Characteristics of Athens' direct democracy

Answer 1

• All free males over the age of 18 born to athenian parents were citizens.
• All citizens served in the assembly.
• The council of Athens carried on the daily business of the city.
• Ten elected generals were responsible for carrying on the work of the assembly council.
• Power was in the hands of the people.
• All citizens were equal before the law.

Answer 2

The characteristics of Athenian democracy were that every man that had sufficient money could get to vote; women, children and slaves were not allowed. They also split up into 10 tribes with 50 councilmen in each, therefore, creating a 500 man council. They also created a complex system of courts sometimes consisting of up to 6000 men.

The Athenian democratic system was made of 6 different roles.

1. The assembly: a regular gathering of male Athenian citizens to listen, discuss and to vote on decrees that would affect everyday life. It was the most central and definitive institution of Athenian democracy.

2. The Council: Made up of 500 members, 50 from each of the 10 tribes, to form the full time government. Each member would only serve for a year. Its main function was to prepare for meetings of the assembly.

3. The committee

4.The president

5. The magistrates

6. The courts

Answer 3

1. It was direct democracy - the citizens met in fortnightly Assembly and made all decisions, which the Council of 500 implemented between meetings.

2. The council of 500 comprised 50 from each tribe selected 'out of the hat' form all levels of the citizenry. They kept a 24/7 standing duty roster of 50 so that any problems which arose could be dealt with. These large numbers of councillors were a safeguard so that amongst 500 or 50, there could be expected to be some people to act rationally and decisively.

3. The exception to random selection of appointments was the 10 generals, who were appointed one from each tribe - the Athenians did not want to be led in battle by someone whose name had been drawn at random. As a result, the generals were often given the job of implementing the decisions of the Assembly, even if they were non-military actions.

4. The law courts were run by citizen juries randomly selected - no judges or lawyers to distort proceedings. A jury was usually 500 strong, and so was effectively an opinion poll of the citizens. There were no rules of evidence - the population was small enough for the citizens to have a knowledge of events, so lying by plaintiffs and defendants would only damage their case. Each side suggested a penalty if there was a guilty verdict, and the jury could only pick one or the other, so both sided kept their proposal at sensible levels to attract a decision of theirs. Penalties were open to any suggestion - one convicted man offered to support a state warship for a year - very attractive to the people on the jury, as it saved the cost to the state.

Answer 4

all adult male citizens were eligible to vote

Answer 5

The citizens met in fortnight;y assembly and directed the action to be implemented by the Council. The citizens comprised the law courts, no judges or lawyers were there to interfere.

Answer 6

Radical democracy.

Answer 7

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