Aristotle+and+Ancient+Greece



Ancient Greece- Just like everything has a beginning so does our government. Democracy was originated in Greece at it's capital of Athens by the man named Aristotle. At this time only men were able to vote. The children, women, foreigners and slaves were unable to vote. The people with power were not concerned with rights of others, they were worried about whether the new system of government was any good. The government before could not handle the diverse populations surrounding it. As a result Greece came up with the solution of democracy. This rise in new government had its problems but eventually came up with its solutions. As Greece's government grew other neighboring countries saw the Greeks experiment and few liked what they saw.



Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist known by many, influenced many facets of the world as we know it. As a young person, he was taught by Plato about philosophy, logic, and scientific patterns and reasoning. The basic teachings and ideas of Aristotle about government influenced the democracy of today. He believed in a “fair and just government”.

The government that surrounded Aristotle in the time period he was alive was very independent; each city-state was run independently from each other and all had different customs and rules from each other. Aristotle had “studied how people in all times and places known to him were ruled.” When he grew older and had studied politics for a number of years, he began to write essays and lecture about government and what works and what doesn’t as he saw it. These lectures and writings make up “//Aristotle’s Politics//”, a book of his teachings. From his notes, he believed that “one person, a kingship, led to tyranny; a few people, which was aristocracy, led to oligarchy; and many people, a polity, lead to democracy.”

The funny thing about this, though, was that Aristotle did not believe that democracy was a good form of government; in his time, many people were uneducated and anyone could vote for anyone, thus his doubt; “in other words he felt that "a democracy could easily become a tyranny with many heads."” He did believe that democracy could have its perks if it was prepared and thought out. In his book //Aristotle's Politics//, he says that "There is this to be said for the Many… each of them by himself may not be of a good quality; but when they all come together it is possible that they may surpass...the quality of the few best".”

Over the years different people have contributed to the government. Every contribution has an effect on the people living under the government. The Ancient Greece came up the idea of democracy. Before the thought of democracy, there was little rights to certain people. Women, children, slaves, and foreigners couldn’t vote and not many people seemed to care about their rights. Aristotle grew up studying politics and has always been involved in the community he was in. he was very independent as an individual. This was beneficial to the government system because Aristotle could provide them with the right knowledge about people rights and independency. However, Aristotle wasn’t exactly on board with the idea of democracy. He felt too many citizens were uneducated on democracy and made up their own rules. But, there was good things to the idea of democracy it would just take time.

An ostrakon this what they wrote on if they thought someone was a threat of having too much power.

Also Ancient Greece used a Direct Democracy when today we use a Representative Democracy. They differ in how laws and decisions are made but they have the same basic ideas. They created a boule that was a council of 500 that oversaw the government and purposed laws. Then they had an assembly who debated on voted on the purposed laws. The boule was selected by a drawing of all of the people of Athens and 500 were selected to serve on the council for one year. They believed that this was the best way because it gave everyone an equal chance no matter what social standard they were living under. Also the first system of checks and balance was created and if one of the assembly members thought someone was gaining too much power they would write their name on a broken piece of pottery (a ostrakon). If that person was named by at least 6,000 members of the assembly he was terminated of his duties and banned from Athens for ten years. They also thought it was very important for their citizens obey the law. If they didn't they had court system similar to ours and had a jury to state if the person was guilty or innocent. They created the jury for 6,000 volunteers. The juries were much bigger than ours today. They consisted of hundreds or even thousands of members. They always made it and odd number like 301 or 601 to eliminate the chances of a tie. Also most trials were completed in one day and if they defendant was found guilty they were paid for their services. They felt that civic participation was a very important role in society. They felt that it was an honor and a civic duty.

Works Cited

Doleys, Teri. "Ancient Greece." //Cedarville University | A Top Midwest Christian College in Ohio//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. .

Lyceum, establishing his own school there known as the. "Aristotle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. .

"The Constitution - Constitutional Rights Foundation." //Constitutional Rights Foundation//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. .

"Ancient Greece Influence On America." History, American History, World History, Music History, Art History, Biography, Ancient Greece History, Mthology, World War . N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. .

 "Social Studies Lesson Plan." //Democracy in Ancient Greece//. Dade Schools, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.