Athens: A City State

Location, Government, & Daily Life

LocationAthens is located on Attica.

Government

509 B.C. Cleisthenes instituted 1st constitution.

It was democratic – Demos (people) kratos (rule).

Legislative Branch

Council

Solon’s first council was 400.

Later changed to 500 citizens (serve only twice)

Chosen by lot (50 ppl from 10 tribes)

Each tribal group took turns ruling

Drew up new laws/policies

Legislative ContinuesAssembly

Made of citizens (+18 yrs, male, Athens)

Meet approx. every 10 days

At least 6,000 must be present

Vote to approve, change, or reject proposals from council

Executive Branch

Strategos

10 elected annually

Army commanders

Implement the policies of

the Council and Assembly

Judicial Branch

Jurors (citizens +20 yrs)

A jury ~ hundreds of men

No lawyers or judges

Citizens presented own case

Hired professional speechwriters

Ballot disks used for voting

Citizenship in Athens

To be a citizen you must be male, 18, and have been born in AthensCitizens only made up about 15% of the population.The rest of the Athenian population was made up of slaves( 25%), women & children (48%), and metics/ foreigners (12%).

Slaves

Citizens

Metics

Women&Children

Daily Life

Education

Boys~ Began 7 yrs. Old

Reading, writing, math, music, poetry, art

Some girls had private tutors

Euclid, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

School of Athens

Daily Life Continues

Military

Boys ages 18 - 20 trained

Between 20 – 50 years are called during war