2.3 Athens

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

The Greeks 3. Athens

What you will learn in 

this lesson

• What political system developed in Athens
• How people voted in Athens
• Who were citizens in Athens
• What ostracism is
• Why Athens was such a wealthy city state

This is a very important lesson. So read everything carefully. 

ATHENS

Athens is the city state we know most about. When people talk about life in Classical Greece, they often mean the Athenian way of life. Athens was a wealthy city state. It had many slaves. Its citizens had the time to develop a passion for debate, philosophy and scientific ideas. They wrote down their ideas and so we have a great deal of written evidence from Athens. 

Picture: a modern reconstruction of Athens in the 5th century BC

1a. Our idea of Classical Greece is mainly connected to Athens

1. true
2. false

1b. We have much information about classical Athens partly because Athens had many slaves.

Use information from the text to support this statement

Politics

Much of what we know about the government of the Greek city states comes from the book “Politics” written by Aristotle, who taught in Athens. He outlines the various ways city states were run, with both the advantages and disadvantages. Athens tried different methods of government before settling, in 462 BC, on democracy (which Aristotle favoured). All Athenian citizens were expected to vote on all issues concerning the city state. 

2a. Aristotle's book "politics" mainly describes

1. how politics worked in Athens
2. how democracy works
3. how democracy spread from Athens to other city-states
4. different ways in which city-states were goverened

2b. What kind of source is Aristotle's book?

1. primary + written
2. primary + non-written
3. secondary + written
4. secondary + non-written

Who were athenian citizens?

Athenian citizens were sons of Athenian citizens over seventeen years old, or someone the citizens voted to accept as a citizen. 

This was less than a third of the people living in the city state. All citizens had one vote, no matter how wealthy and important they were. In 400 BC, Athens probably had about 40,000 citizens voting on issues from going to war to who to make a citizen.

Women, foreigners and slaves could not be citizens and therefore could not vote.

3. Who were allowed to vote in the Athenian democracy?

1. men
2. women
3. slaves
4. foreigners

watch short animation video

4a. Did Pericles make Athens more democratic or less democratic? Explain your answer

4b. After having watched the video, write down several differences between the Athenian democracy and our own modern democracy.
(remember to avoid the negative form in your answer)

How did citizens vote?

The Athenian Assembly (= a meeting of all the citizens) met to vote in the agora (market place). As the population grew, they met on a nearby hill, the Pnyx. The Assembly met about 40 times a year. If too few citizens came, slaves went to find more and drag them to the Pnyx with a rope painted red. Red marks on their clothes were supposed to shame them. Issues to be decided were read out, then debated. Anyone could speak. Citizens voted by putting their hands up. If the result was not clear they used metal ballots or pieces of broken pottery that they wrote on. Citizens who lived far from Athens were only likely to make the trip back to vote if the matters debated affected them directly. 

click picture to enlarge 

5. The Athenian Assembly was a meeting of all the people in Athens

1. true
2. false

Ostracism

In Athenian politics, it was important to be good at debating. If you were, you were likely to get people to vote your way. The Athenians did not want any one person to 

have too much political influence. It would stop things being democratic. Their way of stopping this was simple. 

Each year, there was a chance to vote to ostracise someone as ‘a danger to the state'. An ostracised citizen had to leave the city state for ten years. Everyone wrote the name of someone they wanted ostracised on a piece of broken pottery (an ostrakon). If over 6000 votes were cast, the person whose name was on most ostraka had to leave.

Source A

Ostraca used to vote in an ostracism in Athens in about 450 BC. You can still read the name Themistocles.

6a. What kind of source is source A?

1. primary + written
2. primary + non-written
3. secondary + written
4. secondary + non-written

6b. Explain why being a good debater was (and still is) an advantage for a politician

6c. Ostracised citizens were put to death

1. true
2. false

6d. Athenian women could not be ostracised

1. true
2. false

What made Athens rich?

Much of the wealth of Athens came from its silver mines at Laurion. 

There had been silver mines there well before Classical times. They had produced a steady stream of wealth. 

Then, in 482 bc, an even richer stream was found. Soon there were over 350 mines in the area. The silver from them made Athens very wealthy. Much of the wealth was spent on building the biggest fleet of warships in Greece. 

The writer Xenophon said: The gods have given us inexhaustible mines of silver that give us an advantage over all our neighbouring cities. Athens only had this advantage because of the huge numbers of slaves they had working in the mines: about 20,000 at any one time.

Source B

Slaves at work in clay pits, which often went almost as deep underground as silver and lead mines. This clay tile was made in about 550 BC

7a. What kind of source is source B?

1. primary + written
2. primary + non-written
3. secondary + written
4. secondary + non-written

7b. Athenian democracy meant that all people were equal

1. true
2. false

7c. Explain that the silver mines not only made Athens rich, but also powerful

SOURCE C 

We Athenians regard a man who takes no part in civic duties not as unambitious, but as useless. Even if he cannot think up policies, he can judge them. Instead of seeing discussion as a way of holding up action, we see it as an indispensable first step for any wise action. 

From a speech given by Pericles, an important Athenian leader, over the Athenian war dead in the early months of 430 BC

SOURCE D

It makes me weep that, when an assembly is to be held and the Pnyx is deserted. People are chattering in the agora and in the streets, avoiding the red rope. Even the council members come late, hoping things won't take too long. They don't care at all! 

From a comic play written by Aristophanes in about 425 BC.

8a. What kind of source are
sources C and D?

1. primary + written
2. primary + non-written
3. secondary + written
4. secondary + non-written

8b. Read sources C and D.
What do both writers agree about?
(use your own words)

Copy this in your notebook and fill in the gaps.

Summary ch 3.6: Athens

We have much information about Athens because___________________________________________________...

One of the main sources about Athenian politics is___________________________________________________...

Citizens in Athens were________________________________________________________________________...

____________________________________could not be citizens.

Only citizens had the right to ________________.

The meeting where citizens met to debate and vote was called the Athenian _________________.

It met ___ times a year. Citizens voted by_____________________________________________.

It was important to be good at ______________ because______________________________________________...

Athenians did not want one person to have too much __________ because_______________________________...

To stop someone from becoming a "danger to the state" there was a chance to _________________ that person.

Athens was wealthy because of ______________. Much of their wealth was spent on _______________________...

Word Duty

Lesson 3.6:

• debate
• philosophy
• ostracise

What you have learned in 

this lesson

• What political system developed in Athens
• How people voted in Athens
• Who were citizens in Athens
• What ostracism is
• Why Athens was such a wealthy city state

Which question(s) would you like to be discussed in class when we check this lesson?

Are there still things unclear?
What do you want to ask your teacher about this lesson?
What do you need extra help with?

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