The Athenian Democracy

In his Funeral Oration, Pericles describes the Athenian government

during the Peloponnesian War and praises the way of life and national habits

to which it lead. Pericles praised many aspects of the government. He

especially praised the fact that the Athenian democracy creates highly

motivated and loyal citizens that are willing to go above and beyond for their

government. To further understand Pericles view, we will look at citizens

participation in Athenian democracy, Pericles analysis of the democracy, and

compare our democracy with the Athenian democracy.

To understand the Athenian democracy, one must first know what a

democracy is. The traditional definition is as follows: government by the

people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the

people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free

electoral system. In other words, its a government for the people, run by the

people. There are a couple different types of democracy, one being

representative, and one being direct. The Athenian democracy was a direct

democracy. Meaning each person voted on every matter. Naturally if you

vote on every matter, you are going to be invested into your country and

government. This simple concept made Athenians patriotic. They felt like

they mattered, they were not just a statistic, what they said and what they

thought actually impacted everyday life. If they didnt like something the

government was doing they could realistically change it quickly. What really

made the Athenian government special was that everyone held office
throughout their life. Regardless of what you did for a living. For example, if

you were a doctor, you could potentially be a judge along with a farmer. This

type of government took care of its people. In Pericles funeral oration, one of

the first things we read is that the government pays for funerals for fallen

soldiers. When it came to wars, not only did the majority of the people want

to go to war, the soldiers know that they will be taken care of if they die in

battle. Knowing this, soldiers are going to fight harder. Unlike mercenaries,

who are fighting to get paid, Athenian soldiers are fighting for the country

they love. Someone who is defending a place that they love will fight much

harder than an opponent fighting because they were told to, or a mercenary.

At the end of the day, Athenians were going to stay loyal.

Pericles identifies key characteristics, activities, and habits of the

Athenian democracy. He speaks of the freedom of such a lifestyle in terms

of the citizens pursuit of their own private interests without interfering with

others. This belief has a modern term for it. This is the idea of the invisible

hand. The invisible hand theory states that pursuing your own self-interest, is

actually in the interest of society as a whole. Pericles mentions this because

self-growth doesnt only help the individual out, it helps the entire nation.

Since the democracy allows people this freedom one takes pride in doing

well. This belief of doing well for your country strengthens an individuals

sense of purpose. Pericles talks about cultivation of refinement without

extravagance The Athenians did not want to over doing things. In a way

they were simplistic. This relates back to their democracy because the
Athenians wanted to get things done. It wasnt about attention. The

Athenians were not caught up in who got things done, they just wanted to

make sure objectives were taken care of. This is an important because

everyone served at some level of authority. It didnt matter if you were the

farmer or doctor, you were expected to know what was going on in the

current time, and you were expected to execute your job in a timely and

efficient manner. With this he speaks about love of Knowledge without

effeminacy. He includes this because, even though they value knowledge,

they are not a soft or delicate nation. This democracy they have values

everyone being smart. This way, when someone is in power, regardless of

who it is, they know whats going on. A nation with such a democracy can be

very powerful. However, Pericles beloved democracy isnt flawless. The

freedom of the democracy rests on the exploitations of others through

empire and slavery. One of the major flaws in this type of government is, not

everyone is going to be effective in leadership roles. Another downfall is, not

everyone is going to be informed of everything going on. It is hard to keep up

with politics. If someone is in a higher up position and isnt aware of

circumstances, mistakes could be made. Lastly, some individuals would have

personal agendas, they would want to take care of while in power, instead of

taking care of matters that are pressing to the nation as a whole. This form of

democracy worked for them, because they were able to keep these

circumstances limited. If people copied this form of government today it

would be interesting to see how it would work in our society today.

 As you read through this you may think to yourself, the United States

has a democracy and we are not exactly like the Athenians. If you did ask

yourself this, then youre right. The United States has what you call a

representative democracy. A representative democracy is a democracy

where the people elect officials to vote and decide on matters for them. This

works well in our society because people live busy lives and cannot keep up

with current events. This leads to smarter people being elected. Which

means there is a major difference in intelligent between people. Since the

average person doesnt vote on every matter, it is challenging for people to

know whats going on. Most people in the United States only vote once or

twice a year; opposed to the Athenians voting once or twice a day in some

cases. In terms of knowledge and people knowing what is going on around

them, there is a major difference. In terms of being patriotic, and loyal to

your country, democracies consistently have these kind of people. Our

government has services for its fallen men and women just like the

Athenians did. Our government still promotes the invisible hand theory, we

want individuals to be successful. In many ways our way of life is similar, but

there are differences that need to be noted.

After looking at the Athenians participation in government, Pericles

keys of democracy, and the United States democracy compared to the

Athenians. Pericles belief that the Athenian democracy creates highly

motivated and loyal citizens is correct. A lot can be learned for this type of

government. The United States could learn a thing or two from Athens. If the
world consisted of more of these democracies, there would be less problems.

For now, and for the foreseeable future, the Athenian government will have

its own unique place in history.

Michael Scherer
LST 100
Professor Charles
10/14/15