Humanities
Mr. Kelly & Mr. Waterman
Name _____________________
DBQ – Our Greek Inheritance – Democracy
Introduction:
Sometimes historians learn about ancient cultures from laws and official documents of
the time. Other times they examine what people of the time wrote and said about those
laws and documents. The Athenians had laws and a constitution explaining how the
government was run, but their constitution was never written down as ours is. Since
there is no actual constitution from Athens, we will have to look at other sources to learn
more about Athenian democracy. Begin by reading a few selections of Aristotle and his
comments on the Athenian Constitution.
Read the first three paragraphs of Part 5 and answer these questions:
1. What happened as a result of the unhappiness of the largest number of Athenians?
2. How did the two groups end their conflict? (Hints: An “Archon” was an elected
official, and a “mediator” is someone who settles disagreements, like an umpire.)
3. Who was Solon, and how do you think he felt about wealth?
Now read the excerpt from Part 6 and answer this question:
4. What was the first thing Solon did?
Answer these questions from Part 7:
5. What was the next thing Solon did?
6. How did Solon determine who belonged to each of the four new classes?
7. Which classes could hold office?
8. What were the Thetes allowed to do?
Scroll down to Part 8 and read the last sentence.
9. How did Solon feel about Athenians who did not participate in their government?
(Hints: “indifference” means uninterested; “civil factions” means different points of
view; and “take up arms” means to side with one group or the other.)
Scroll down to Part 9 and read the whole paragraph. Answer this question:
10. What did Aristotle believe were the most democratic features of Solon’s constitution?
Many years after Solon, another ruler named Cleisthenes gave even more people in
Athens the right to participate in the government. Under Solon, a person was a citizen
only if his father had been a citizen. Cleisthenes said that any man who was free and 18
years old was a citizen. Since all citizens were allowed to vote, he did this so that more
Athenians could participate in their government.
This time scroll down to Part 27. Read the first two sentences and answer this question:
11. Who was Pericles and what did he do to the constitution?
The next document is a speech given by Pericles. It is recorded in a book on the history
of Greece, which was written by Thucydides.
Read the excerpt from the introduction and answer this question:
12. Why was Pericles making this speech?
Now read the excerpt from the third paragraph and respond:
13. What did Pericles decide to talk about, and who was listening?
Read the entire fourth paragraph:
14. How did Pericles describe democracy?
15. How did Pericles describe a person who breaks the law?
Finally, read part of the seventh paragraph and answer:
16. How did Pericles describe the citizen who “takes no part in these duties”?
The Athenian Constitution
By Aristotle – written 350 BCE
Part 5
Since such, then, was the organization of the constitution, and the many were in slavery
to the few, the people rose against the upper class. The strife was keen, and for a long
time the two parties were ranged in hostile camps against one another, till at last, by
common consent, they appointed Solon to be mediator and Archon, and committed the
whole constitution to his hands. The immediate occasion of his appointment was his
poem, which begins with the words:
I behold, and within my heart deep sadness has claimed its place,
As I mark the oldest home of the ancient Ionian race
Slain by the sword.
In this poem he fights and disputes on behalf of each party in turn against the other, and
finally he advises them to come to terms and put an end to the quarrel existing between
them. By birth and reputation Solon was one of the foremost men of the day, but in
wealth and position he was of the middle class, as is generally agreed, and is, indeed,
established by his own evidence in these poems, where he exhorts the wealthy not to
be grasping.
Part 6
As soon as he was at the head of affairs, Solon liberated the people once and for all, by
prohibiting all loans on the security of the debtor's person: and in addition he made laws
by which he cancelled all debts, public and private. This measure is commonly called
the Seisachtheia [= removal of burdens], since thereby the people had their loads
removed from them.
Part 7
Next Solon drew up a constitution and enacted new laws; and the ordinances of Draco
ceased to be used, with the exception of those relating to murder. The laws were
inscribed on the wooden stands, and set up in the King's Porch, and all swore to obey
them; and the nine Archons made oath upon the stone, declaring that they would
dedicate a golden statue if they should transgress any of them. This is the origin of the
oath to that effect which they take to the present day. Solon ratified his laws for a
hundred years; and the following was the fashion in which he organized the constitution.
He divided the population according to property into four classes, just as it had been
divided before, namely, Pentacosiomedimni, Knights, Zeugitae, and Thetes. The
various magistracies, namely, the nine Archons, the Treasurers, the Commissioners for
Public Contracts (Poletae), the Eleven, and Clerks (Colacretae), he assigned to the
Pentacosiomedimni, the Knights, and the Zeugitae, giving offices to each class in
proportion to the value of their rateable property. To who ranked among the Thetes he
gave nothing but a place in the Assembly and in the juries. A man had to rank as a
Pentacosiomedimnus if he made, from his own land, five hundred measures, whether
liquid or solid. Those ranked as Knights who made three hundred measures, or, as
some say, those who were able to maintain a horse. In support of the latter definition
they adduce the name of the class, which may be supposed to be derived from this fact,
and also some votive offerings of early times; for in the Acropolis there is a votive
offering, a statue of Diphilus, bearing this inscription:
Part 8
Further, since he saw the state often engaged in internal disputes, while many of the
citizens from sheer indifference accepted whatever might turn up, he made a law with
express reference to such persons, enacting that any one who, in a time civil factions,
did not take up arms with either party, should lose his rights as a citizen and cease to
have any part in the state.
Part 9
Such, then, was his legislation concerning the magistracies. There are three points in
the constitution of Solon which appear to be its most democratic features: first and most
important, the prohibition of loans on the security of the debtor's person; secondly, the
right of every person who so willed to claim redress on behalf of any one to whom
wrong was being done; thirdly, the institution of the appeal to the jurycourts; and it is to
this last, they say, that the masses have owed their strength most of all, since, when the
democracy is master of the voting-power, it is master of the constitution. Moreover,
since the laws were not drawn up in simple and explicit terms (but like the one
concerning inheritances and wards of state), disputes inevitably occurred, and the
courts had to decide in every matter, whether public or private. Some persons in fact
believe that Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, in order that the final decision
might be in the hands of the people. This, however, is not probable, and the reason no
doubt was that it is impossible to attain ideal perfection when framing a law in general
terms; for we must judge of his intentions, not from the actual results in the present day,
but from the general tenor of the rest of his legislation.
Part 27
After this Pericles came forward as popular leader, having first distinguished himself
while still a young man by prosecuting Cimon on the audit of his official accounts as
general. Under his auspices the constitution became still more democratic.
Pericles' Funeral Oration
This famous speech was given by the Athenian leader Pericles after the first battles of
the Peloponnesian war. Funerals after such battles were public rituals and Pericles
used the occasion to make a classic statement of the value of democracy.
[Excerpt from Thucydides’ Introduction]
“In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had
first fallen in this war… Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles, son
of Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium. When the proper time arrived,
he advanced from the sepulcher to an elevated platform in order to be heard by as
many of the crowd as possible, and spoke as follows:”
[Excerpt from Third Paragraph]
“But what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of government
under which our greatness grew, what the national habits out of which it sprang; these
are questions which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these
men; since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker
may properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners,
may listen with advantage.”
[Fourth Paragraph]
"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern
to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the
few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice
to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to
reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit;
nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not
hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our
government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous
surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour
for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to
be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private
relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard,
teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the
protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that
code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.”
[Excerpt from Seventh Paragraph]
“Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary
citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public
matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not
as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot
originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of
action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.”
Source:
Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Peloponnesian War, Book 2.34-46