Authenticity of the Athenian Democracy

The Athenian political system of the 4th century was somewhat democratic to certain extents in various aspects. The word democracy derived from the Latin words, `demos' which means people and `kratos' which means rule. According to Aristotle, democracy would mean freedom and that the sovereignty was in the hands of the majority (Sinclair 1988: 21). However, the term `democracy' cannot be aptly defined as it conveys different messages to different people. For instance, most of the Athenians thought very highly of their constitution and believed it to be truly democratic while some may argue otherwise (Jones 1957: 42, 99). This essay will discuss the distribution of power and the validity of the Athenian democracy from the Athenian point of view.

In order to analyze the authenticity of the system, one must understand the system first. According to Pericles, the administration of Athens was governed by "the many" (Agard 1942: 69). In this context, "the many" did not refer to the majority of the Athenian population as the name might suggest (Agard 1942: 69). Instead, it referred to only men who were eighteen years of age, whose both parents were citizens, and had registered as members of their respective demes (Aristotle Athenian Const. Ex. 1). It must be taken into consideration that the metics, women and slaves were excluded from this system (Agard 1942: 69). This would mean that only approximately 40,000 out of over 164,000 actually took part in the state's affairs, which is only roughly 10 percent of the population (Agard 1942: 69).

From those men who were over 30 years of age, form the Boule, or the Council of 500 and the Ekklesia, or the assembly. The distribution of power was then distributed by two means; by lot or by election. Generally, the officials chosen by lot were mainly officials that were concerned with civilian administration, while the officials that were chosen by election were for posts that required more technical knowledge, expertise and experience (Sinclair 1991: 80). A few examples of those who were chosen by lot were the Boule, the `prytany', the chairman of the `prytanes', the board of 10 men that repaired the temples, and the 10 city magistrates. (Aristotle Athenian Const. Ex. 2, 3, 8). As examples for those who were elected were the treasurer of the army fund, the curator of the water supply, the military officers and the board of generals (Aristotle Athenian Const.