The City-State and Democracy

[Gregory Hewett]

Welcome Back!

There are less than three weeks of school left before the summer break. Let's be sure to do our personal best work!

1. In which form of government do the fewest people share power?

2. How did the geography of Greece lead to the rise of city-states?

3. What was the role of tyrants in the development of democracy in ancient Greece?

4. What is the difference between the usage of the word tyrant to the ancient Greeks and people today.

5. What made democracy in Athens a limited democracy?

6. What were the key factors leading to the rise of tyrants? Explain.

7. Why was the invention of the idea of citizenship important to the development of democracy?

[dongseob]

1. In which form of government do the fewest people share power?

Fewest people share power in oligarchy. Oligarchy means “rule by the few”. It is a political system similar to aristocracy. In oligarchy, people rule because of wealth and land ownership. There were more poor people than wealthy people who could take part in oligarchy, so there had to be fewer people. By 700s B.C., most city-states changed to aristocracy.


2. How did the geography of Greece lead to the rise of city-states?

Greece had lots of independent city-states. City-state is a state made of a city, and its surrounding lands. City-state in Greek is called polis. Geography of Greece was mostly mountainous. Mountains blocked each city and divided them and limited their size, so all cities developed into city-states. They had their own government. Athens and Sparta was the largest city-states in Ancient Greece.


3. What was the role of tyrants in the development of democracy in ancient Greece?

Tyrant is someone who took power in an illegal way. They used poor people and their anger to be a leader. They acted like king without royal birth. They developed rules, some helped the poor and overthrew oligarchy, which only wealthy people ruled. They showed that if people united behind the leader, and they had the right to gain power to change.


4. What is the difference between the usage of the word tyrant to the ancient Greeks and people today?

Tyrant in Ancient Greek’s definition is someone who took power in an illegal way, and someone who acts like a king without royal birth. The definition today is a cruel leader.


5. What made democracy in Athens a limited democracy?

In limited democracy, only free adult males took part in government. Women, slaves, or foreigners could not take part of it. In 500s B.C., Solon and Cleisthenes increased citizen’s power, and Cleisthenes organized citizens to groups by residence, not wealth. People wanted to take part on government. So democracy, a government in which the citizens make political decisions formed, and by that, limited democracy formed in Athens.


6. What were the key factors leading to the rise of tyrants? Explain.

Tyrants are people who took power in an illegal way. Poor people were shut out of power, or sometimes rebelled. They were angry, and tyrants used their anger to become a leader. So the key factors were poor people and their anger, but tyrants developed rules, and overthrew oligarchy. Tyrants showed that if common people united behind a leader, they could gain the power to make changes.


7. Why was the invention of the idea of citizenship important to the development of democracy?

Democracy is a government in which the citizens make political decisions. When Solon and Cleisthenes increased citizen’s power, citizens became powerful. So citizens wanted to take part on government, and that’s why we think democracy formed. In 500s B.C., poor farmers owed so much money, and they had to work their land for others or be a slave. That was another event that had an impact on developing democracy. Tyrants did a big job on democracy, too. Tyrants united poor people, gave them power, developed rules, and overthrew oligarchy.

By:
Soo Ah, ;D
Dong Seob,
and
Kanish

[annsophie]

1. In which form of government do the fewest people share power?

There is a form of government in which the fewest number of people ruled. This form of government was monarchy. Monarchy is when one supreme ruler is the king or queen, and has absolute control of everyone. Monarchy was the oldest form of government for the ancient Greeks, later it changed into different kinds of government such as aristocracy, and oligarchy.

2. How did the geography of Greece lead to the rise of city-states?

The geography of Greece led to the rise of city-states. During the 700’s city states were common in Greece and other places that Greece had ruled. The Greek word for city-states was polis. It had a lot of meanings. Most of the city-states were small, and it was because geographic features, such as mountains, which limited their sizes. The center of most cities was the agora where business and public gathering was discussed. The agora was a hill and usually it contained a temple.

3. What was the role of tyrants in the development of democracy in ancient Greece?

The role of tyrants helped in the development of democracy in ancient Greece. Tyrants were wealthy people that wanted to seize power by the angered the poor. The poor didn’t like the current rulers so the tyrants would ask the poor to support them in becoming a leader. In ancient Greece tyrant meant as much as a person who took over power illegally. Some tyrants worked to help the poor by giving them jobs. Tyrants made a lot of changes and overthrew oligarchy.


4. What is the difference between the usage of the word
tyrant to the ancient Greeks and people today?

There is a difference between the usage of the word tyrant to the ancient Greeks and people today. Poor people could not be part of monarchy, oligarchy, and aristocracy. Tyrant, in Ancient Greece, meant someone who took power in an illegal way. Today it means “cruel leader”.

5. What made democracy in Athens a limited democracy?

The democracy in Athens was a limited democracy. Athens had a limited democracy. It didn’t include all the people in the city-states; for example, only free adult males could be part of the government while women, slaves, and foreigners weren’t allowed. Also non-citizens weren’t allowed to become citizens. Athens probably gave more rights to men and had only adult men earn, because of this they would have had a limited democracy.

6. What were the key factors leading to the rise of tyrants? Explain.

There was a key factor which led to the rise of the tyrants. One of the key factors was that the poor people resented the government as they didn’t have any power or rights. Another reason is that once a tyrant came to power he would have helped the poor. This would have made them happy and the tyrant would have more support from the people. Also even if a poor person didn’t like a tyrant they still hated the previous laws and would still support the tyrant.

7. Why was the invention of the idea of citizenship important to the development of democracy?

The invention of the idea of citizenship was important to the development of democracy. A citizen was a person who was loyal to the government and in return was given protection. Citizens were born in lower and upper class. Only the upper class citizens had power which meant that lower class citizen couldn’t take part in political business. This left the voting to the upper class unless the person running for power was a tyrant.

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By Ann-Sophie Soo Jin ;D:o Hersh and Iniyan

By Ann-Sophie Soo Jin ;D:o Hersh and Iniyan

[james]

1. In which form of government do the fewest people share power?
The form of government in which the fewest people shared power was Monarchy. In monarchy only a king\ queen ruled over the people. The next in line is usually the son of the king.

2. How did the geography of Greece lead to the rise of city-states?
Geography of Greece leads to the rising of city- states; because of geography the basic form of government was city- states. They were made of a city and its surrounding plains. Greeks found colonies in the Mediterranean Sea and they were also city-states. The mountains in Greece limited the size of the city-states. Since they were isolated by geographic features their contact with others was also limited so they each had their own kind of government that worked best for them. The city-states were small, so the people living there were in a closed community. These were the reasons why the geography lead to the rise of city- states.

3. What was the role of tyrants in the development of democracy in ancient Greece?
The role of tyrants in the development of democracy in ancient Greece was important. Since the lower class people had no part in the government they became dissatisfied with it. The tyrants used this to their advantage by persuading the rebels to follow them. They were people who acted as though the y were king or queen even though they were not of royal birth. They obtained power illegally. Tyrants helped the poor, provided jobs for people, and canceled the debts of the poor to the rich. They also overthrew Oligarchy and showed that when people unite under a common leader they can make more changes. This lead to democracy.

4. What is the difference between the usage of the word tyrant to the ancient Greeks and people today?
There and differences to the usage of the word tyrant between ancient Greece and people today. The tyrant today means a person who is cruel and uses authority wrongly, where as in ancient Greece it was someone who acted as royalty when not royal. They were obtaining power illegally.

5. What made democracy in Athens a limited democracy?
The democracy in Athens was limited. A citizen was someone who could take part in the government. They had to be the trial of free citizens. The lower class citizens like the upper-class. Only male citizens could take part in government where as women, slaves, and foreigners could not. Non- citizens could not become citizens.

6. What were the key factors leading to the rise of tyrants? Explain.
The key factors of leading to the rise of tyrants were the following. The poor people were dissatisfied with the government, because they had no power to take part in government. The tyrants used this to their advantage. They convinced the poor to follow them and make them their leader. They told them that more changes can be made if they were united.

7. Why was the invention of the idea of citizenship important to the development of democracy?
The idea of citizenship was important to democracy. Citizens were people who were loyal to the government and could take part in it. In Oligarchy a small group of citizens made decisions for the government, and in direct democracy, they voted to take decisions in the government and majority won.

By: Suchithra, Yasmin, and last of all, of course, as always, James.