Research and Evidence

I have been reading my sources and collecting quotes as evidence for and against Greece being an effective democracy in the time of Pericles, hopefully this will help me formulate an effective argument.

Quotes FOR

“Ancient historians have always preferred to focus on the age of Pericles, seeing it as the period of the real greatness of Athens in art, literature as well as politics.” (Hansen)

“Athens was par excellence the state that celebrated freedom of speech as part of its ideals… whereas at Sparta no one may praise any system other than the Spartan.” (Hansen)

In Pericles’ funeral speech-

“It has the name democracy because government is in the hands not of the few but if the majority.” (Hansen)

“The board of generals was introduced [by Cleisthenes]… elected annually by the people.” (Hansen)

“Cleisthenes reforms’ went far further in putting the state in the corporate power of the citizens” (Thorley)

“The administration of justice had been to a certain extent in the hands of courts which contained all classes of citizen and to which any citizen could appeal against the decision of an arkhon.” (Thorley)

[The ‘Heliastic oath’ dikastes took] “…I shall decide to the best of my judgment, without favor or enmity. I will vote only on the matters raised in the charge, and I will listen impartially to accusers and defenders alike.” (Thorley)

“The 6,000 [Dikastes] were chosen by lot from those willing to stand” (Thorley)

“The generals were nominated by each of the new tribal assemblies, each tribe put forward its most able candidate. The final approval had to be given by the assembly of citizens…there was no bar on repeated appointment year after year, and this certainly occurred, most notable in the case of Pericles.” (Thorley)

“thetes were in theory excluded [from the magistrates] (but in practice were generally admitted).” (Thorley)

“In 487/6 it was decided that the nine arkhons should now be chosen by lot from a list of 500 put forward by the tribes (fifty from each tribe)… this made sure the arkhons were indeed randomly selected from a very large number of those eligible property classes.” (Thorley)

“[Areopagos had been recruited solely each year from the nine ex-arkhons of the previous year] in 462/1, Ephialtes… proposed to the Assembly that the Areopagos  should be stripped of their powers.” (Thorley)

“[To replace the Areopagos, Ephialtes introduced] the graphe paranomon (prosecution for introducing illegal measures). This enabled any citizen to bring an action (public prosecution) against any other citizen who proposed a measure in the Assembly which was either in conflict with an existing law or which was procedurally incorrect.” (Thorley)

Quotes AGAINST

“Practically all our sources for Athenian democracy were written at Athens, and by Athenians. We posses no account of any democracy other than the Athenian, nor any evaluation of Athenian democracy by other Greeks (apart from one line of high praise in Herodotos).” (Hansen)

“The right to take part in meetings of the assembly was reserved to adult male citizens… excluded from the assembly were not only Athenian women and metics and slaves but also citizens who had forfeited their rights (atimoi).” (Hansen)

“[when Pericles was elected general] and in those years Athens was in name a democracy but in fact under the rule of the first man.” (Hansen)

“Cleisthenes did not, however, make membership of the Boule open to all citizens, but only to those whose property qualifications put them in the zeugitai class (possessing an annual income of at least 200 medimnoi) or above.” (Thorley)

“The thetes class (lower than the zeugitai class), who constituted well over half the population, were thus excluded from the Boule.” (Thorley)

“The Assembly… consisted in principal of all male citizens over the age of 20.” (Thorley)

“[Dikastes were] 6,000 citizens aged 30 or over… chosen and registered as a pool of jurors.” (Thorley)

“A general had to be at least 30 years old, which was a requirement for all magistrates.” (Thorley)

“All magistrates had to be at least 30 years old and come from the Pentakosiomedimnoi, the hippies, or the zeugitat classes; thetes were in theory excluded (but in practice were generally admitted).” (Thorley)

“The arkhons were elected form the highest property class (the Pentakosiomedimnoi and perhaps also the hippies.)” (Thorley)

“It is of course, a common criticism of Athenian democracy that metics, women and slaves were excluded from citizenship rights… Adult male citizens were probably no more than 30 percent of the total population.” (Thorley)

Although i only used two sources, this gives me an overview of Greece democracy in the time of Pericles. I have a fairly even amount of quotes for both 'FOR' and 'AGAINST'.

After evaluating my quotes, I think Athens ran an effective democracy for the male citizens of Athens. However, on the wider scale, because of the exclusion of almost 70percent of the Athenian population, it can not be seen as a true democracy with the modern meaning; but it did maintain the correct principals of a democratic society e.g. Freedom of speech.