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Essay on greek democracy
Essay on greek democracy
ancient greek culture essay
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The Greek culture served as a frame for many aspects of Western life, one of which is government. They are the first culture that we know of that created a true democracy. They were incredible thinkers, people nowadays could never have thought of such reason. Without their thoughts and ideas our modern day government would not be as powerful as it is currently.
The Greeks were highly sophisticated thinkers and had a marvelous sense of imagination. They were the first culture to figure out a democratic form of government. The people of their time had no science for explanation; instead they used imagination and logic that was pure genius (Hagroth 1). Greeks had a lot of different governments because there were many city- states each with their own government. Aristotle divided each government into monarchies, tyrannies, and democracies. Countries still use these forms of government today. In 520 the city-state of Athens created their first democratic government, soon other Greek city-states imitated them (Carr 2). The first Constitution of Greece came into being during the First National Assembly of Epidaurus, which voted, on January 1st, 1822, the "Temporary Constitution of Greece". The Constitution of 1822 consisted of 110 short paragraphs, broken down into titles and sections, according to the French model. It was entitled "Temporary Constitution of Greece" because the authors were afraid of the reaction of the Holy Alliance (Artkreta 1). Greece still continues to improve their government system today by revising or rewriting their constitution. Most of their ideas were the beginnings of our modern day society.
Modern society has a democracy for our main form of government. Most of the ideas came from John Lock. He saw how the Roman Empire was great, and used their ideas for a government; of course the Romans got their ideas from the Greeks (Tocqueville 4). The idea of our jury came from the Greeks idea of choosing lots from a body of 6,000 citizens. Eventually they got around to the divine right of all citizens to approach government. But like our society was women, children, foreigners, and slaves were not allowed to vote, or take part in government. By the late fourth century every citizen could perform political practices to make society work more democratically (Kane 4, 6). The modern house and senate today came from the magistrates of their time. There were 350 magistrates chosen by a lot from all qualified candidates who put in their names (Jones 1).
One important contribution of Ancient Greek to the Western Culture is Democracy. The very term itself is of Greek derivation, meaning "People’s Rule". Unlike modern states which call themselves "Democratic". For example, Pericles Funeral Oration gave the greatest contribution to our today’s society. In .(Doc. 2) Pericles stated "Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few". Because of this quote it has contributed the society tremendously due to the fact that the democratic society is a direct democracy. Yet in a way, people have the power to overthrow other powerful representatives; Pericles Funeral Oration, gave us the idea of keeping the civilization as a democracy rather than Oligarchy, Monarchy, and many more. Moreover, Solon an Athenian tyrant discussed his thought about democracy. In .(doc. 4) Solon stated, "I drew up laws for bad and good alike, and set straight justice over each". Solon reveals that he has created laws for the good of others. He wanted every individual having the ...
The Ancient Greeks were the first to put the power of a nation in the hands of the average citizen, they created the idea of the democratic government, practiced as a direct democracy. Voting, political assembly, and official citizenship are all concepts that can be traced back to Classical Grecian ideas .The Romans developed the concept of the representative democracy .This was best exemplified by the Roman Senate. The upper house of the US Congress is the Senate in ode to this ancient ideal. Although American Democracy is defined as a Representative Democracy, that is to say citizens elect those who make decisions, they owe a great deal to Greek ideas and concepts.
In Athens, democracy was created as a government ruled by the people, for the people, the same way the U.S.’s government was created. It was also influenced by the three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial, and adopted that into their government. In Athens, there were even juries during court cases. One of the most important things about the democracy of Athens was how even the poorest man could be in office and be part of the government. In the U.S., this is also true and further proves how it strives to be the a more free government. The United States’s government has changed over time, but it still is very similar to the democracy of Athens and it is obvious how much the U.S. was influenced by it.
Greece and Rome has contributed greatly to The U.S. government, providing the concept of democracy as a whole. In ancient Rome men can “vote for people to represent them” and the voted people became the “senate” (Document 5). Having a democracy run this way made it convenient and made sure everyone had a say, even in a large area. Ruling such a large area made it harder to stay on the same track, which is why the Romans also created “a code of laws” (Document 6). This shows in our government today
The Government of the Athenian people had a large impact on western civilizations. In document three, Pericles states his beliefs about democracy. Pericles states that he believes all men that have the opportunity to take a part in their government should. America, a western civilization was greatly influenced by the Greek government. First of all, everyone has the opportunity to vote or to take part in his or her government. Second of all, People are not discriminated by social class or racial class in America. Lastly, In America, all the power is not given to one person. We have a president and congress to make sure one person does not have much power. Along with political come many other contributions from Greece.
The U.S. government has many things in common with the ancient governments of Athens and Sparta. Athens and Sparta both had branches of their government that carried out different responsibilities, just like the U.S. has today. One branch of government passed the laws while the other carried out the laws (Beck et al. 131, 134). However, in Athens, there was also a judicial branch that conducted trials with paid jurors (Beck et al. 134). The U.S. has all three of these branches. Although these ideas for the government could’ve been taken from any number of places, the Athenians developed the first known form of democracy, and all others evolved from theirs. Therefore, the U.S. government had to have been based off the ancient Athenian democracy. Anyone involved in government first had to get an education, and that education was given to them because of the discoveries Greek scholars made in ancient times.
Greece and Rome’s governments included many democratic aspects that continue to be used in modern
Sparta and Athens both had Oligarchies between the 7th century B.C and 5th century B.C. Until Cleisthenes reformed Athens and installed a new council of 500, that proposed laws that the assembly would vote on. Spartan oligarchy had a council of elders that consisted of two kings and 28 men over the age of 60 who had served in the Spartan military. This differed from a democracy because the assembly did not make laws, but just passed them. There was also no open debate or discussion. These governments and political institutions although we're both expressions of hellenic culture, manifested because of the virtues and cultures of Athens and Sparta as well as their history. Athens became a democracy because of its openness to new ideas and great education, as well as the enslavement of the Athenian farmers via debt. In the Age of Pericles, Athens flourished culturally and politically. They had a direct democracy and had seen the growth of the arts and intellect divisions. When the
The origin of Athenian democracy can be followed back to Solon who “is one of the most revered figures in Greek history” because of his wisdom, integrity and political skills writes John Lewis (2008, p.1). Known as the lawgiver of Athens, he created the first constitution “when he was chosen as chief archon in 594 BC” explains William George Forrest (1996, p.30). In the same year, Solon initiated a series of laws and reforms that had a lasting impact on Athenian society. One particular law that Solon reformed, made him very favourable among the community. He let all enslaved Athenians free and relieved them from their debts.
Ancient Greece today is most known for the culture: the gods, the dramas, how people lived. What most people do not realize is that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different civilizations spread throughout Greece that all had different forms of government. The three main ones were Athens, Sparta, and Miletus. Each was very different from the other. The most powerful out of all three was Sparta: a military based society. The Spartan government had a strong foundation that was all torn down by one bad leader.
Greece culture is main compose of religion, music, language, food, traditions, art work, and wine. Greece is a country with an extremely rich history throughout centuries from Stone and Bronze Age to the Twentieth century. In addition, has lots of information about other historical facts such as Olympic Games, flags, archaeological sites, historical monuments and Unesco Sites in Greece.
The system of government we have today was starting to developed centuries ago by the Athenians and Romans. Both governments were established with the intent to give power to the people, even though it did not always play out that way in society. The Athenian democracy and the Roman republic were two very different governments in practice, but also maintained similar characteristics in both systems of government.
Ancient Greece was made up of individual city states, known as a Polis, which relied heavily on citizen participation in politics. The idea of self-rule was an entirely new way of governing. Citizenship was unheard of at the time. Although still considered citizens not everybody was allowed to participate. In Athens only adult males who had military training were allowed to vote. The majority of the population, namely slaves, children, metics (free noncitizens) and women were excluded from participation in politics. “[Metics] and women were not citizens and did not enjoy any of the privileges of citizenship.”(Sayre, 137) Athenian citizens had to be descended from citizens, excluding the children of Athenian men and foreign women. Individuals could be granted citizenship in to Athens by the assembly this was usually as a reward for some service to the state. Ancient Greece paved the way for the representative democratic style of government that is practiced by many countries today. Much like how voting rights started out in America, originally only the wealthy land owners were allowed to vote and call themselves citizens, but soon all men were allowed to have a vote and a voice in their states politics. Essentially the Greeks were the first to introduce citizen rights and freedom similar to what’s seen today.
During the age of Pericles, the ideal form of government was believed to be a government formed by all of the citizens regardless of wealth or social standing. This was known as democracy, literally meaning “ government of the people” [Document 3.] This government favored the many instead of the few. Athens was a direct democracy, meaning every citizen participated in debates. Western civilization used this philosophy of government by many, and created an indirect democracy where citizens elect officials to make and enforce laws.
“The Greeks molded the mind of Western Civilization, if not the body and the culture” (PowerPoint #6). The Greeks had a very powerful impact on the entire world, making them a huge influence to Western culture. The Greeks showed their power over the world by their great intellect. Through their accomplishments in art, architecture, government, philosophy, education, and science they helped shape Western Civilization. They built strong and intricate buildings, allowing others to see throughout history the plan of the architecture used. The Greek government was one of the first to have a Democracy. Their ac...