Anthropology 1026F/G Lecture Notes - Td Stadium, Athenian Democracy, Direct Democracy
23 Sep 2012
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Politics in ancient athens: the birth of democracy: The ancient greeks invented the idea and the practice of democracy. Of course, they invented the word too: the rule of the people . The classical origin of democracy as an idea and as a form of government is in athens in the 5th and 4th centuries b. c. Some ancient greek societies had a sort of democratic political system and thought democracy was a good thing . But for 2,000 years or so after that, most societies in the world were not democratic at all, and most people who thought about it believed democracy to be a bad thing . The main figures to discuss the theory of democracy for our purposes plato and aristotle were anti-democratic thinkers. Athens, like other greek towns, was an independent city-state, the greek world for this is. The central unit of government was very small, so that every full- fledged member could participate in its affairs.
