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Athens was once ruled by kings and nobles. As time went on the ruling class was replaced by a series of men called tyrants—men who forced their way to power and became dictators. Many of these leaders ruled harshly and selfishly, ignoring the wishes of the people. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes introduced a number of changes to Athenian government. People were now allowed to choose their rulers and to vote on important issues. Athens became the world's first democracy. Democracy comes from Greek words meaning, "rule by the people." Athens' democracy had two parts: The Assembly: The Assembly was made up of all adult male citizens of Athens. Every ten days the Assembly met on a hill called the Pynx to speak and vote on things like tax collecting, street cleaning, policing, and going to war. Each meeting of the Assembly needed to have at least 6 000 people in attendance. If there were too few people, special police were sent out to round up more citizens. Those who were dragged to the Assembly were marked with red paint. The Council: The Council was made up of five hundred Athenian citizens chosen each year by lottery. The Council researched and prepared all the policies that were then voted on by the Assembly.
Approximate Word count = 810
Approximate Pages = 3.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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