Ancient Athenian democracy and rational thought
Channel: Robert Dalling
Date: 17/08/2019

Ancient Athenian democracy involved group decisions not elections. Ancient Athenian democracy was more thorough than  that of today's republics. In Athens, the people were the government and judicial system. Each year, 3% of the male citizens were randomly selected to hold various offices. Each person served just once in his lifetime. About 40 times per year, some 5,000 adult male citizens met to decide -- by a show of hands -- every detail of the city's operations, including the construction of a building or the voyage of a vessel. to prepare for each meeting, a group of 500 citizens selected the issues on which the 5,000 citizens would vote. Judges and juries consisted of citizens not professionals. This is a classroom summary of the two textbooks The Origins of Greek Thought, by Jean-Pierre Vernant and The Classical Athenian Democracy, by David Stockton.

The narration is contained in my book “Human nature, worth, and civilization,” by Robert Dalling. See www.HumanismWeb.net for links to all the videos that comprise this Big History Course.