Athens claims that it was a democracy, but it when one looks at the facts, it appears that this "democracy" was not as fair as it claimed to be. True, anyone could speak at the Assembly (where ideas were directly expressed in Athens), but people with more authority and respect were more often listened to. However, though this may present problems to its democratic nature, Athens had a better working democracy with less problems than those of today. The quality of the people is what caused this. People of Athens took very seriously what they called the "golden mean" which meant that they avoided extremes in politics. It is perhaps these extremes in politics today that cause such flaws in what are called "democracies". Maybe women as a whole, or races that were not previously respected now have rights, but the situations in the democracies happening today are more troublesome and problem causing than the democracy of Athens. So, to answer the question, yes, Athens was a democracy, perhaps a better one than some of the democracies of today, because it had what today's democracies lacked, stable, simpler government, and people willing to keep it that way.Web Citations:
1. "How Democratic Was Athens?" WNEC FACULTY/STAFF HOME PAGES. Web. 18 Feb. 2010.
2. Image: http://home.wlu.edu/~mahonj/Ancient_Philosophers/SchoolofAthens.jpg
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