Democracy: Now and Then

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We have explored an overview of several different Ancient Civilisations.
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1. Explore Athens:

Athens, today the capital of Greece, was one of the most powerful city states of the ancient world. It is the origin of many cultural and political systems that still influence us today. To get a visual idea of what Ancient Athens looked like, follow the link below to take a virtual tour of the city state and learn stories of Athenian people.

What were some of the main features of ancient Athens?

Who were some of the typical people living in ancient Athens?

Write response in your learning journal in OneNote

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2. Who Rules?:

How a city, state or country runs often depends on what type of government is in place. In ancient Athens the way the government worked has influenced many governments today, including our own!

Our system of government in Australia is a called a Democracy. This means that we as ordinary people get to have a say in how big decisions that affect us are made, through the system of voting. Democracy originated in ancient Athens around 508BC. Read the following article OR video to learn a full definition and explanation of how democracy originated

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Who Votes?:

Today, if you are an Australian citizen over the age of 18 you are entitled to participate in democracy and vote. However, in ancient Athens only citizens could vote, and there were a lot more restrictions on who was a citizen than there are today!

To be a citizen in ancient Athens and be entitled to vote you must NOT be any of the following:

Female

A Slave

A person who does not own property

A foreigner

Under 18

Born as an illegitimate child (unmarried parents)

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During the late 5th century B.C. Athens employed Scythian slaves to round up citizens to attend the public assembly. They carried between them a rope dipped in red paint. If a person tried to resist going to the assembly they were sure to get caught in the rope and have red paint on their clothes. Anyone who had red paint on their clothes at the assembly would not get paid for their attendance.

Follow the link to play the ‘Red Rope’ game and round up people to vote

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Athenian Direct Democracy

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Class election 1: Athenian Democracy

Conduct a class election based on the Athenian style of democracy. Choose 3 students to represent ‘citizens’ in Ancient Greece who were allowed to vote (it was about 10% of the Athenian population). Those three students vote on a topic chosen by the class

Examples of topics to vote on: What topic to study next, classroom consequences, etc.

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Class election 2: Modern Australian democracy

Conduct a class election based on the modern Australian style of democracy. Choose several students to make short speeches persuading the class of what to vote for (see voting topic examples). Then ask students to vote for whichever person represents their topic of choice (eyes closed, hands up).

Hold a class discussion comparing the two voting systems
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Class within the classroom:

Assign each student a role as a type of person in ancient Athens. Pretending they are this type of person, students write a letter of complaint to the Athenian government about their circumstance and how it should be improved.

Students will then present their complaints to a ‘ruler’ (chosen student or teacher) and class discusses issues living in ancient Athens, and relating to types of sources.