The Western History 27: How did Democracy develop in Athens?

The common wisdom is that the liberal western democracy has its roots in the democratic structure of Ancient Greece and to some extent that is true. Athens was easily Greece’s most influential city, even if its prowess as evident in the Peloponnesian War did not always translate to military success. Yet the democracy of the Athenian’s was on a level far removed from that what we see today in the west and had origins which were less than glorious.

Like most ancient cities Athens was ruled by a king who was the head of the land-owning aristocrats (Eupatridae). A council of government called the Areopagus was charged with the day-to-day running of the city that expanded as Athens came to dominate the region of Attica in a process known as synoikismos. However unrest caused by disparities in income undermined the status quo and the Areopagus, through its go-to-guy Draco (whose name provides the root for the draconian adjective) drafted stringent codified laws to curtail these unwelcome developments. Predictably they failed and the Areopagus was forced to carry out an ‘about face’ with the appointment of the reformer, Solon (whose bas-relief can be found in the US House of Representatives).

Solon (aka the Lawgiver)  is credited with laying the foundations for the Athenian model of democracy. He reduced the economic power of the aristocracy, lessened restrictions on trade and commerce and restructured Athenian society into four groupings. Wealth and military service were to guide such division but what was most important is that the poorest of all these classes, the Thetai, were given political rights for the first time.

True power still resided with the Areopagus and initially class unrest was not curtailed. However the system would continue under the tyrant (a name given to somebody who takes power by force) Peisistratus (Solon’s cousin).

The true hero though of Athenian democracy was Cleisthenes, who further weakened the power of the aristocracy and introduced a system of ostracism (whereby citizens deemed to be a threat to the democracy could by a vote of 6,000 citizens be exiled from the city for ten years).

Cleisthenes filled positions in his government using a random selection process known as sortition (setting up the Council of 500). He also transformed the four traditional tribes system of order into a system of ten tribes based on area of residency. These new structures were known as demes.

Despite the successes Athenian Democracy was a far cry from the democracy we have today (although it was revolutionary in its break from the political structures of its time). Only free, male citizens above the age of 18 could vote with the exclusive citizenship criteria greatly restricting the electorate base. Consequently at the height of its power it is believed that only 10-20% of the population of 310,000 has any say whatsoever in the running of the Athenian polis. Nevertheless it was an important start that would pave the way for later reforms and therefore should be judged favourably as a valuable milestone in the development of the western political structure.