I believe that Athens was a real democracy. The definition of democracy, according to Encarta, is “the free and equal right of every person to participate in a system of government.” In Athens, Cleisthenes made what is known now as the common vote after being exiled from Athens. Even though Cleisthenes started the democracy by a white pebble for “yes” and a black pebble for “no”, Pericles had led the democratic government of Athens at its highest. What started the whole democracy was Cleisthenes needing good new boats for the Persian War. He had thought the idea of voting so everyone could have their own fair role in government and everyone could be their own hero. Cleisthenes then made everybody in the council vote for what to spend the money on; navy or art. Cleisthenes’s plan worked, and the Athenians ended up winning the Persian War. Basically, this democracy government was what lead Athens into its Golden Age and also its down fall.
Athens’s democracy was a “democracy” in terms of the definition, by letting the people vote and each person has equal rights. However, today the democracy we have in the United States is much more advance then just a gathering of people to vote. Even though Athens’s form of democracy isn’t advanced as ours today, the United States wouldn’t have even gotten the idea for democracy. Just like democracy the Greek have shown us a lot about art and architecture that we use today. Overall, Athens was a ‘simple’ democracy that we based our democracy today off of.
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