Week 4: Daily, February 15th

Was Athens really a 'democracy'?

A democracy is a government run by the people in a specific place. I do not believe that Athens was a true democracy. There are several reasons why I would say this. First of all, they never had a real set leader. Their leadership was always changing, especially during times of the Peloponnesian War. During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles ruled some of the time; and at other times, a group of about 400 people controlled the city. The 400 people would take on the issues in the city which were separating the citizens. Another reason that Athens wasn’t a democracy is because their disciplinary system was much unorganized. They would put people in jail or even put them to death for things that people were just accused for. There were many other flaws in the so-called democracy system. One thing, there were no set political parties, like plebeians. It was just that what you believe in was what you were. If there were groups, it would be easier to rule Athens. There were many disagreements among the Athenian citizens that the government couldn’t solve. These disagreements sometimes resulted in wars. I notice that people try to say that Athens was a democracy, but I believe that Athens was so disorganized, that it could not have been a democracy.