The forms of government in Ancient Thebes and Ancient Athens were antithetical, with Thebes having an absolute dictatorship and Athens having a pure, direct democracy. Nevertheless, both of these forms of government ultimately failed, as Sophocles demonstrates in his play, Antigone, and Thucydides demonstrates in his book, History of the Peloponnesian War. Together, these two works teach modern society that neither a pure democracy nor a pure dictatorship can be a successful political system due to inherent fatal flaws in each system. In the Athenian democracy, where every male citizen over 18 years of age received an equal vote in making decisions, the system failed since powerful speakers easily persuaded the Athenian assembly into rashly
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At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were under the leadership of Pericles, a man whom Thucydides describes as “the foremost Athenian and the most able in speech or action.” Due to the respect that Athenians had for Pericles, he served as a quasi-executive to the assembly and was able to guide them to decide on an effective war strategy with the Peloponnesians. When he speaks to the assembly, Pericles is able to persuade them to allow the Spartans to destroy their farms and land, saying, “We mustn’t cry over our land and farms ... and prove to the Peloponnesians that you will never surrender in order to save your land.” This was an effective war strategy, as the Athenians were much stronger on sea than on land. Although this was not an attractive strategy, as none of the Athenians wanted to lose their land, Pericles was able to persuade them to follow this strategy due to his ability to guide the assembly. Under his leadership, the government and Athens functioned well, demonstrating that a direct democracy with sufficient checks is an effective form of government. However, once the Athenians oust Pericles and become a pure democracy without sufficient checks, the ability of the assembly to wisely act dramatically decreases and causes them to vote for decisions such as the Sicilian expedition, ultimately causing them to lose the Peloponnesian
At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were under the leadership of Pericles, a man whom Thucydides describes as “the foremost Athenian and the most able in speech or action.” Due to the respect that Athenians had for Pericles, he served as a quasi-executive to the assembly and was able to guide them to decide on an effective war strategy with the Peloponnesians. When he speaks to the assembly, Pericles is able to persuade them to allow the Spartans to destroy their farms and land, saying, “We mustn’t cry over our land and farms ... and prove to the Peloponnesians that you will never surrender in order to save your land.” This was an effective war strategy, as the Athenians were much stronger on sea than on land. Although this was not an attractive strategy, as none of the Athenians wanted to lose their land, Pericles was able to persuade them to follow this strategy due to his ability to guide the assembly. Under his leadership, the government and Athens functioned well, demonstrating that a direct democracy with sufficient checks is an effective form of government. However, once the Athenians oust Pericles and become a pure democracy without sufficient checks, the ability of the assembly to wisely act dramatically decreases and causes them to vote for decisions such as the Sicilian expedition, ultimately causing them to lose the Peloponnesian