Athens The Best Form Of Politics - 891 Words

During the fifth-century BCE, Athens was one of the most powerful Greek city-states around. Before its demise during the Peloponnesian War, Athenians strongly believed their government was the superior of all and should have been emulated by any state that wanted to be considered a successful society. However, Athenian democracy was not able to withstand the test of time and eventually crumbled as a city. During the height of its success, Athens exemplifies a political paradigm for other societies to imitate. Both Plato and Thucydides argue democracy is the best attainable form of politics for a society. In Thucydides’ Funeral Oration, Pericles argues that everyone should look to Athens as an example of being a perfect state with the best institution. He describes Athens as a unified philosophical city that does not make its neighbors envious because Athenians strive towards excellence not extravagance, despite the amount of wealth Athens has obtained. Since Athens has been so successful during this time, Pericles argues one of the reasons why Athens is so superior is because their democracy is the best form of politics. He even argues that the citizens of Athens live the best life possible because of the city’s democratic government. Pericles’ says: â€Å"Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people†¦ everyone is equal before the law;† (11.37, Thucydides). Athens’ form of government is so great based on the factShow MoreRelatedAthens †¦Democracy Realized?. . . Gregory R. Bowen. History1656 Words   |  7 Pages Athens †¦Democracy Realized? Gregory R. Bowen History 2321: World Civilizations II Feb 20, 2017 The Athenians’ of classical Greece are given credit for being the originators of the democratic model †¦giving inspiration to all future attempts at this system of government. While it was practiced as a direct democracy, with all eligible citizens having the right to vote, the question of just how democratic it really was, must be asked. Who was eligible to vote and participate in politicalRead MoreThe Role Of Women During Ancient Athens And Sparta1028 Words   |  5 Pagesviews were on the subject of women. In Ancient Greece the majority of city-states sited with the views of Athens on the matter. All but one, the outsider was Sparta. Thought this essay, it will investigate question, what are some similarities and differences of the role of women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Though the following topics of: Marriage, freedoms and isolation, and last of all politics and land. â€Å"The ancient Greeks believed the purpose of being female was to be married, and the purposeRead MorePlatos life and contributions to society.. What is known about his past, and how he enhanced the world around him.1638 Words   |  7 Pagesreading his many dialogues. Plato was born in Athens, Greece, in 427 B.C. and died in Athens, Greece, in 347 B.C. This time period was a couple hundred years after the beginning of the Olympic Games and the start of alphabetic writing, and a hundred or so years before the uprising of Alexander the Great, who would conquer the known world. The center of Western civilization during these times was Athens, a city-state and a democracy. This basically means Athens supported itself and the lands around itRead MoreAthens And Sparta Political Realism Essay1454 Words   |  6 Pages1. How do Athens and Sparta behave in adherence to the concepts of political realism? Both in general and with their military approach to the war as well as specific key incidents in the first 3 books. Political realism being defined as: â€Å"an approach to the study and practice of international politics. It emphasizes the role of the nation-state and makes a broad assumption that all nation-states are motivated by national interests, or, at best, national interests disguised as moral concerns.† ThisRead MoreThe Main Contributions from Greek Society Essay572 Words   |  3 Pages At this point in time religion is not prevalent or influential. The European religion was borrowed from the Middle East. There are two main contributions from the Greek civilization. They were politics and secular. Polis the Greek word for city state is where politics came from. They had modern politics with the first democracy. It was divided into city-states that rule themselves in a democratic fashion. With this they have the majority vote. Secular was the non-religious way of looking at thingsRead More Plato Essay example1737 Words   |  7 Pages21, 427 (or 428) B.C. in Athens, the son of Ariston and Perictione, both of Athenian aristocratic ancestry. He lived his whole life in Athens, although he traveled to Sicily and southern Italy on several occasions, and one story says he traveled to Egypt. Little is known of his early years, but he was given the finest education Athens had to offer the scions of its noble families, and he devoted his considerable talents to politics and the writing of tragedy and other forms of poetry. His acquaintanceRead MoreDemocracy Outlined by Plato and Aristotle Essay914 Words   |  4 PagesIn the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means â€Å"the power of the people.â₠¬  The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that â€Å"Our constitution is called democracyRead MoreIdeals of Democratic Citizenship in Funeral Oration by Pericles1264 Words   |  6 Pagesfirst the thought that politics was the highest calling and second that the citizens should strive to improve themselves socially/politically to better the state. These ideas prove to well founded when their validity is examined in answering questions of what is the best form of government, and does that form better serve the nature of freedom, equality and justice. However, when one looks at the actions and words of Socrates (such as his lack of participation in politics or lack of desire to furtherRead MoreAthenian Demokratia Essay1672 Words   |  7 PagesIn 508 B.C, a civil war in Athens ceased; giving rise to a new democratic constitution under the leadership of Cleisthenes. The changes made under his leadership and other subsequent reforms resulted in a relatively radical form of gov ernment for the time known as democracy (Hyland Lecture, 26/09/2013). Democracy is a system of collective decision-making in which the participants have equality at least at one essential point of the decision making process (Christiano, â€Å"Democracy†). Furthermore, theRead MorePlato And Aristotle s Life And The Formation Of The Universe899 Words   |  4 PagesBefore developing one of the first democracies that existed on the earth, Athens had other forms of government, including monarchy (though that did not last very long). Even if there were other civilizations that were more established and advanced than the Greeks, they had produced â€Å"vast literatures on every human practice, as well as speculations about the origins of life and the formation of the universe†. But, tracing back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, is the tradition