Ancient Greece: a vote in Athens
Loading…
What you will learn
By the end, you can explain what a city-state was, who could vote in Athens and where the word democracy comes from.
A tall clay jar in a museum shows runners racing, painted about 2,500 years ago. It was a winner's prize at the games in Athens, and it was full of olive oil. Athens was one of many Greek city-states — and the one that tried an idea that changed the world: letting its citizens vote.
Read the explanation
Ancient Greece was not one country. Mountains and sea split it into city-states, each with its own laws and army: Athens, Sparta, Corinth and many more. Around 508 BC Athens began letting its citizens meet, debate and vote on laws. The Greeks called it demokratia: rule by the people. The cities also shared festivals like the Olympic Games and the same alphabet.
- Only citizens could vote: free men born in Athens. Women, children, people from other cities and enslaved people could not.
- The Olympic Games were held every four years at Olympia from 776 BC; winners got an olive wreath, not a medal.
- The Greek alphabet, with its vowels, is the ancestor of the letters you are reading now.