Study guide: Athens and Ancient Greek Democracy

📋 Course Outline

1. Athens and Its Democratic Context
2. Citizenship and Democratic Equality
3. Institutions of Athenian Democracy
4. The Rise of Athenian Sea Power
5. The Delian League and Empire
6. Pericles and Radical Democracy
7. The Parthenon and Athenian Glory
8. Greek Intellectual and Medical Legacies

📅 Key Dates

1. 490 BCE and 480 BCEAthens defeated the Persians at Marathon and Salamis.
2. 479 BCEThe Persian Wars ended with Athens victorious, helping the city rise as a major Greek power.
3. 478 BCEThe Delian League was created as a military and economic alliance after the Persian defeat at Salamis.
4. 454 BCEPericles brought the treasury of the Delian League to Athens.

📖 1. Athens and Its Democratic Context

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Thalassocracy: a power based on control of the sea

💡 Memory Hook

Persian victories → Athenian power → democratic influence

📖 2. Citizenship and Democratic Equality

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Athenian citizen: Aristotle, Politics, IVe siècle av. J-C — An Athenian citizen was, in the strict sense, a person who participated in exercising the powers of judge and magistrate.

★ Must-know

• In classical Athens, adult males born and resident in Athens who were not slaves were citizens, while women, children, foreigners and slaves were excluded from citizenship.

Further detail

• The recorded population included:
  • 130,000 slaves
  • 120,000 metics
  • 42,000 citizens
  • 88,000 women and children of citizens

💡 Memory Hook

Citizens participate; women, foreigners and slaves are excluded

📖 3. Institutions of Athenian Democracy

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Ekklesia: the assembly of male citizens and was sovereign over the most important matters

★ Must-know

• The boulē was a council of 500 citizens chosen by lot for one year, with service limited to two non-consecutive years.

• The dikasteria comprised 6,000 jurors, while chief magistrates were chosen annually by lot and important offices had short, generally non-renewable terms.

Further detail

• The ekklēsia met at least once a month, probably two or three times, and citizens could speak and vote by raising their hands.

💡 Memory Hook

Boulē prepares → ekklēsia decides → courts judge

📖 4. The Rise of Athenian Sea Power

📝 Essential Points

• 🔄 Athens developed maritime power by (Diodoros of Sicily, 1st century BCE):
  1. improving the Peiraeus
  2. building and using a large fleet of triremes
  3. winning naval battles
  4. gaining allies and hegemony

💡 Memory Hook

Naval strength and Peiraeus → Athenian hegemony at sea

📖 5. The Delian League and Empire

📝 Essential Points

📌 Athens gradually controlled the Delian League and used its money to strengthen its power and build monuments on the Acropolis.

• Athenian power rested on military strength, wealth and control of the Delian League, but Athens excluded women, foreigners and slaves from citizenship.

💡 Memory Hook

Aegean islands gathered around Athens and its fleet

📖 6. Pericles and Radical Democracy

★ Must-know

• Pericles established payment for jurors, known as misthos, in 450 BCE, allowing poorer citizens to participate more fully in public affairs. — Aristotle, La Constitution des Athéniens, IVe siècle av. J-C

• Pericles ruled as an Athenian politician and general from approximately 495 to 429 BCE and contributed to Athens’s cultural and political golden age.

Further detail

• Pericles used colonies, naval service and public payments to support poorer citizens and maintain Athenian control over its allies.

💡 Memory Hook

Payment and public service → broader citizen participation

📖 7. The Parthenon and Athenian Glory

★ Must-know

• The Parthenon was a temple built around 432 BCE in Athens for Athena and commissioned under Pericles.

📌 The Parthenon combined Ionic features, including a decorated frieze depicting the Panathenaia, with elaborate construction intended to create visual symmetry and avoid apparent straight lines.

• The Parthenon was decorated with metopes showing mythical and epic battles, while the giant gold-covered statue of Athena Parthenos was its focal point.

📌 The Parthenon project was controversial because Athens used the Delian League’s treasury to finance expensive public buildings.

Further detail

• The temple was built with heavy marble from Mount Pentelikon near Athens, and pulleys were invented or used to lift the stone blocks.

💡 Memory Hook

Religious monument and civic glory, but funded by imperial resources

📖 8. Greek Intellectual and Medical Legacies

★ Must-know

• Plato, who lived around 427 BCE, founded the Academy, wrote The Republic and influenced epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics.

• Aristotle lived from 384 to 322 BCE, wrote approximately 200 works, studied politics, psychology, ethics and animals, and tutored Alexander the Great.

Further detail

• Hippocrates lived from 460 to 375 BCE, and the Hippocratic corpus influenced modern medicine through case histories, healthy living and medical ethics.

📊 Synthesis Tables

Athenian Democratic Institutions

Institution	Composition	Main role
Ekklēsia	Male citizens	Debated and decided major political matters
Boulē	500 citizens chosen by lot	Prepared and prioritised topics
Dikasteria	6,000 jurors	Judged legal and political cases
Magistrates	Generally chosen by lot	Administered public functions