Athenian_Democracy

Athenian Democracy Athenian Democracy Authors disputing the fact that the Athenian government under Pericles was a democracy tend to take an over-analytic approach to the subject, overlooking its true nature. The term democracy means “a government by the people”. Therefore, as people’s ideas and opinions evolve, so will the characteristics of a democracy. In debating whether or not Athens can be considered a democratic system, the topic of slavery and the oppression of women are frequently discussed. Both of these occurred in the Athenian government, and historians use this as proof that it could not have been a truly democratic organization. As Donald Kagan writes, it is also important to take the Jacksonian democracy into consideration, during which America coexisted with slaves. He also brings up the fact that women were not given the opportunity to vote until this century (Kagan 182). Therefore, the Athenian government should government, democracy, athenian, kagan, women, vote, ekklesia, athens, therefore, take, system, slavery, should, pericles, people, opportunity, means, mcgregor, given, fact, democratic, citizens, based, 182, writes, world, whether, viewed, very, until, under, truly, true, topic, title