The First Democracy: An Introduction to Athenian Demokratia
This is the first installment in a new series exploring the history and practice of democracy throughout time and across places, peoples and cultures.
Imagine standing on a rocky hill overlooking the Aegean sea, surrounded by a crowd of ordinary farmers, sailors and craftsmen. It’s 508 BCE, and Athens is on the brink of a political revolution. Until now, the city had been ruled by aristocrats and even tyrants. But under the visionary statesman Cleisthenes, Athens would tear up the old system and introduced dēmokratía – “rule by the people” (from dēmos, “people,” and kratos, “power”).
In a single year, Cleisthenes had reorganized Athens into ten new units, known as tribes, drawn from all parts of Attica, the territory of the Athenian people, breaking the grip of noble families. In a veritable instant, every free man with Athenian citizen parents was now part of the political process. As the historian Herodotus later put it, Cleisthenes became “the man who introduced the tribes and the democracy,” in that order. In doing so he formally declared all freeborn Athenians to be citizens, giving them unprecedented power and a new sense of civic unity.
Thus began the world’s first known democracy—an experiment in government by direct popular participation.
A Radical Experiment: Birth of the First Democracy
Cleisthenes’ reforms built on earlier changes that had empowered free men to attend an Assembly. But Cleisthenes went much further. He scrapped the old aristocratic tribes and started ten new ones, each spanning city, hill, and coast regions. These tribes provided 50 members each for a new ruling council, meaning all citizens across Attica (the territory controlled by the Athenian people beyond the city itself), was now represented. In short, Cleisthenes anchored politics in the citizenry itself, not in bloodlines, and in doing so he connected “every Athenian to the city’s rule.”
Athens’s democracy was a radical experiment in self-government. Unlike modern democracies, it was direct: eligible citizens (free adult men) gathered in person to vote on laws and policy. Women, slaves, and resident foreigners (known as metics) were excluded from politics. In practice, only about 5–10% of Attica’s inhabitants could participate. Yet for two centuries Athens became famous for this system. Scholars date “Athenian Demokratia” from the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508–507 BCE.
During this period (and again after occasional interruptions) Athens was self-consciously democratic, and its citizens took civic duty and public debate very seriously. The Athenians even described their system as isonomia—literally “equality under the law”—giving the people full legislative power. In reality, of course, there were layers of inclusion and exclusion, and no modern-style individual rights. The dēmos (the citizen body as a whole) held all power. If a majority in the assembly decreed something, there was no higher law to protect an individual. The system was often called a “dictatorship of the demos,” although in practice Athenians aimed to rule in the public interest and valued such principles as honesty and fairness.
How It Worked: The Institutions of Demokratia
Under Cleisthenes and later leaders, Athens developed a set of citizen-based institutions. The Citizens Assembly, known as the Ecclesia, was the core of the system: an open meeting of all eligible citizens (freeborn Athenian men over 18) where laws were proposed, debated, and decided by majority vote. The Assembly met about 40 times a year on a hill west of the Acropolis. Any citizen could attend and speak; decisions—from declaring war to approving budgets or ostracizing a dangerous politician—were made by a show of hands. As Britannica notes, the Ecclesia quickly became “coterminous with the body of male citizens 18 years of age or over” and possessed “final control over policy,” including appeals and elections of magistrates. In practice, only a few thousand of the roughly 40,000 citizens attended each session, but all were permitted to do so, and those present were sovereign.
Complementing the Assembly was the Council of 500, called the Boule, which functioned as the executive committee of the democracy. Each year, 50 citizens from each of the ten tribes were chosen by lot to serve on the Boule. These 500 men met daily and prepared the agenda for the Assembly. They supervised officials, managed state finances, oversaw the fleet and other public works, and decided which motions would go to the Assembly for debate. Choosing by lottery (or sortition) was intentional: in theory it was more democratic than elections, since chance could not be influenced by wealth or popularity. Ancient sources even remark that this lottery system “foreshadowed the election of representatives in later democratic systems.” (In practice, some wealthy families did appear in the Boule more often than average, but the principle of rotation kept power widely distributed.) Note that only a few key posts were elected: the ten generals (strategoi), one per tribe, were voted on annually by the citizens because military expertise was valued.
Another key institution was the people’s courts, the Dikasteria. Athens had no professional judges; instead, large juries of ordinary citizens decided cases. On any given day, hundreds of jurors (usually 201 to 501) were selected by lot from a pool of volunteers. This random selection was designed to prevent bribery and factional control. Jurors were paid a small daily stipend (misthos) so that poorer citizens could afford to serve. Jury verdicts were by simple majority, and often cast in secret using small pebbles called psephoi. The courts handled everything from homicide to property disputes. In fact, the Assembly itself acted as the highest court of appeal, and it even had the power to exile citizens by popular vote (ostracism) if 6,000 delegates agreed. In short, Athenians treated civic service as an expected duty: citizens volunteered for juries, served when chosen, and even risked fines or public shame if they neglected their responsibilities. Athens famously marked absentee citizens with red paint on their headgear to punish truancy.
That said, not all positions were decided by lottery. For certain specialized roles—notably the generals (strategoi) who led the army and navy—Athenians held elections. Military command required skill, wealth (to outfit troops and ships), and public trust, so it was entrusted to those who could persuade the electorate. Many Greek thinkers of the time even criticized elections as oligarchic, since richer or more famous men had an advantage. But Athens still held elections for these top jobs, just as modern democracies hold elections for head-of-state or legislature.
Citizenship in Athens was strictly limited. At its height, Athens had roughly 30,000–40,000 citizens in a total population approaching 200,000, meaning only about 15–20% of residents could vote. Military service and public office (when chosen by lot) were seen as duties of citizenship. Wealthy Athenians even performed liturgies—public-service taxes—to fund state needs like warships or festival productions. In that sense, Athenian democracy was intensely civic: each citizen had a voice but also heavy obligations.
Then and Now: Athenian Demokratia vs. American Democracy
Comparing ancient Athens to the United States today, we can see clear differences in inclusion, representation, and structure. For starters, In Athens only free adult men were citizens. Women, slaves, foreigners, and children were excluded, often forming the majority of the population. By contrast, U.S. democracy today includes virtually all adult citizens regardless of gender or origin (since the 19th and 20th centuries). American citizenship is not hereditary by parentage alone, and there is a strong legal presumption of equal rights under the Constitution for all citizens and residents.
Athenian democracy was also distinct from our modern form in its directness: citizens voted on laws themselves in the Assembly. There were no private ballots or elected legislators. In America, citizens generally elect representatives to make laws on their behalf—we have a representative democracy. National Geographic sums this up well: “The United States has a representative democracy… rather than getting to vote directly on the laws themselves.” In practical terms, Athens debated policy face-to-face at regular popular assemblies, whereas modern Americans vote in periodic elections.
Another oddity of Athenian democracy was its reliance on lotteries to choose its leaders. In Athens, most public offices (judges, bureaucrats, councilors) were filled by lot from the citizen body, a practice known today as sortition. This sortition system was seen by the Athenians as fair and egalitarian, not only because of its randomness and equality of opportunity in selection, but also due to the prevailing belief that drawing lots was a method for allowing the gods to choose the right men to lead the state. By contrast, in the U.S. almost all offices are filled by elections, not by chance. Today, the only somewhat random element is the occasional use of lotteries for such things as draft registration eligibility in wartime.
Unlike the United States, Athenian “rule by the people” was never governed by a written constitution or a bill of rights. Rather, the Assembly was considered absolutely sovereign. There was separation of powers only in a loose sense, with no executive president or judiciary beyond the people’s courts. By contrast, the U.S. system is built on constitutionally-established checks and balances among separate branches (legislative, executive, judicial) and enumerated civil liberties. Even convicted Athenians could not appeal jury verdicts, whereas in the U.S. defendants have guaranteed appeals and rights of due process.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of Athenian democracy to a modern audience is its heavy emphasis on citizen participation and civic duty. The scale of the U.S. population, which numbers in the hundreds of millions, arguably makes an Athens-style direct democracy impractical today. However, there is something to be learned from the Athenian view of voting and public service as a duty. Assembly attendance and jury duty were mandatory civic tasks. Citizens who shirked their duty could be fined or disgraced. In America, voting is voluntary and considered a right rather than an obligation. Jury duty is a duty for citizens, but most people never serve on a jury, and elections rely on individual choice.
Despite these differences, both systems share the underlying idea of popular sovereignty. Athens’ model of equality before the law inspired later democratic thought. Its insistence that citizens have a voice in government resonates with American civic ideals. But Athens also reminds us that democracy took many forms. The ancient Athenians offered a limited democracy (inclusion) but with remarkable citizen power (participation). Modern American democracy has broadened inclusion but relies on delegation and representation.
Building on the Athenian Legacy
Athenian democracy lasted only a few centuries, yet its legacy endures. The idea of ordinary people governing themselves—even if partly—was revolutionary. Today’s democracies still debate issues Athens faced: who counts as a citizen, how to balance majority rule with minority rights, and what responsibilities citizens owe to each other.
As we learn from Athens, democracy needs engaged citizens. Understanding Athens’ demokratia helps us appreciate both how far we’ve come and the obligations we still share as participants in self-government.