Athens Essay To begin to write on the topic of Athens is a remarkably overwhelming and broad undertaking. The city turned empire had some of the most creative and groundbreaking advancements to human society the world has ever seen. The city was one surrounded by controversy, a rogue doing whatever it wanted in order to achieve this city created in the wake of the goddess of wisdom, Athena. Some loved it, some did not. While many sources documented the city in a variety of aspects, we looked at two, the Periclean Funeral Oration, as well as Pseudo-Xenophon on the Athenian Constitution. While both pose some extraordinary looks into the society, and government that was Athens, it’s hard to know to what degree of accuracy they have been written.
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Athens runs their government in such a way that allows the average citizen to be far better off, and have more rights when compared to people in other parts of the world. The idea being drawn out that if the little man feels like he’s appreciated, that his life has meaning and if he enjoys some aspects of leisure in his life, that he will be more likely to go along with democracy, and less likely to rise up in protest of the government. An example of one of the ways that Athens makes its citizens feel important, is through music and athletics. While these events may be led by the wealthy, may be funded by the wealthy, they are enjoyed by the masses. The citizens participate in the music as well the activities which serves a great way for them to feel important as well as a way for them to blow off steam and enjoy themselves. This is just of one of the factors that led the Athenian people to being on board with their democracy, something that Pseudo-Xenophon acknowledges as extraordinary. Another entity mentioned in detail is how it seems as though every man that’s not royalty, regardless of if he is a slave, soldier, sailor, stone cutter, whatever, has the ability to jump on a ship and row. With the Naval power being the strongest part of Athens’ military, this shows that if their fleet is depleted in battle, they still have a large reserve of people who would be able to assist with military
Athens runs their government in such a way that allows the average citizen to be far better off, and have more rights when compared to people in other parts of the world. The idea being drawn out that if the little man feels like he’s appreciated, that his life has meaning and if he enjoys some aspects of leisure in his life, that he will be more likely to go along with democracy, and less likely to rise up in protest of the government. An example of one of the ways that Athens makes its citizens feel important, is through music and athletics. While these events may be led by the wealthy, may be funded by the wealthy, they are enjoyed by the masses. The citizens participate in the music as well the activities which serves a great way for them to feel important as well as a way for them to blow off steam and enjoy themselves. This is just of one of the factors that led the Athenian people to being on board with their democracy, something that Pseudo-Xenophon acknowledges as extraordinary. Another entity mentioned in detail is how it seems as though every man that’s not royalty, regardless of if he is a slave, soldier, sailor, stone cutter, whatever, has the ability to jump on a ship and row. With the Naval power being the strongest part of Athens’ military, this shows that if their fleet is depleted in battle, they still have a large reserve of people who would be able to assist with military