Hi, there.

Thanks for joining me today for a history lesson.

My name is Ms. Roberts and I am here to tell you all about one particular aspect of the ancient Greek civilization.

In this lesson, we are going to be looking at Athenian democracy as well as modern Britain.

So we are going to be drawing some comparisons together.

This is from a unit where we are examining what is the most significant legacy of the ancient Greek civilization.

Could it be democracy? Let's work together through this lesson and find out.

By the end of this lesson today you will be able to compare Athenian democracy with modern British democracy.

This is very interesting.

Let's begin with some very important keywords that you are going to hear in this lesson.

And these keywords you should be able to use yourself soon to talk about Athenian democracy and ancient Greece.

The first word is direct democracy.

Can you say direct democracy? Lovely.

The next word is institutions.

Can you say institutions? Well done.

Then we have courts.

Can you say courts? Well done.

We have elect.

That's a verb.

Can you say elect? Good.

And then finally we have legacy.

Don't worry if you're not too sure what those words mean.

We're going to look at the words together again now.

So first we have direct democracy.

Direct democracy is a form of government, and that's where the people have a direct say about how the country is run.

The next word we had was institutions.

An organisation that is set up for a specific purpose, usually one that's open to the public, is an institution.

Then we had the word courts.

Places where law cases and arguments are heard and judgments are made are courts.

Then we have the verb to elect.

So to choose a person by voting for them to represent you in government is to elect them.

And the last word is legacy.

A legacy is a long-lasting impact or influence of a historical event, action, person, or group of people.

This lesson is going to examine what democracy was in ancient Greece, and later we'll be looking at democracy today.

So let's start in ancient Greece and look at what democracy meant for the ancient Greek civilization.

In the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, the ancient Greeks were the first people in history to form a direct democracy.

An Athenian man called Cleisthenes did this in around the year 431 BCE.

A democracy meant that there wasn't just one ruler that was in charge of all the laws and all the important decision-making.

As a direct democracy, it meant that the men in Athens had a say in everything.

They were able to make decisions and the people held the power.

Being a direct democracy meant that the men could make suggestions about new laws and take part in debates about them.

Then they would cast votes as a way to reach important decisions.

In ancient Greece, votes were made by having a show of hands or by the counting of stones or pieces of broken pottery.

Have you ever voted for anything? Do you know any adults that have voted in an election? Pause the video for a moment and share your ideas with a partner.

All done? Good job.

Now, thinking of what you know so far about democracy in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, let's try this true and false activity.

Listen carefully and tell me if you think this statement is true or false.

The ancient Greek city-state of Athens was a direct democracy.

True or false? Ready? Did you choose true? Of course.

So now, as a historian, whenever we make a statement like this, it is very important that we remember that we need to provide some extra information or evidence to prove how we know what we are talking about.

So I'm going to read two more sentences and I would like you to choose which of these you think is the most helpful in this situation.

Sentence A says that ancient Greek men had debates before making decisions.

Sentence B says that ancient Greek men voted to make decisions instead of decisions being made by just one ruler.

Which of those do you choose? Ready? Did you choose option B? I did, I chose option B because it explains what a democracy is, and that's what was happening in Athens.

Good job.

Let's continue now learning more about democracy in ancient Greece.

Sophia tells us that there were three main institutions and together they created the essential parts of direct democracy in ancient Athens.

So let's find out now what those three institutions were.

The first one was the Assembly, or in ancient Greek, the Ekklesia.

This was a meeting that happened once a month in a place called the Pnyx, which was a hillside near the centre of Athens.

About 6,000 men would attend each of these meetings, and at the meetings they talked about important issues and possible solutions for them.

The second important institution was called the Council or the Boule.

Now this was a group of about 500 men and they had been elected by the Ekklesia to represent them.

The Boule would then have more debates and more votes, and that was when the important decisions were made.

They were able to pass new laws.

But they also had a lot of responsibility because they had to run all the day-to-day business of the city-state.

Laura has also made a good observation.

We've been using the word men a lot, haven't we? That's because women were not allowed to take part in the Ekklesia or be elected to the Boule.

The third important institution was something called the Courts or the Dikasteria in ancient Greece.

This was how the ancient Athenians dealt with people who broke the law.

In the Dikasteria, a judge would listen to cases where people explained their version of events when they were accused of having broken a law.

The judges would then decide whether or not a person was guilty, and then they would announce a punishment publicly.

Not all ancient Greek city-states were democracies like Athens, and for people that lived in city-states that were not a democracy, there would be one single ruler or king and they would decide the punishments.

There was no chance for people to defend themselves like they could do in the courts in Athens.

Have you been listening closely? Let's try a quick multiple choice question about those three institutions.

I would like you to tell me which two things the Ekklesia was responsible for.

A, suggesting, debating and voting on important decisions.

B, making decisions about punishments for criminals.

C, choosing one ruler for the whole of ancient Greece.

Or D, choosing a council of 500 men to represent them at the Boule.

Choose two now.

Have you chosen? Great.

The Ekklesia was responsible for suggesting, debating and voting on important decisions, and they were responsible for electing a council of 500 men to represent them at the Boule.

They were not responsible for making decisions about criminals.

That was done by judges in courts or the Dikasteria.

And there was not one ruler in the whole of ancient Greece.

We know this because all of the separate city-states governed themselves.

Let's do an activity now to bring all your new learning about democracy in ancient Greece together.

I want you to make notes in the table about each of the three institutions, the Ekklesia, the Boule, and the Dikasteria.

You should include the name of each institution in English and some notes about what it did and what it was responsible for.

Pause the video now while you complete the activity.

Finished? Good job.

Okay, let's look at some examples together.

Here are my notes.

For the Ekklesia, I wrote that it's called the Assembly.

That they gathered once a month at the Pnyx.

That it was for men only, actually about 6,000 men.

They would talk about issues and they would elect the 500 men that would be on the Boule.

The Boule was the Council.

Again, it was for men only.

There were about 500 men and they voted to decide new laws.

They ran the business of the city-state and had a lot of responsibilities.

The Dikasteria were the Courts and they're places where criminals would go before judges.

Arguments could be given and would be listened to, and then the judges would make decisions publicly.

What a lot of information we have already covered today.

Now we are going to move into the second part of our lesson.

Having looked at democracy in ancient Greece, now we are going to look at democracy today.

The ancient Athenian system of direct democracy has left a lasting legacy around the world as many different countries today use different types of democracy as a way to run their government and make decisions.

Modern Britain is an example of this as the British people have a say about how this country is run, and there is no single ruler that makes all the decisions.

Aisha's made a very good observation.

Britain does have a king, but he is not involved in any of the political debates or the voting, so he does not make direct decisions himself about how to run the country.

What do you know about the king? Which of these pictures shows where the British king lives? A, the Houses of Parliament.

B, the Courts of Justice.

Or C, Buckingham Palace.

Have you chosen? The king lives in Buckingham Palace.

He doesn't live in the Houses of Parliament.

That's where the government is run from.

And he doesn't meet in the Courts of Justice.

That's where criminals are taken to have their cases heard.

There are similarities and differences between Athenian democracy and modern British democracy.

For example, Britain is not a direct democracy like ancient Athens was.

Instead, modern Britain is a representative democracy.

This means that when people in Britain turn 18 years old, they are able to vote in elections which are held roughly every four years.

In these elections, they vote for a person who represents their local area.

This person is called a member of parliament, or an MP, and their local area is called a constituency.

So people in Britain, as Jacob points out, vote for their MP to represent their constituency in the Houses of Parliament.

There are 650 constituencies in total, and each one of those has its own MP.

So although modern British democracy is not exactly the same as Athenian direct democracy was, it is similar as the Ekklesia also voted to elect their representatives onto the Boule, in the same way as people in Britain today elect their representatives for their constituencies as MPs.

This is a photograph of the Houses of Parliament.

You saw this earlier.

This is where the government is run from.

This is where the MPs go to have their debates.

In modern Britain, an elected MP attends the Houses of Parliament in London.

There they talk about issues and they have votes to make important decisions.

These decisions often become laws that the government has passed.

Which means that everyone in the country then has to follow them.

Out of the 650 MPs, 21 of those MPs hold special responsibilities.

They are the MPs that run the government.

They are called government ministers, and they include the prime minister who leads the government.

So what we can say is that modern British democracy is similar to ancient Athenian democracy as the government ministers are like the Boule who had responsibilities for running the city-state of Athens.

Take another look at the multiple-choice pictures from earlier with a different question in mind now.

Which of these photos shows us somewhere that British MPs have debates? A, the Houses of Parliament.

B, the Courts of Justice.

Or C, Buckingham Palace.

It's A, A is the Houses of Parliament, and an MP is a member of parliament.

In modern Britain, unlike in ancient Athens, all people can be part of the democracy.

In modern Britain women have the right to vote in elections.

Women can also stand as a candidate.

That means they can put themselves forward as somebody who would like to be elected.

They can become members of local councils, or they can become members of parliament.

Currently, there are only about 225 female members of parliament of the 650 MPs.

When a woman is elected as a member of parliament that means there is a possibility that she could take on one of the 21 government minister roles.

She may even become a prime minister.

The first female prime minister was elected in 1979, and her name was Margaret Thatcher.

You can see her in the photograph here.

Sophia points out that this is an important difference, because in modern British democracy all adults can be part of it, and in ancient Athens it was only for the men.

So let's put your new learning to use again with another activity.

I want you to decide whether these statements are true or false.

You can tick the correct column each time.

Modern Britain is a direct democracy.

In modern Britain only men can vote.

In modern Britain all adults can vote.

In modern Britain the king makes all the important decisions.

In modern Britain MPs are elected by the people.

Pause the video while you decide if each statement is true or false.

Finished? Great.

Let's look at the answers together.

Modern Britain is a direct democracy.

It is definitely a democracy, but if you remember, it is a representative democracy.

It is not a direct democracy.

In modern Britain only men can vote.

That's absolutely not the case.

That is definitely false.

In modern Britain all adults can vote.

Yes, they can.

As soon as a person turns 18 in the UK, they have the right to vote.

In modern Britain the king makes all the important decisions.

That's not right.

We have a government, and they make decisions, so this is false.

In modern Britain MPs are elected by the people.

This is absolutely true.

Well done.

Now let's continue and look at one more aspect of modern Britain compared to ancient Athens.

In modern Britain we do have courts.

The photograph shows the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Courts have the responsibility to solve cases where people have been accused of breaking a law.

This is very similar to the Dikasteria in ancient Athens.

In British courts the judges listen to arguments and they make decisions based on advice and guidance.

In modern Britain there are very strict rules to make sure that the courts are run fairly.

The Royal Courts of Justice have existed in London for over a hundred years.

This tells us that modern British democracy is similar to ancient Athenian democracy, as Britain has courts like the Dikasteria where judges hear cases and make judgements.

Let's go back to those multiple-choice pictures.

This time I want you to identify which of them shows somewhere British judges hear cases.

A, the Houses of Parliament.

B, the Courts of Justice.

Or C, Buckingham Palace.

Have you chosen? It's B, the Royal Courts of Justice.

Well done.

All right then, let's have one last activity.

This is going to bring together everything you know about those three important institutions in Athens and modern democracy.

I would like you to write a paragraph to compare direct democracy in ancient Athens and representative democracy in modern Britain.

You could include words to show similarities and differences.

You could include the names of institutions and groups involved in democracy.

For example, the Ekklesia, the Boule, the Dikasteria, MPs, or government ministers.

You could also write about the rules around democracy and compare those.

When you have finished, share and compare your ideas with a partner.

Pause the video now while you complete the activity.

Are you ready? Well done, you've remembered some excellent facts.

This is my example, and I'm going to share it with you now.

Direct democracy began in ancient Athens.

Around 6,000 men gathered each month as an Ekklesia.

They elected the Boule, a council that made decisions.

This is similar to modern Britain's representative democracy in which people elect representatives called members of parliament, or MPs.

Modern British democracy is also similar because the government ministers are like the Boule who were responsible for running Athens.

Modern Britain also has courts similar to the Dikasteria in ancient Athens.

One important difference is that all adults can vote in elections in modern Britain, not just the men like it was in ancient Athens.

Did you include ideas similar to those in your paragraph? Good job.

We are now at the end of our lesson, so I think it would be a good idea to summarise everything we now know.

The first direct democracy started in ancient Athens.

The three main institutions of this democracy were the Ekklesia, called the Assembly, the Boule, which was the Council, and the Dikasteria, which was the Courts.

Ancient Athenian democracy has left a lasting legacy as many countries today use different types of democracy, including modern Britain.

There are similarities and differences between ancient Athenian democracy and modern British democracy.

For example, only male Athenians could vote, but all adults can vote to elect MPs or local councillors in modern Britain.

You've done really well to listen to a lot of information today.

Great work, and thank you for sharing all of your ideas.

Join me next time for another lesson about the legacies of the ancient Greek civilization.

Bye for now.