Democracy In Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was the very first democracy in history, and their beliefs in Freedom and Liberty for their citizens. The two types of freedoms were political (Governed by their own laws), and individual (do what we want). Freedom is the Central theme associated with democracy. After Greece’s downfall, democracy was not known again till the American Revolution. History is made by Great People. The Father of history was a man by the name Herodotus who wrote about the Persian wars. The early revolt by the Ionians during the Persian Wars (499-494 B.C.) ignited the ideas of democracy, because of the fear of enslavement by the Persian King Darius I. The Greeks leader Miltiades resisted the Persians with a smaller number of soldiers by using strategic military tactics at the battle of Marathon. He strengthened his flank and lured the Persians in, and then surrounded them and attacked their flanks. King Darius had 26,000 soldiers and the Greek’s had 9,000 soldiers, and they still were successful. After King Darius I his son Xerxes returned and defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae (480 B.C.). During 480 B.C. the Greeks won an important naval battle, and the following year the Spartans defeated the Persians at Plataea which ended the …show more content…
Only they wanted to preserve this way of life. Only citizens were allowed these privileges, and only the Athenians were considered citizens. Pericles was in charge of the Athenians from (461-429 B.C.) and believed in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. He believed in equality of all citizens. Some of their rights were, trial by jury, Citizen Army, and freedom of speech. All adult males were part of the assembly. The Peloponnesian War was during Pericles’ time as the Athenian leader, and Greece was the only superpower of its time. Some of their Liberties are National, political, individual, and Economic