WELCOME TO ANCIENT ATHENS!

Transcription

1 WELCOME TO ANCIENT ATHENS!

2 Warm Up Where are you from and what makes you proud to be from there? What are things that you think make people proud of where they come from?

3 Government in Athens Key Terms *democracy *aristocrats *oligarchy *citizens *tyrant *Pericles

4 Under Draco, an aristocrat, loitering was punishable by death! Aristocrats Rule Originally, kings also known as Dracos ruled Greek city-states. Later, a group of aristocrats, or rich landowners, took power. Under the aristocrats, laws were too strict and other Athenians disliked them. These Aristocrats formed a type of government called an oligarchy. A government in which only a few people have power is called an oligarchy.

5 Today, laws that are seen as too strict are called Draconian after Draco. Aristocrats Rule Cont. With such strict laws, Solon (SOH-luhn) tried to fix them by making everyone a citizen, or someone who had the right to participate in government. However, Athenians were still ready to end the oligarchy.

6 The Rise of Tyrants A tyranny is a government in which a tyrant has power. Eventually, the oligarchy was overthrown by a tyrant, Peisistratus (py- SIS-truht-uhs). A tyrant is a person who held power through force. Today, the word tyrant usually describes a negative, harsh ruler. In ancient Greece, tyrants were good leaders, unifying the city and improving Athens.

7 Athens Creates Democracy Unfortunately, aristocrats came into power again after Peisistratus died. It remained this way until Cleisthenes (KLYS-thuhneez) took power. Cleisthenes was a member of a rich family set to take power. However, he had different plans for Athens. Under Cleisthenes rule, the first democracy was created. Cleisthenes called upon his people to help overthrow the oligarchy once and for all.

8 Women, slaves, and foreigners weren t considered citizens so they couldn t vote. ATHENIANS WOULD ASSEMBLE ATHENIANS WOULD DEBATE ATHENIANS WOULD VOTE Democracy Under Cleisthenes All citizens had the right and were urged to assemble to participate in the making of laws. Citizens gave speeches and debates on issues. After speeches were over, voting took place.

9 Democracy Under Cleisthenes Cont. Voting was usually done by show of hands. For major decisions, 6,000 citizens were needed to vote. As you can imagine, it was difficult at times to find 6,000 people to come vote. To make it easier, citizens were selected to serve on a smaller council which decided on laws to discuss. Debates on Pnyx were often noisy and lacked organization. Voting took place on Pnyx (pah-niks), a small hill that sometimes held 6,000 people.

10 Pericles encouraged other parts of Greece to be democratic. Pericles even paid citizens to serve the government. Changes in Athenian Democracy Citizens began to gain power by serving on juries to decide court cases. Democracy flourished when Pericles was in power. Pericles felt that participating in the government was as important as defending Athens in war.

11 Pericles Funeral Oration (Speech) Athens was fought Sparta in a brutal and long war called the Peloponnesian War. Lasted from BCE After the first year of the war, Pericles was giving his speech about the fallen Athenians. He used his speech to boost the morale of the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War.

12 Athens over Everything Athenians became so proud of their city state. The Golden Age of Athens was under way By asking every citizen to participate in government, many citizens began to think about the right way for government to be run. The smartest of these men would eventually rise to the top of society and have great influence over Athens. Why do you think Athenians became so proud of their city state? What does the Golden Age of Athens mean?

13 Direct Democracy vs. Representative Democracy Direct Democracy Ancient Greece was a direct democracy. All citizens represented themselves directly and could participate in government and voting. Citizens themselves would gather and discuss issues. The population of ancient Greece was large, but still small enough to have a government in place that allowed all citizens to debate and vote. GREECE Representative Democracy The United States is a representative democracy. Citizens elect officials to represent them. Elected officials meet to make laws and enforce them. For example, the United States have senators and congressmen to represent and vote for us. U.S.

14 GREEK PHILOSOPHERS AND GOVERNMENT

15 Think, WRITE, Pair, Share Think and Write Explain what this quote means to you. The unexamined life is not worth living. Groups at Work Copyright MiraVia LLC All rights reserved

16 The Three Great Philosophers Today we will learn about the 3 great Greek Philosophers: 1. Socrates 2. Plato 3. Aristotle Groups at Work Copyright MiraVia LLC All rights reserved

17 I. Socrates After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars, many people in Athens began to question their Athenian beliefs. One such person who was already questioning people s values was Socrates. Socrates philosophy can be summed up as follows: 1.) He wanted people to examine their most closely held beliefs. Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. 2.) He believed there were universal standards for concepts like truth, justice, and good. 3.) In order to get people to rethink what they believed, he developed the Socratic Method, a type of question and answer approach that exposed the flaws in peoples thinking. 4.) Socrates didn t claim to know any answers, he always said I only know that I know nothing.

18 Example of the Socratic Method: Socrates: What is the best type of government? Student: The best type of government is one where people have a say in how it is run and the laws that are written. Socrates: What if the majority of the people are sexist and racist? Student: Well, then only those who are not sexist and racist should have a say. Socrates: And how do we determine who those are? and so on.

19 Socrates might also use a thought experiment to expose the flaws in people s beliefs. For example, Socrates might pose to you the following scenario: Socrates: A runaway train is approaching a group of five construction workers on the track ahead. Suppose you were standing next to railroad tracks, and there was a switch that would allow you to divert the train onto another set of tracks where there was only one construction worker standing [scenario A]. Is it just to save five men by killing one? Student : Yes, I suppose it is. Killing one man to save five is the only choice. Justice is that which does the least amount of harm to society. Socrates: Ok, now suppose you are standing on a bridge over the tracks. There is no switch. However, there is a man standing next to you. If you shove that man onto the tracks, he will die, but he will stop the train [scenario B]. Do you shove the man onto the tracks? Is that just? Scenario B Scenario A

20 At the end of his life, Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens. The elders of the city did not like that he made them question their surroundings. He was forced to drink hemlock, a poison, and died. He never wrote anything down; all we know of Socrates beliefs are from his students.

21 II. Plato Plato was a student of Socrates and wrote down many of his teachings. Here s what you need to know about Plato: 1.) Most famous work was called The Republic 2.) In it, he outlined his vision of a perfect society. In it, there would be three social classes: A.) On top would be philosopher-kings. Since they love knowledge and truth above all, they would rule the state most wisely. B.) Beneath them would be soldiers. They love courage, honor, and their homeland, so they would defend the state. C.) At the bottom would be farmers and craftsmen. They would produce everything that the state needs.

22 Plato Continued 3.) Plato did not trust democracy. He thought it was mob rule, and that the uneducated masses should not be given so much power. Part of his distrust came from the fact that his teacher, Socrates, was sentenced to death by a democracy.

23 One of the most famous parts of The Republic is known as the Allegory of the Cave. In it, Plato compares our existence to prisoners being chained inside of a cave. We watch shadows cast on the wall, thinking they are reality. But the truth is they are shadows cast by puppeteers behind us. We don t know that we are prisoners. Plato described a philosopher as someone who realized they were a prisoner and escaped the cave to the sunlight, which is reality. He said a philosopher would try and return into the cave to teach the prisoners the truth. However, the prisoners were so convinced of their false beliefs that they would attack and even kill the philosopher. That is why he was distrustful of democracy.

24 REALITY ILLUSION (most of us)

25 III. Aristotle Aristotle was a student of Plato, but he disagreed with Plato s view of reality. Aristotle believed that we could use our senses to discover truths about the world around us. Some people even consider Aristotle the first scientist, and he developed a system for logic that is similar to the scientific method. Perhaps most importantly, Aristotle outlined the idea of the rule of law. What he meant was that everyone, even a ruler, should be subject to the same laws. While this is a common idea in our time, it was not common in his. This idea had a big influence on later democracies. The safest government for Aristotle was a democracy run by the middle class. They would elect their leader, but the leader Aristotle believed that there were three types of governments: 1. Government would run have by one to person follow (monarchy) the same laws the people did. 2. Government run by a few, which usually meant the rich 3. Government run by many people (democracy) Aristotle found a problem with all three. With your partner come up with at least one problem for each.