Athenian Democracy Flashcards
1
Q
Euripides, The Suppliant Women 399-441
Context
A
- Euripides -> tragic playwright -> Athenian -> sense of pride
- play -> performed, written and watched by men -> dramatised -> not fully developed argument
- 415B.C.
- Theseus -> Athenian mythological hero
- Herald -> anti-democratic from Thebes -> audience may have sympathised with and recognised this argument
- Athens was a direct democracy because it was v small -> contemporary politics explored
2
Q
Euripides, The Suppliant Women 399-441
Quotes
A
- ‘the city is free, not under one man’s rule’
- ‘the people are sovereign, in annual rota by turns’
- ‘They do not allow the rich supremacy. The poor have equal rights’
- ‘the city I represent has one man in command, not mob-rule’
- ‘the people don’t know how to weigh arguments or to keep a city straight’
- ‘work won’t allow him [a poor but intelligent working man] to look at the common interest’
3
Q
Euripides, The Suppliant Women 399-441
Quotes 2
A
- ‘the weak and wealthy have an equal chance at justice’
- ‘the little man with right on his side, defeats the great’
- ‘This is liberty: “Who wishes to offer the city good advice publicly?” The man who responds wins renown. Those who won’t keep quiet. That’s political equality’
4
Q
Aristophanes, Acharnians
A
- Aristophanes -> comedy playwright -> exaggerated -> stereotyping
- soliloquy
- at the Pnyx -> Athenian assembly meeting place
- ‘edging this way and that to avoid the red rope’
- ‘the prytaneis aren’t here either’
- ‘jostling each other for the front row’
- ‘as for peace, they don’t care a damn for that.’
- ‘prepared to shout and interrupt and slang’
5
Q
Aristotle, Constitution of Athenians 21.3f
A
- Cleisthenes -> aristocrat who made the original democratic reforms 508-507 B.C.
- ’made the Council 500-strong instead of 400-strong - fifty from each new tribe’
- ‘divides the land by “demes” into thirty parts’
- each tribe should have a share in every region
6
Q
Aristotle, Politics
A
- ‘preparation of business for the people [citizens in the ekklesia]’
- ‘the power of the council is weakened in democracies in which the people come together and deal with everything themselves’
7
Q
Kleroterion
A
- randomly allocated eligible jurors to courts
- bronze ballots for voting and jurors’ tickets
- pinaka -> tickets for ppl to put themselves forward
- ballots -> innocent/guilt axels
- dikasts -> paid a small fee
- in order for there to be a mixture from all tribes
- every citizen has a democratic duty
Limitations:
• incomplete
• can’t see it working
8
Q
Aristophanes, Acharnians 676-701
Context
A
- Acharnians -> dramatisation -> fictional -> exaggerates -> plays for sympathy -> stereotyping
- Battle of Salamis 480 B.C.
- Marathon -> land battle -> 490B.C. -> defeated Persians against odds -> Pathanon is victory monument
9
Q
Aristophanes, Acharnians 676-701
Quotes
A
- ‘in our old age we are not looked after by you in s manner worthy of the sea-battles we fought, but we suffer dreadfully’
- ‘laughed at by smart young orators’
- ‘bemusing old Tithonus and tearing him to shreds’ -> mythological reference
- ‘then goes off convicted; and with sobs and tears says to his friend: “Here am I, fined all the money I had meant to pay for my coffin.”’
- ‘water-clock’
- ‘a good man and true in the state’s behalf at Marathon’
- ‘we are routed by worthless fellows, and brought to trial as well’
10
Q
Water clock
A
- about 6 mins
- democratic
- archaeological object
- late 5th century B.C.
Limitations:
• incomplete
• partly reconstructed
11
Q
Aristotle, The Constitution of Athens 22.3-4
A
- ostracism - 10 years exile
- no politician could seize power
- people had control
- ‘enacted owing to the suspicion felt against the men in the positions of power because Peisistratus when leader of the people and general set himself up as tyrant’
- ‘first person banished by ostracism […] Hipparchus son of Charmus of the deme of Collytus’
- ‘customary mildness of the people was displayed’
12
Q
Ostrakon
A
- thousands of thee
- Themistocles -> arrogance
- a lot of Athenians were illiterate - some and to ask someone to copy it/some are spelt poorly
13
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Context
A
- Thucydides -> was a general who fought in the war -> probs present at speech -> first hand experience -> v. reliable -> Athenian -> occasionally biased -> highly respected historian -> accurate
- The Peloponnesian War -> Athens v. Sparta
- 430-404B.C.
- meritocracy
14
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Quotes
A
- ‘does not copy the institutions of our neighbours’
- ‘being a model to others’
- ‘democracy because power is not in the hands of a minority but of the whole people’
- ‘everyone is equal before the law’
- ‘what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses’
- ‘no-one […] is kept in political obscurity because of poverty’
- ‘we are free and tolerant over our private lives’
- ‘we give our obedience to those whom we put in positions of authority’
15
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Quotes 2
A
- ‘we obey the laws […] and those unwritten laws which it is acknowledged a shame to break’
- ‘we are in a position to enjoy all kinds of recreation for our spirits’
- ‘various kinds of contests and sacrifices regularly throughout the year’
- ‘in our own homes we find a beauty and good taste which delight us every day’
- ‘the greatness of our city brings it about the all good things from all over the world flow in to us’
- ‘it seems just as natural to enjoy foreign goods as our own local products’
- ‘our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance’
16
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Quotes 3
A
- ‘our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft’
- ‘we regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about’
- ‘as for poverty, no one need to be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is not taking practical measures to escape from it’
- ‘each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the state as well’
- ‘we do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say he has no business here at all’
17
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Quotes 4
A
- ‘the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated’
- ‘we are capable st the same time of taking risks and of estimating them beforehand’
- ‘I declare that our city is an education to Greece’
- ‘each single one of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of life, is able to show himself the rightful lord and owner of his own person’
- ‘exceptional grace and exceptional versatility’
- ‘comes to her testing time in a greatness that surpasses what was imagined of her’
- ‘no invading enemy is ashamed at being defeated’
18
Q
Extract from Pericles’ funeral oration
Quotes 5
A
- ‘no subject can complain of being government by people unfit for their responsibilities’
- ‘mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our empire which we have left’
- ‘future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now’
- ‘our adventurous spirit had forced an entry into every sea and every land’
- ‘everywhere we have left behind us everlasting memorials of good done to our friends or suffering inflicted on our enemies’
- ‘what made her great was men with a spirit of adventure, men who know their duty, men who were ashamed to fall below a certain standard’
19
Q
Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 42.1
A
• 4th century B.C.
• process of recognising citizenship -> gain right; legal and security
• can serve in the army, become an official, vote, marry -> children can be citizens
• ‘if both their parents and citizens’
• ‘enrolled as members of their deme at the age of eighteen’
• ‘the members of the deme vote on them under oath’
‘[to determine] whether they have reached the legal age [and…] if they are free and born as the law requires’
20
Q
Xenophon, Resources
A
- well-travelled, open minded -> reliable
- ‘finest resources’
- ‘maintain themselves’
- ‘perform many services at no expense to the state‘
- ‘Metic Tax’
- ‘[we should] no longer compel them to serve as hoplites alongside citizens’
- ‘[we should] give them the right to serve in the cavalry’
21
Q
Inscriptions no. 70
A
- carved on stone
- fact- not opinion -> reliable
- ‘a farmer, a cook, a carpenter, a muleteer, a builder, a gardener, a donkey-driver, a baker, a fuller (launder)’
- Greek names -> from Greece
- perhaps Athenians thought they were above these jobs
22
Q
Vase painting showing a shoe-maker at work
A
- made for a reasonably affluent household
- highly decorative, high value, skilfully made
- shows element of pride in work
- present in everyday life
- could be an advertisement
- shows tools and examples of work
Limitations:
• contextual detail -> who commissioned it? Where in Athens was it? How typical is it? Does not tell us if shoe-making was a common profession/if it paid well/if it was deemed skilful?
23
Q
Greek Historical Inscriptions
A
- official documents -> maybe to calculate taxes?
- Peiraeus -> part of Athens
- ‘property’ -> suggests they are slaves
- shows metics could own slaves
Limitations:
• Cephisodorus -> wealth? Profession?
• why does value vary?
• how typical is this?
