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IdentificationDemocracy as the “rule of the people” emerged first in some Greek city-states in the 6th century BC, the most well-known democracy being that of Athens. The fundamental principle was that all citizens – adult free men – had an equal right and duty to rule the city directly by turning up in person at the Assembly to take part in all decisions there. Also in Rome, citizens in the days of the republic (510-46 BC) had a certain influence on the government of the city and later the empire even if Rome more closely resembled an oligarchy – a rule of the few – with wealthy families or a junta in power.
Until the end of the 6th century BC, many Greek city-states were ruled by tyrants. By way of reaction, democratic movements emerged in Athens and other cities, demanding rule of the people. In Athens, the tyrants were expelled in 510 BC. After a civil war, and under the leadership of Cleisthenes (circa 570- circa 500 BC) a rule of the people was introduced in 507 BC, and it remained in force for almost 200 years, only interrupted by two short revolutions in 411 and 404 BC. To guard against tyrants, a procedure was introduced known as ostracism. It consisted in a referendum by which a politician could be exiled for 10 years. Democracy in antiquity rested on three principles. The first was that the people ruled directly. The citizens met in the Assembly-place in the open. Everybody had the right to speak, and voting was conducted by show of hands. Many decrees of the Assembly were inscribed on stone and began with the words: “The people have decided that…” they dealt with matters of war and peace, worship of the gods, grain supplies, and honours to be bestowed on deserving citizens. In order to enable everybody to participate the Athenian citizens were paid for attending political meetings and the poor turned up in large numbers. The second principle was that officials and judges were appointed by sortition instead of being elected. True democracy was not a matter of the best suited, but of the randomly selected, because all citizens were equal, and because appointments for one year based on the drawing of lots prevented the formation of a bureaucracy of wealthy citizens who could divest the people of power. In addition to the Assembly, there was a Council of 500 citizens appointed by sortition for one year. The Council prepared all matters that had to be debated and put to the vote in the Assembly, and it supervised, on an ongoing basis, the many hundred other officials chosen by lot. Every day, from the midst of the Council a chairman was chosen by lot who acted as president of the state, but only for one day and night. Judicial authority was exercised by juries, each of them manned by many hundred jurors appointed by lot. Generals were not eligible. War required professional leaders The third principle was that democratic participation is not only a right, but a patriotic obligation. “We condemn any man who does not participate in politics”, said Pericles (circa 495-429BC). He was an aristocrat by birth and for many years the leading statesman in Athens, both as elected general and as a speaker in the Assembly. The historian Thucydides (circa 460-circa 400 BC) explains how Pericles in a funeral oration delivered the grandest speech in defence of the Athenian democracy.
Democracy was not without its critics. The great philosophers of antiquity, Plato and Aristotle, believed that democracy would degenerate into mob rule. They compared the people to a huge, sluggish monster that might become unexpectedly dangerous because it thinks along petty lines and is apt to be carried away by feelings. To a modern eye, another deficiency is that only male citizens had political rights, which were denied women, slaves and resident aliens, metics. Athens controlled an area the size of Funen. At the time of Pericles, the city held between a quarter and half a million inhabitants, many of them slaves and metics, who had to pay taxes and perform military service, but did not have citizenship rights. The number of adult male citizens enjoying full citizenship rights amounted to approx. 50,000. It was only in Athens and in a number of other city-states that democracy functioned completely successfully. Other Greek city-states were oligarchies like Rome. The Athenians’ victorious opposition to the Persian Empire in the wars 490-449 BC was at the time ascribed to freedom of expression in Athens, a form of political freedom in the public sphere which in the private sphere was matched by a form of individual freedom which Thucydides defined as “every citizen’s right to live as he pleases”. The Romans developed another concept of freedom, which has also been of significance to posterity. The Romans distinguished between free states and monarchies. A free state was not ruled by individuals, but by the laws. The city government was founded on the rule of law, and if a ruler or wealthy person violated the law, the citizens were entitled to help from the tribunes of the people, a board of officials which was established in 494 BC. A tribune could impose a “veto”, which means “I forbid”. This order could not be appealed and it was sacrilege to prevent the tribune from doing his duty. The veto led to enormous strife and discord in the history of ancient Rome, and two thousand years later debate over the veto flared up again among the champions of liberal democracy.
“Our constitution (…) favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a
democracy. (…) We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without
effeminacy. (…) In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I doubt
if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is
equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility, as the Athenian.”
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This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Democracy Canon"