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Athenian Political and Social Culture - Coggle Diagram
Athenian Political and Social Culture
Oligarchy
rule of a state by a minority of its citizens - usually the wealthiest
Tyranny
a sole ruler takes power and rules unconstitutionally
Democracy
all citizens have the right to vote on political decisions
many educated Athenians were against democracy, and those who weren't were not educated and so couldn't set down their thoughts in writing
Polis of Athens
polis: 'city-state', referring to a city and all the land it controlled as one political entity
Attica formed the entire polis of Athens
Citizens
Until 451, an Athenian citizen was a free adult male over 18 who had a citizen father
so, free Athenian women, slaves and metics were excluded from the political process but had a few legal rights
during the fifth century, the proportion of the adult population of Attica who had citizenship was between 10% to 20%
Solon
before the sixth century, there was an oligarchy which worsened the lives of ordinary people and so a revolution was brewing
in 594, the Athenians elected Solon as the eponymous archon (magistrate)
during his year of archonship, he reformed the political system to encourage social mobility to prevent a revolution
he split the Athenian citizens into four classes of wealth, measured by the amount of wet or dry goods each man could produce
pentakosiomedimnoi - richest class
hippeis - second class
zeugitai - third class
thetes - lowest class
Solon also gave all citizens the right to sit in a people's assembly - the ecclesia - and the right to appeal to a jury. All citizens could serve as jurors
however, this was not yet a democracy as, although the thetes could be jurors, they could not hold any political position
power still remained in the hand of the nine archons and the council of ex-archons, the Council of the Areopagus
Peisistratus seized control as a tyrant after these reforms, but he left many in place and ruled well. He was succeeded by his son Hippias who ruled so badly he was driven out of Athens in 510
Cleisthenes
after Hippias was banished, there was a battle for power and one group was led by the wealthy Cleisthenes. His faction took control in 508 and introduced radical reforms to introduce democracy
he divided the citizens into ten tribes which were comprised of a number of demes across Attica
he also introduced new council of 500 men known as the boule, Each year 50 men from each tribe were selected to be in the boule, which prepared business for the assembly
the ten tribes also made up ten regiments for the athenian army.
each year, ten generals were elected to lead each tribe in times of war
the wealthy still held much power through the Council of Areopagus
Reforms of Ephilates and Pericles
in 487, the Athenians changed from electing the nine archons to selecting them by lot from 500 candidates. This allowed more diversity of wealth within the archons
two rival factions emerged - one conservative and led by men such as Aristeides, the other reformist led by Themistocles early on, followed by Ephialtes
Ephialtes introduced a reform to the Council of Aeropagus in 462 that deprived them of most of its duties and made athens more democratic