Leo Palmer

Leo Palmer (MA in Classics, 2024), Athenian Democracy in Context

The birth of democracy in Greece, and indeed the world, is often dated to the reforms of Cleisthenes the Athenian in the late sixth century, or at the very latest, to the reforms of Pericles and Ephialtes in mid-fifth-century Athens. However, such claims rely on anachronistic notions of ‘democracy’ since there were vast differences between ancient Athenian society and our modern conceptions of consensual government and political rights. This thesis argues that classical Athens in the sixth and fifth centuries, right through the so-called ‘golden age’ of Pericles’ leadership, had yet to become a fully-fledged demokratia. Instead, like its Peloponnesian rival Sparta, Athens’ political system at this time more closely resembled a complex mixture of monarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy, with elite aristocratic factions led by Pericles firmly at the helm. An analysis of contemporary definitions of demokratia and related terms reveals that it was a highly elastic concept, often more closely intertwined with religion, mythology, and tradition, than with political ideals in the modern sense. Institutions of Athenian government were highly prone to elite manipulation, with many key democratic reforms affecting the council, assembly, and the law courts not taking place until the fourth century.

A re-evaluation of the contrasts which are typically made between Athens and Sparta suggests that both city-states shared more common features than distinctive ones. Athens’ social structure and domination of allies reflected Sparta’s oligarchic political structure, albeit on a larger scale. While a large population of metics (foreign residents and freed slaves) at Athens remained disenfranchised, Sparta’s non-citizen population (perioikoi) enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy. Although the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508/7 brought the regional population of Attica into the citizen population of Athens, similar citizenship grants were used by sixth-century tyrants as means of shoring up support for their own factional power base. Altogether, these findings should prompt us to reconsider the extent to which democracy was a unique and revolutionary development of classical Athens. Athenian democracy developed instead through a gradual evolution, influenced by broader regional shifts from monarchy to elite-led regimes.

Supervisors: Prof. Hyun Jin Kim, Assoc. Prof. James H. K. O. Chong-Gossard