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Athenian democracy had many critics, both ancient and modern. Ancient Greek critics of Athenian democracy include Thucydides the general and historian, Aristophanes the playwright, Plato the pupil of Socrates, Aristotle the pupil of Plato, and a writer known as the Old Oligarch. While modern critics are more likely to find fault with the ...
Some historical examples of oligarchy include the Roman Republic, in which only males of the nobility could run for office and only wealthy males could vote, and the Athenian democracy, which used sortition to elect candidates, almost always male, Greek, educated citizens holding a minimum of land, wealth and status.
These activities were often handled by a form of direct democracy, based on a popular assembly. Others, of judicial and official nature, were often handled by large juries, drawn from the citizen body in a process known as sortition. By far the most well-documented and studied example is the Athenian democracy in Athens.
The law courts of ancient Athens (4th and 6th centuries BC) were a fundamental organ of democratic governance. According to Aristotle , whoever controls the courts controls the state. These courts were jury courts and very large ones: the smallest possible had 200 members (+1 to avoid ties) and sometimes 501, 1000 or 1500.
The Thirty Tyrants (Ancient Greek: οἱ τριάκοντα τύραννοι, hoi triákonta týrannoi) were an oligarchy that briefly ruled Athens from 404 BC to 403 BC. Installed into power by the Spartans after the Athenian surrender in the Peloponnesian War , the Thirty became known for their tyrannical rule, first being called "The Thirty ...
In governance, sortition is the selection of public officials or jurors at random, i.e. by lottery, in order to obtain a representative sample. [1] [2] [3] [4]In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy.
Solon of Athens (c. 638 BCE – c. 558 BCE) was a famous legislator and reformer from Athens, framing the laws that shaped the Athenian democracy. Cleobulus, tyrant of Lindos (fl. c. 600 BCE), reported as either the grandfather or father-in-law of Thales; Myson of Chenae (6th century BCE); and
Thucydides, the famous ancient Greek historian of the Peloponnesian War, witnessed the fall of Athenian democracy and applied scientific history in his critique of the democratic government. [10] At the heart of his critique were how democracy failed "in the search for truth " and how leaders and citizens attempted "to impose their own speech ...