Athenian Demokratia.

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Sally Grey 12 Ab

                        Athenian Demokratia

  1. How did Athens and Sparta deal with their internal enemies i.e. the poor?

Sparta officially recognised the helots as their enemies. Every year Spartan government declared war on the Helots to stop them revolting. In contrast, Athens dealt with the threat of internal enemy by including them poor in political life. This turned out to be a better way of controlling them because there was no fear of the poor revolting.

  1. How did some of the poor benefit from the decisions of the assembly?

Many received land holdings abroad, which were awarded through a lottery, pay for military service and benefits – both financial and aesthetic from a large program of public works.

  1. Why might the poor of Athens not look to other poleis to see how demokratia worked?

Because other demokratia were not as secure as Athenian Demokratia.

  1. What was a ‘metic’?

An immigrant, some one who was not Athenian but was allowed to live there. They did not have rights such as being in the assembly etc.

  1. What were the rules of heritance?

Heritance was really forward thinking. All land was divided up between all of the sons, which meant that there was no discontent and no one had a huge amount of wealth or power.

  1. What were the benefits of having a large intermediate class?

       It could preserve a constitution by throwing its great weight against provocative measure    

       whether from the poor or very rich. It kept the rich and the poor in check.

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  1. According to Aristotle why did people with intermediate wealth not try to get more, especially property?

       Because the fear of loosing what they had was greater than the desire for more.

  1. What do you understand by democratic inconsistency?

Democracy changing its mind – e.g. Mytilene

  1. Who was considered to be the founder of Athens’s constitution?

Solon

  1. What do you understand by the term ‘hybris’?

It refers to degrading arrogance.

  1. Write a few sentences about Kleisthenes.

He was remembered as the creator of the 10 tribes on which democratic structures of the ...

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