Athenian Democracy
Athenian government went from a monarchy to an aristocracy. The aristocracy made the Athenians wealthy and more powerful. The nobles were arguing that Athens should entitle them with more rights. Farmers also demanded for a change. Many of the farmers had to sell their families into slavery to pay their debts. The Athenians were slowly moving towards democracy. The Athenians tyrant Pisistratus seized power and that allowed farmers to get loans and land from the nobles. The Athens government assembled a genuine legislature. Athenian democracy was very limited in which it only allowed male citizens participate in government. Citizenship was severely restricted. The labor of slaves gave citizens the time to participate in government. The Athens still gave the people more say than other ancient cities. Women had no share in public life. Aristotle thought that women were imperfect beings who lacked the ability to reason as well as men. Women would manage the household and care for the children and prepare food. Girls received little or no formal education. Boys attended school if there families could afford it. At school boys learned how to read, write, they studied music, and they learned to memorize poetry. Boys would also train in the military and participated in athletic contests.
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Pericles
Pericles came to power and the government became more democratic. Pericles is a wise and skillful leader. The Age of Pericles is known to be from 460 B.C to 429 B.C. Pericles said that know matter the wealth or social class that male citizens should take part in the government. Athens began to pay salaries to men who held public office. This enabled poor men to be involved in the government. Pericles would have assemblies several times a month and need at least 6,000 members present before he decided important issues. The Athenians were using a direct democracy in which men citizens took part in the day-to day affairs of government. Pericles hired the best architects and sculptures to rebuild the Acropolis after it was destroyed by the Persians. The magnificent buildings that arose reminded the citizens that the gods favored the Athenians. The new buildings created jobs for artisans and workers. Pericles and Aspasia helped Athens into the cultural center of Greece. They supported the arts though programs and public festivals. The Athens power and wealth grow even more during the Age of Pericles. The Athenian empire became rich and prospered.
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Athenian Wars and Battles
The power of Athens contained the seeds of disaster. Many Greeks didn�t like the fact that they were going to be dominated by the Athens. The Greek world was split into rival camps to counter the Delian League, Sparta and other enemies of Athens. All of this created the Peloponnesian League. Sparta supported the Oligarchy in the cities of the Peloponnesian League. Athens on the other hand was supporting democracy among allies. This caused Athens and Sparta to go to war. The Peloponnesian War lasted for 27 years in Greece. Athens had the best navy, but was unable to use it because Sparta was inland and couldn�t be attacked from the sea. Pericles allowed people from the surrounding countryside move inside the city walls. Since Pericles let the people come in the city walls there was a terrible plague that occurred. The plague killed a third of the population including Pericles. Sparta even became allies with Persia who is a longtime enemy of the Greeks. With help from Persia�s navy the Spartans captured Athens. Athens was stripped of everything they had. Athens government suffered and the fighting still continued to disrupt the Greek world.
The War between Sparta and Athens