Greek Gods

The Ancient Greek Government was developed in the city of Athens. The government included the area of Athens, city and state, and the surrounding area of Attica. This government was formed somewhere around 500 B. C.. This government was one of the very first forms of government to be organized in ancient times and may also be considered to be the most important one. Other Greek cities set up a democratic government too but the one in Athens seemed to be the most stable and the most powerful of them all. Some of the other cities followed the Athen form of government.

In the Greek government, they did not vote on the representatives but they (or at least some of them) got to vote on the issues in the legislation and the executive bills. The ‘in crowd’ were the only ones who got to participate and this consisted of up to 6,000 people. This was known as the assembly. The council consisted of about 500 people and the courts numbered about 200. The council and the courts was the real power of the government. The ‘in crowd’ were the elite of the people or the well off. The commoners were not allowed to be a part of the government. They would just do as they were told to do and abide by the laws. This is much like the government still is today. Only those who can afford it can become government officials.

The Ancient Greek government was a form of democracy. In Greek, demos means people, and kratos means power or force. Contributors to the democratic government in Greece were Solon in 594 B.C., Cleisthenes, in 509 B.C., and Ephialtes of Athens, in 462 B.C.. There are differing opinions as to which one contributed to which development in the democracy. Solon’s constitution fell and was replaced by the tyranny of Peisistratus. It is written that Pericles was the longest lasting and the greatest democratic leader of them all.

The assembly members were not elected and they could attend the meetings when and if they chose to. The males citizens over 18 were the members of this assembly. The officials of the Assembly were chosen by the Assembly, often by being elected. The Assembly portion of the government made decisions such as when to go to war, granting citizenship to a foreigner, and tried political crimes. Later the duties of judging crimes was given to the law courts. Voting back then was by a show of hands and the citizen had to be at the meeting in order to vote. The duties of the Council was to draft the legislation for consideration by the Assembly. The 500 members of the Council were selected by a lottery, which was held every year between the men who were over 30 years old. Many democracies in other countries have gotten ideas from the Greeks form of democracy over the years.