EARLY FORM OF DEMOCRACY
The man who created the structure of the world's first and most influential democracy, Cleisthenes, spent a large part of his life fighting for the rights of his own prominent family against other noble factions in Athens, which included several decades in enforced exile. Eventually he achieved power by siding with the common people and seeking to implement the spirit of the reforms of the lawgiver Solon, who had attempted to balance the interests of the different communities of the city.
Clesthenes therefore abolished the traditional forms of political organization based on family and clan, replacing it with that of ten ''tribes'' based on villages or demes, and set up a legislative council (''bouble'') on which the member were chosen by lot from among the entire citizenry, with quotas of representatives of each deme among its 500 members, Thee was strict rules about who was eligible and how long they could serve on the council, and the law courts and the military command were organized in a similar manner. In doing so, Cleisthenes ensured that political participation was greatly widened and that it would be difficult for cliques to dominate the state and rule only in their own interests. The years of tyranny ere over.
Although this is often seen as the beginning of direct democracy in which all citizens participated equally, Cleisthenes himself did not call this system democracy ( meaning ''rule by the people''), but rather isnomia, or equal rights for all. In many ways he left much of the traditional culture of Athens intact, but his reforms are seen as the begging of the golden age of Athens, during which democracy is grew and culture flourished.
The man who created the structure of the world's first and most influential democracy, Cleisthenes, spent a large part of his life fighting for the rights of his own prominent family against other noble factions in Athens, which included several decades in enforced exile. Eventually he achieved power by siding with the common people and seeking to implement the spirit of the reforms of the lawgiver Solon, who had attempted to balance the interests of the different communities of the city.
Clesthenes therefore abolished the traditional forms of political organization based on family and clan, replacing it with that of ten ''tribes'' based on villages or demes, and set up a legislative council (''bouble'') on which the member were chosen by lot from among the entire citizenry, with quotas of representatives of each deme among its 500 members, Thee was strict rules about who was eligible and how long they could serve on the council, and the law courts and the military command were organized in a similar manner. In doing so, Cleisthenes ensured that political participation was greatly widened and that it would be difficult for cliques to dominate the state and rule only in their own interests. The years of tyranny ere over.
Although this is often seen as the beginning of direct democracy in which all citizens participated equally, Cleisthenes himself did not call this system democracy ( meaning ''rule by the people''), but rather isnomia, or equal rights for all. In many ways he left much of the traditional culture of Athens intact, but his reforms are seen as the begging of the golden age of Athens, during which democracy is grew and culture flourished.
