Lesson video

Hello there, my friends, and welcome to the fourth lesson, as you know, of Ancient Greece.

My name is Mr. Pedroza and in this lesson, we're going to have a look at the following question.

So the question is, what was Athenian democracy? Let's have a look at the lesson structure for today.

So we're going to begin with the star words, we're going to try some key vocabulary, and then we're going to have a look at the Solonian Constitution which was the beginnings of Athenian democracy.

Then we'll have a look at how is Athenian democracy structured, how did it work.

We'll have a look at the very end, the legacy of Athenian democracy.

And then we have your end of lesson quiz as always.

Things that you're going to need in this lesson, you're going to need your exercise book or paper, you need a pencil or a pen, and then you're going to need a ruler.

So if you haven't got those things, go and get them now.

Okay, let's begin with the key vocabulary.

Let's have a look at the star words.

We've got five, we've got constitution, debt, assembly, council, and vote.

And the constitution is a set of basic laws by which a nation, a state, or another organisation is governed.

Then we've got debt.

And debt is something owed to another person.

Something owed to another person is called debt.

Then we've got an assembly.

An assembly is a group of people gathered together, usually for a specific purpose.

Next, we've got a council.

And a council is a group of persons gathered together to discuss or to make decisions about public matters.

Next, we've got votes.

And a vote is a formal expression of choice in an election or of a group decision.

So let's begin with the Solonian Constitution.

So in this lesson, we're going to be studying the origins of democracy in the city of Athens, which happened around 508 BCE.

But let's recap what happened before that.

So remember that the first Greek civilization, the first great Greek civilization, the Minoans, they emerged on the island of Crete in around 2200 BCE.

And after the Minoans came the Mycenaean civilization, whose centre of power was the city of Mycenae on the mainland.

And then after the decline of the Mycenaeans, there was a period of time known as the Dark Age.

Remember that this period of time was known as the Dark Age because nobody knows about what happened and all written language and art seemed to have disappeared.

After Ancient Greece emerged from this Dark Age, then we had the very first Olympics in the city of Olympia in 776 BCE.

And then between 594 BCE and 593 BCE, in Athens, the ruler Solon laid the foundation for democracy.

And then finally coinciding with the beginning of Ancient Greece's Golden Age, democracy was established in the city of Athens in around 508 BCE.

So that's when democracy really came to be in Athens.

And then of course after that, we have the first invasion of Greece by the King Darius the First of Persia.

Now let's complete the sentence.

Democracy was established in the city of Athens in around what dates? In which year was democracy established in the city of Athens? So at this point, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's have a look.

First question, democracy was established in the city of Athens in around 508 BCE.

Awesome job, my friends! Great start.

So let's have a look at the Solonian Constitution.

So, let's learn about the years prior to the establishment of democracy in 508 BCE.

So this Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and he was a poet.

And he is credited with restructuring the social and political organisation of Athens, and thereby laying the foundations for Athenian democracy.

And Solon, he was appointed ruler of Athens in around 594 BCE, following his success as a commander of Athens' army against the war against the city state of Megara.

And during Solon's time in power, the city of Athens faced economic problems as well as growing discontent of their ownership of farmland which had become the precept of a small number of wealthy and powerful people.

Now, when was Solon appointed ruler of Athens? Was it, A, was it 594 BCE? Was it, B, was it 549 BCE? Was it, C, 59 BCE? Or was it, D, 54 BCE? When was Solon appointed ruler of Athens? Is it A, B, C, or D? Have a go, pause the video and compete that task.

Okay, let's check the answer.

When was he appointed ruler of Athens? It was, A, it was 594 BCE.

So Solon was appointed the ruler of Athens in 594 BCE.

Awesome job, my friends.

Well done.

Now during this time, during Solon's time in power, people were forced to work for landowners paying them 1/6th of all of their crops or even becoming their slaves if they couldn't pay their debts.

So Solon proposed to cancel everybody's debt, where those people who owed to somebody else they would be given the right to earn the land which they worked.

Solon also reformed the Athenian class system, creating four different social groups according to their agricultural production.

So the more crops that you produce, the more power you had under his reforms. And what this did was this helped to reduce the influence and the power of the elites, the tiny group of people who had controlled the city up to then.

Solon's reforms became known as the Solonian Constitution, and along with some judicial reforms, which in theory made everybody equal in the eyes of the law, these became the first steps towards the development of democracy.

Now, let's have a look at this question.

So what did Solon propose to cancel as part of his reforms? So in the Solonian Constitution, Solon proposed to cancel something.

What did he propose to cancel? So in your answer you could say, "As part of his reforms, Solon proposed to cancel.

." What did he propose to cancel? Pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's have a look.

Are you ready? What did he propose to cancel? So, what Solon proposed to cancel as part of his reforms? It was, of course, debts.

So as part of his reforms, Solon proposed to cancel all debts, as well as allowing people to earn the land they worked.

So that would be the perfect answer to that question.

Okay, I'm going to put it up so that you can check it against your own.

Great job, my friends.

Okay, so.

The Solonian Constitution was the beginning of democracy in Athens.

Now in his work titled, "The Constitution of the Athenians," Aristotle, the philosopher, criticised Solon's reforms as being too vague.

Aristotle's work is the basis for much of what we know about Athenian democracy.

And the rich elite who had been in power in Athens, were not supportive of Solon's reforms either.

And this allowed the tyrant, Peisistratos, to seize power on three different occasions.

Nevertheless, Solon did reduce the dominance of the Athenian aristocracy, and he improved the participation of ordinary citizens in the political arena.

Before Solon, power had just rested on the elite.

After Solon's constitution, as reforms, that power was extended to more and more of Athens' citizens.

So let's have a look at the next one.

How was Athenian democracy structured? So, we move on from the rule of Solon, who laid the foundation for democracy, and we're going to move up to 508 BCE, which was when democracy was really established in Athens.

So the next step in Athens' development of democracy came in 508 BCE.

And the tyrant, we just mentioned him, the tyrant Peisistratos' son, Cleisthenes, he championed a radical political reform in 508 and 507 BCE which ushered in the Athenian democratic constitution.

And Cleisthenes' reforms, known as demokratia or rule by the people, was comprised of three separate institutions.

So this is Athenian democracy, and it was made up of three bodies.

So you've got the Ekklesia, which is the assembly, which was in charge of writing the laws.

Then we've got the Boule, which is the council.

And the council was in charge of everyday running of government.

And then we have the Dikasteria, which were the courts.

And the courts, they handled lawsuits and trials.

So in Athenian democracy, there were three bodies.

There was the Ekklesia, the Boule, and the Dikasteria.

So who could could vote in Athenian democracy? Well, citizens could vote for the law.

And democracy in Athens was very direct.

What this meant is that all citizens voted on all the laws rather than vote for representatives.

Each citizen was expected to vote for each law that was passed.

And Athenians, they did have officials to run the government but most of them were chosen by a lottery.

So every citizen had the chance, regardless of their popularity or wealth to become a member of the government.

A few key positions were voted on such as the treasurer, who was in control of taxation, and the 10 generals who ran the army.

So you might say, who could vote? Well, in order to vote, you had to be a citizen.

However, not everybody who lived in Athens was a citizen.

Only men who had completed their military training counted as citizens.

Therefore, Athenian democracy excluded women, excluded slaves, and excluded the poor.

So, who was considered a citizen in Athenian democracy? So in Athenian democracy, who was considered a citizen? Who was the only people, who was the only group of people who were allowed to vote? Have a think, have a go.

Pause the video and complete this task.

Okay, let's have a look.

Do you remember who were the only group of people who were considered citizens and therefore given the right to vote in Athenian democracy? Now, who was considered a citizen in Athenian democracy? The answer was, of course, only men who have completed their military training were counted as citizens.

Therefore women, slaves, and the poor, they weren't citizens and they weren't allowed to vote.

Not very fair.

Again, I'm going to leave the answer up so that you can check it against your own.

Okay, let's move on.

So we know that there were three institutions which made up Athenian democracy.

Do you remember all three of them? We had, the first one was the Ekklesia, good job! The Ekklesia was the assembly.

Then we have the Boule, and then we have the Dikasteria, the courts.

So let's learn about each one beginning with the Ekklesia.

So the Ekklesia or assembly, was the sovereign governing body of Athens and anyone considered a citizen could attend the meetings of the Ekklesia.

And there were around 40 times, there were around 40 meetings each year, and they met on a hillside auditorium called the Pnyx.

Now at these meetings, the Ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy.

So how Athens treated, how Athens dealt with other city states and empires.

Now decisions were also made about different laws and they could check, the Ekklesia could also check the behaviour of government officials.

Now the Ekklesia made decisions by a majority vote.

So the laws that were passed had to have a certain number of votes.

The Ekklesia was also really powerful and they had the power to ostracise.

This meant that the Ekklesia could expel a citizen from Athens for 10 years if it was deemed necessary.

So the Ekklesia had the power to say to any citizen, you can't be in Athens for 10 years on the penalty of death.

So let's write these statements.

Let's write whether these statements are true or false.

So, A, "Anybody, including women and slaves, could attend the meetings of the Ekklesia." Is that true or is that false? And then, B, "The Ekklesia met around 40 times a year." Is that true or is that false? Have a think, have a go.

Pause the video and then complete this task.

Okay, let's check and see whether those answers are true or false.

So, "Anybody including women and slaves could attend the meetings of the Ekklesia," that is false.

Remember, only citizens could attend the meetings of the Ekklesia.

Remember that only men who have completed their military training were considered to be citizens.

Therefor women, slaves and the poor, they cannot attend the meetings.

And then, B, "The Ekklesia met around 40 times a year," that is true.

So again, I'm going to leave the answers up so that you can check them against your own.

Okay, let's move on to the next body, the next institution of Athenian democracy, which is the Boule.

So we've got the Ekklesia, now we've got the Boule.

The second important institution was the Boule, which is also known as the Council of 500.

You might think, oh why is it known as the Council of 500? Well, the Boule was a group of 500 men.

That's the reason why it's called the Council of 500.

So, the Boule was a group of 500 men, and 50 were chosen from each of the 10 Athenian tribes.

And these were chosen by lottery.

And these men served on the council for just one year.

And unlike the Ekklesia, the Boule, they met every single day.

And they did most of the hands-on work of governance.

The Boule's main function was to decide what matters would come before the Ekklesia.

And so in this way, the 500 members of the Boule dictated how the entire democracy would work.

They decided what laws were important to be discussed by the Ekklesia.

So let's answer this question.

So in terms of how often they met, what was different about the Boule compared to the Ekklesia? So you know that the Boule met every single day, why is that different to the Ekklesia? How often did the Ekklesia meet? Do you remember that? Okay, you could use this sentence to answer.

So, the Boule was different to the Ekklesia as.

What was different about how often those two bodies met? So yeah, at this point, pause the video and complete this task.

Okay, let's have a look and see what the answer was.

So in terms of how often they met, what was different about the Boule compared to the Ekklesia? The perfect answer would be, the Boule was different to the Ekklesia as they met every day, unlike the Ekklesia which only met around 40 times a year.

So that would be a really good answer to that question.

Again, I'm going to leave it up so that you can check it against your own.

Okay, let's move on.

So we've got the Ekklesia, we've got the Boule, let's have a look at the third institution which was the Dikasteria.

And the Dikasteria was known as the popular courts.

And every day, around 500 men were appointed and they were paid for their work on the Dikasteria.

And anybody elected to the Dikasteria had to be older than 30.

That means, oh I could have served.

I'm over 30.

Now, there were no police in Athens.

So it was the demos themselves, it was the people, who brought court cases, argued for the prosecution and the defence.

And they delivered verdicts and sentences by majority rule.

And Athenians often used the Dikasteria to settle scores against their enemies.

They often used the Dikasteria to punish or to embarrass those people who they didn't like.

Hmm, sounds very scary.

Now let's have a look at this task.

In this task, I've got some sentences.

They are missing some key words.

The key words or numbers or figures could be 30, you've got courts, and then you've got 500.

So where do you think those key words or numbers go? Have a think, write the sentences out, and then once you're done, read them to see if they makes sense.

So at this point, pause the video and complete this task.

Okay, let's have a look and see what the answers were.

Ready? So the Dikasteria were known as the popular courts and they were made up around 500 men.

So everybody, every day, 500 men were elected to the Dikasteria.

Anybody elected to the Dikasteria had to be over the age of 30.

Awesome job, my friends.

Well done.

I'm going to leave it up so you can check your answer.

Okay, let's move on.

So what's the legacy of Athenian democracy? Well, Athenian ideas about democracy soon began to spread to other city states.

And today, most governments around the world claim to practise some form of democracy.

They claim to practise some form of government in which power rests with the people.

And Athenian democracy, however, began to wane as the Macedonian kingdom gained control of the Greek mainland under King Phillip the Second, and later under his son, Alexander the Great.

So the Athenian experiment with democracy didn't last very long but it certainly became very influential even to the present day.

And guys, that is the end of lesson.

So, great work today.

Awesome job.

It's now time as always, you know what I'm going to say to you, it's time to complete your end of lesson quiz.

And if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work.

They can do it on Instagram, they can do it on Facebook, they can do it on Twitter.

They could tag @OakNational, and they could use the #LearnWithOak.

So if there's anything that you would like to be shared, then please ask your parent or carers to do that for you.

And that is the end of the lesson.

Thank you so much for everything.

And I hope to see you in our next one.

Goodbye, my friends.