer than a day, and they kept the trials on time by using water clocks—tubes of water that kept time as they were emptied and poured out. Jurors voted by using bronze ballots and were selected through a jury allotment device like the one pictured here. Ten  rows  of  narrow  slots  were  used  to  hold  the  juror's  tickets.  The  hollow  tube  held  black  and  white  balls.  When  cranked,  a  black  or  white  ball  issued  forth,  determining  who  would  serve  that  day.  The  machine  assured  random  selection  of  the  jury  and  equal  tribal  representation. 4. What did juries do? How did they make sure the juries were fair? ______________________________________________________________________________

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Reconstruction  drawing  of  the  jury-­‐allotment  device  (kleroterion).  Agora  Museum  Archives.  According  to  Aristotle,  a  pair  of  such  kleroteria  stood  at  the  entrance  to  each  court  (Athenian  Constitution  63).  http://www.agathe.gr/democracy/the_jury.html  

Conditions for Direct Democracy

Atheninans were able to participate in direct democracy partly because the city state population was small enough to do so and wealthy enough to do so. Athenians depended heavily on slave labor, which freed them from work so that they had the time to meet, debate, and participate in government decisions. Later laws also required payment for participation in the assembly and juries so that they all citizens, no matter how rich or poor, could participate. While these conditions allowed greater participation, eligible citizens still only made up not more than 20 percent of the total populations because citizenship did not include women, slaves, or anyone who was not Athenian by birth. 5. What are the conditions of direct democracy?

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Protecting Democracy

Athenians took great measure to ensure fairness and equality in their direct democracy, such as secret balloting for jurors, random selection of assembly leaders, and participation in the generally assembly. They also took measure to make sure no tyranny developed by using a system called ostracism. If Athenians felt that one person was becoming to powerful or influential, once a year they could vote to have them leave Athens for ten years. Athenians protected freedom of speech, but even they had their limits, as witnessed by the untimely death of Socrates, an ancient philosopher who asked too many questions and who, according to many, became too influential. He was not just exiled (forced to leave the city-state for at least ten years), but sentenced to death by hemlock poison.

6. Why might someone be ostracized in Ancient Athens? ______________________________________________________________________________

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Bonus Activity: Do you think it was fair to exile people when citizens felt they had too much power? What else could the ancient Athenians do to prevent tyranny? Write your response on a separate piece of paper

If  someone  received  at  least  6,000  votes,  they  were  exiled.    This  was  also  known  as  ostracism.    First  a  vote  was  cast  by  simple  show  of  hands  majority.    Two  months  later,  the  citizens  would  meet  again  and  cast  votes  on  ballots.    The  ballots,  like  the  ones  to  the  left  were  names  written  on  broken  pieces  of  pottery.        http://www.agathe.gr/democracy/practice_of_ostracism.html