Part two can be found here.

The sovereign authority in classical Athens was the Assembly (ekklesia – people’s assembly). This Assembly would debate important issues of the polis and vote on decisions relating to foreign and domestic policy. The people in the Assembly were empowered to elect military and financial magistrates. The Assembly also had the power to appoint a panel of legislators to initiate legislation and to appoint judges for political trials.¹ Decisions made by the Assembly were done by majority vote – usually a show of hands.

The Assembly met forty times a year on a hill called the Pnyx (just outside the Acropolis) and consisted of 6,000 male citizens. Any adult male citizen could take part and if numbers were wanting, the magistrates ordered a sweep of public places with a scarlet rope, which brought in enough people for business to be transacted.² Pericles introduced payment for duty in the Assembly and although it was less than a days wage it was attractive enough that the magistrates had to keep people out. Pericles introduced pay to allow the poorer citizens a chance to participate in the governing body of Athens. Any adult male citizen could speak in the Assembly; the right to speak openly and freely was known as parrhesia – the most precious right of all Athenians. Nonetheless, this right was sometimes given over to rhetors, those who could sway the assembly by their powerful speaking abilities. In contrast, Sparta allowed its citizens the right to vote, but speaking was restricted only to the kings, magistrates, and senior council members.³

The Assembly worked in conjunction with the Council. The Council served as a check on the majority rule of the Assembly. The Assembly could only vote on proposals that had first been approved by the council. In this sense, the council served as our legislative bodies do today.⁴ The council was appointed annually by lot, equally from the ten tribes. It represented a cross-section of Athenians, and would normally keep illegal proposals from coming to a vote. All laws had to be consistent with the Athenian constitution. If someone put a law or proposal forward that was counter to the constitution they would be charged with violating the law, and if found guilty, charged a heavy fine.⁵

Legislation could be framed only by a representative body chosen by lot; this legislative panel was known as the Nomothetai. If the Assembly wished to modify the laws, it would have to refer the matter to this body. If the legislative panel approved a modification to the laws, that would then come to the Assembly for a vote.⁶

The Athenians did not employ professional judges or prosecutors. The popular courts (dikasteria) met on roughly 200 days in a year. On a court day members of the panel of 6,000 jurors showed up in the morning in the Agora (a sacred meeting area for political purposes) and a number of jurors were selected by lot in order to discourage any jury tampering and bribery. These courts consisted of 201 or 401 judges (the Athenians did not make a strong distinction between jurors and judges) for private actions and 501 or more in public actions.7 (Socrates’ trial contained 501 jurors. Again, the reason for the large juries was to discourage those who wanted to bribe the jury. The 501st vote was given to Athena in the case of a tie and would always vote for acquittal.) Each court was presided over by a magistrate and in a session of some eight hours, the judges had to hear and decide either one public action or a number of private actions.⁸

Some important positions were filled by election. Athens had about 1,200 magistrates (archai), elected from among citizens over 30 who presented themselves as candidates. About 100 were elected by the Assembly whereas the 1,100 were chosen by lot, often organized in boards of ten with one representative from each tribe. The period of office was restricted to one year and a magistrate selected by lot could only hold the same office once whereas elected magistrates could be re-elected.⁹ Before entering office magistrates had to undergo an examination before a board and, at the end of their term of office, to render accounts before another board. This was done to provide public accountability of elected officials. The magistrates’ principle tasks were to summon and preside over the decision making bodies, and to see the execution of the decisions made. Of the other boards of magistrates the most important were the ten generals (strategoi) who commanded the army and navy and oversaw the financial obligations of the polis. They also worked with the nine archons to supervise the law courts and major festivals.¹⁰

This picture of Athenian democracy is a very different one from contemporary understandings of democracy. In the Assembly and popular courts almost the whole people participated (or at least all present citizens), and as council and magistracies were continually changing their personnel, the people really did become the ruler.¹¹ The Athenians were ruled by assemblies and councils and it is amazing to think that they had no professional judges and prosecutors, relying solely on lot to find individuals to fill important judicial positions. But the Athenians actually believed all educated citizens were equal for such tasks, and formed a much more democratic system than we have today which relies on a professional class of judges, lawyers, and publicity managers. The Athenian system worked as well as it did because it relied on citizen participation, common education, and common traditions, customs, and culture – Pericles himself refers to a common ethical code “which although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.”¹² The Athenians had a profound respect for their community and life together. Furthermore, the ancient Athenians really believed in the institutions of law and consensual rule – institutions they helped discover and form through trial and error. However, democracy was not always popular even among the Athenians. Plato was among the first ancient theorists to express doubts about democracy as the best form of government.

1 The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Ed. by Hornblower, Simon and Anthony Spawforth. (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998), S. V. democracy, Athenian.

2 Woodruff, Paul. First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 33.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid., 34.

6 Ibid.

7 The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. S. V. democracy, Athenian.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Hammond, N.G. L. and H.H. Scullard. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.), S.V. Democracy.

12 Thucydides, 396.