Athen Essay essays

Athen Essay essays There were three types of government in Ancient Greece: an oligarchy, monarchy, and a democracy. An oligarchy was governed by a few wealthy and powerful people. A monarchy was governed by only one person. A democracy is when citizens voted on who the leader was and public matters. Citizens were only men who had Greek origin and were not slaves. If citizens did not care for a politician, when they voted, they wrote on a clay tablet which person they wanted to leave Athens. If one person got more than 6,000 votes against him, he couldn't come back to Athens for 10 years. Ancient Greece was divided into areas called city-states. There were many city-states and each one had its own government. Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful city-states. Sparta was ruled by the military. In early times, Athens was governed by a monarchy. A monarchy is a Greek work meaning "ruled by one." Soldiers hand-picked their new leader and put him into power. Monarchy did not last long in Athens. The Athenians build a new government called an oligarchy, which means "ruled by the few." Some leaders were known as tyrants. A tyranny is an unjust government led by someone who has taken power. By 508 B.C. democracy started in Athens. Greece had one of the first democracies ever! In Athens, democracy meant "Power of the people," although women couldn't vote or run for office. Citizens who were 18 and male could be council members, judges or government officials. All three jobs last only one year and not one single person got paid for their services! The assembly would meet at the Acropolis four days every month. Democracy is important because it gives everyone a say in the government, so everyone is treated fairly. In a democracy, anyone can run the country, but in a monarchy, sometimes a bad person rules and will do bad things. In Athens there were originally three archons: the archon basilieus, or king archon, the eponymous a ...