Athens was famous for being the purest, most extreme form of democracy in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The constitution of Athens progressed in time moving from harsh laws, as written by Draco, to more lenient once. However, the Athenian Constitution was not written down on a piece of paper; according to Roderick T. Long it was ‘to speak of the way the Athenian policy was constituted, i.e., what the structure of the political system was.’ Yet despite this, The Athenian constitution has been noted down partly by Aristotle during the classical period 500- 323 BC as well as other Ancient Historians such as Pericles or Thucydides. The Constitution of Athenians is known mainly due to Aristotle giving evidence at the end of his Nicomachean Ethics, stating that his Politics would be based in part on the “collected
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The advocates of the Constitution believed the poor ruled the majority and thought that the best way to balance the interests of both factions (rich and poor) was to design this constitution. However, there was a blatant error. The notion of a constitutional republic being favoured was correct, yet the mistake was in thinking that a combination of democracy and oligarchy was the best way to implement the republican ideal. As pointed out by a man named Athenagoras, a spokesmen for democracy of Thucydides, ‘demokratia — rule by the people — means empowering the people as a whole, not just the majority’. The idea behind the Mixed constitution was ideal however not beneficial at that point in time not lasting as long as one would hope ‘The constitution of the 5,000 established at Athens in 411, even if it did not last long itself, seems to have had a considerable impact on political theory.’
The advocates of the Constitution believed the poor ruled the majority and thought that the best way to balance the interests of both factions (rich and poor) was to design this constitution. However, there was a blatant error. The notion of a constitutional republic being favoured was correct, yet the mistake was in thinking that a combination of democracy and oligarchy was the best way to implement the republican ideal. As pointed out by a man named Athenagoras, a spokesmen for democracy of Thucydides, ‘demokratia — rule by the people — means empowering the people as a whole, not just the majority’. The idea behind the Mixed constitution was ideal however not beneficial at that point in time not lasting as long as one would hope ‘The constitution of the 5,000 established at Athens in 411, even if it did not last long itself, seems to have had a considerable impact on political theory.’