Classical Studies 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Phyle, Fraternities And Sororities, Sophocles

• School: Western University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: Classical Studies 1000
• Professor: Brown Jason

Document Summary

Unlike the modern form of democracy (ie. right form of government ) The ancient world developed several forms of government: Kingship (unlike modern/medieval style loosely based on mythical relationships in classical greece. Oligarchy (also could be well received if effective. Greek poleis underwent various experiments with government, and often had mixtures of kingship, tyranny and oligarchy (with democracy being the least common). The demos was ideally the whole citizen body (citizens = adult males with athenian citizenship), which could be a small overall population. Athenian males came of age at 18, but only gained full political rights at 30 years of age. Whichever citizens showed up to vote made the decisions. Tension between the urban poor (who were numerous) and the rural population/few property owners. Liberty ( eleutheria ) was a central ideal, and included freedom of speech ( parrhesia ). Both were guided by social norms, and were complicated by social expectations.