Athenian democracy

and views are considered in equal measure to each other. Yet are US citizens truly free? According to the ancient Greek city-state Athens, freedom was the privilege of being civically engaged in lawmaking and everyday governance of the community. Athenian citizens would scoff at the idea that freedom is the ability to pursue happiness and pleasures, because to them those pursuits were lazy and could be accomplished by mere slaves and or non-citizens and therefore were trivial in nature.…

During the period from 463BC to 451BC, the Athenian government underwent major transformations, forming it into an Empire with a new form of democratic government. These transformations were led by individuals such as Pericles and resisted by the conservative party in particular Cimon. Under Pericles’ leadership, laws were passed within the Athenian assembly which transformed their political system into a democratic government. The transformations within the government greatly benefited the…

Athenian Principles The Classical Age of Ancient Greece otherwise known as the Golden Age (ca. 480-430 B.C.E.), became the most creative period in the history of the world. A play called Antigone by Sophocles’, reflects the cultural values and characteristics of the Golden Age. The Golden Age of Greece featured civic pride in the society, a firm belief of realism and idealism, and a strong, tenacious patriarchal system and these qualities are shown in Antigone. After conquering the Persian…

Deception and misinformation play an important role during Thucydides’ account of the Sicilian Expedition. In reality, the whole expedition which leads to deception and destruction, could have been avoided if the Athenian Assembly had listened to Nicias’s plea. Sicily was indeed too far away to be subdued permanently, and the current state of Athens was more important. Many other Greek city states were looking for their opportunity to attack Athens, and this event would only weaken the empire…

funeral speech made by Pericles, a prominent Athenian politician. This speech was dictated, edited and transcribed by Thucydides, an Athenian historian and soldier in his written work, History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was given at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) and Thucydides fought in the war and lived and therefore wrote his works during the time of Pericles. The speech was made to boost the morale of the Athenian people and its military who needed…

Standing in front of the grieving Athenian people, Pericles must address the democratic nation in a way which will build up the comminuted and avoid isolating any one individual. In order to build up the democratic city, Pericles avoids praising the heroism of the fallen soldiers, but rather explores the notion of what it means to die for Athens. To pinpoint what it means to be Athenian citizen Pericles states, “In short, I say, that as a city we are the school…

The speech, “Funeral Oration”, was a eulogy written in the winter of 431-430 B.C.E. by Pericles who was the Athenian leader. Pericles delivered this speech to the survivors of the fallen who lost their lives fighting in the Peloponnesian War. Between 431 BC and 404 BC, the Peloponnesian War was fought between the Peloponnesian League, led by the Spartans, and Delian League, led by the Athenians. Sparta feared that Athens was becoming too powerful, leaving them no choice but to invade, defeating…

city’s wealth and empire during this time. The Golden Age of Athens is referring to the period where art and skills in the city were at their peak. Now at peace, Athens cultivated its city into its peak of cultural achievements. Pericles created an Athenian government that flourished. Athens achieved success in the arts such as physical art and in dramas. Athens reached new heights in intellectual achievement that proved it was the city’s Golden Age. Paragraph Outline #1 government TS: The…

society. Some cultures treated women with respect and even sometimes reverently. However, in other cultures, women were deemed weak and therefore inferior and incapable of being in control of their own lives. One of these cultures was the ancient Athenians. Women in ancient Athens were discriminated against in many ways, including the rights they were given and their representation, which affected how they were seen by the rest of the world as well as how they are perceived now. A great…

many forms of government (which also reflects their need not to gravitate to one extreme in terms of government), the Greeks are commonly known for the origination of Democracy, in Athens. The Athenian government was reformed many times until the 5th century, when they reached a form of democracy that fully represented all Athenian citizens. They were pushed to do so both from their appreciation of human nature, and their value of the middle class. In a writing by Aristotle titled Politics,…