1. Steps to Democracy

2.  City state was controlled by the land-owning
aristocracy
 Governed through a council headed by three
officials
 Nobles often put their interests ahead of the
other inhabitants
 Citizens who were not nobles were powerless

3.  System brought resentment
 Merchants demanded more political power
 Small farmers were being forced into debt
because of poor harvests
 Had to either sell to a nobleman and become a
tenant or become a slave
 Skilled tradesmen resented their inability to
become citizens
 All this discontent led to violence

4.  In 621 B.C. the officials of Athens appointed
Draco to draw up a written code
 Wanted to prevent civil war
 Law was very harsh, death penalty for many
offenders
 Public law, to be applied equally to all classes
 Did come up with the idea of ‘intent’ in murder
cases
 Did not work to well, still violence over the
next 25 years

5.  Any debtor whose status was lower than that
of his creditor was forced into slavery
 The death penalty was appropriate for
stealing even so much as a cabbage
 "It is said that Drakon himself, when asked why
he had fixed the punishment of death for most
offences, answered that he considered these
lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no
greater punishment for more important ones.“
Plutarch

6.  Next person chosen to ease tensions in 594 BC
 He abolished debt slavery
 Freed those citizens who had previously been
forced to sell themselves into slavery
 Limited the amount of land someone could
buy
 Extended citizenship to some skilled
immigrants
 Limited exports of grain to solve food shortage

7.  He started Athens along the path of becoming a
great trade centre
 Ordinary citizens gained greater political power
 Assembly of citizens
 Reformed legal code from Draco
 Citizens could bring issues against other citizens
to court
 Tried by other citizens who owned property

8.  Continual tensions surrounding land ownership
led to him taking power in 560 B.C.
 Used a coup that was popular with the people
 He took land from the nobles and gave it to the
peasants
 Also reduced the privileges of the nobles
 Added buildings to the Acropolis
 Trade and business thrived

9.  Overthrew Pisistratus’s son (508 BC)
 Organized the people into 10 tribes based on
area of residence, Council of 500
 Organized gov’t with leaders chosen by lot, not
blood
 Introduced ostracism
 Anyone thought to be a threat to Athens was exiled
for 10 years
 He set Athens on the path to democracy

10.  Leader and general during Greece’s Golden Age
 Claimed to be the ‘First Citizen of Athens’
 Turned Athens into an empire
 Promoted the arts and literature
 Athens became the educational and cultural
center of the ancient Greek world.
 Built up the Acropolis even more (Parthenon)
 Pericles also ‘created’ Athenian democracy
 Critics say he catered too much to the people

13.  Read the article and answer:
1. Outline how Athenian democracy worked
 Assembly, Council of 500, 10 Generals
2. Outline how the Athenian Legal System
worked