The Athenian Democracy Illusion

The ancient Athenian democracy in practise was not that democractic for the
poorer classes of the ancient Athenian adult male citizen population. The
ancient Athenian assembly, known as the ecclesia, met on average about
forty days per year. An adult Athenian male citizen who left his employment
to attend the assembly would probably have been sacked and replaced with a
slave or a metic. Metics in ancient Athens were resident, non-voting
foreigners, many of whom were born in other Greek city-states or poleis. The
Athenian jury courts, known as the dikasteries or dikasterias, were an
unreliable source of income, because the jurors were selected by lottery.
There were 10 dikasteries, each of which had 600 adult male Athenian
citizens. The 10 dikasteries represented the 10 tribes of Cleisthenic
Athens. Usually, there were about five dikasteries in attendance on any
given day. Civil law suits of minor monetary significance had 201 jurors out
of 600 jurors per tribe selected by means of a lottery. Minor civil law
suits usually outnumbered major civil law suits and criminal courts. Civil
law suits of major monetary importance had 401 jurors out of 600 jurors per
tribe selected by lottery. Criminal cases saw 501 jurors out of 600 selected
by lottery. Therefore, the people who formed the usual majority in the
Athenian eclclesia or ekklesia assembly meetings and jury courts were of
moderate means, neither rich or poor, those who belonged to the middle class
as the ancient world of pagan Greece would have known the middle class to
be. Of course, in times of war and invasion, many Athenian middle class
citizens would have become impoverished, especially those whose lands were
occupied by a hostile army from another Greek city-state, or whose
prosperity depended on maritime commerce with the various overseas subject
territories of the Athenian Empire and the overseas colonies of Athenian
citizens, and who would have suffered tremendously if the Athenian navy and
marines suffered a disastrous defeat, and was as a result subjected to a
simultaneous naval blockade and land siege of the Piraeus, the port city of
ancient Athens.

This is what Raphael Sealey wrote on page 298 of his history book called "A
History of the Greek City States: 700-338 B.C.," in the revised 1985 version
of the book published by the University of California Press, Berkeley and
Los Angeles: "It should be added that payment for jury service was
introduced on the proposal of Pericles. The original rate was two obols;
later it was raised to three obols. Fourth-century ( i.e. B.C. ) writers,
such as Theopompus and Aristotle, gave this measure a partisan background;
they said that Pericles could not compete from his private resources with
the largesse of Cimon, and so by introducing jury pay he sought to bribe the
populace with public money. The story is patently tendentious. Moreover,
judging from the way Athenian orators address juries, pay for jury service
was not a bribe for the very poor but compensation paid to people of
moderate substance for absence from their gainful activities. The
introduction of jury pay may have sought merely to provide sufficient jurors
for the growing amount of judicial business. Similar considerations would
explain why public pay was extended to the Boule ( Council of Five Hundred )
and most magistracies ( archons )."

It appears that the pay for jurors was insufficient to keep pace with
inflation throughout the period when Athens was constitutionally a democracy
from 508 to 322 B.C:

J.B.Bury and Russell Meiggs, "A History of Greece," The MacMillan Press Ltd,
Fourth Edition ( with revisions ), 1992, pp. 237-238:

"Except in remote or unusually conservative regions, money had now entirely
displaced more primitive standards of exchange and valuation. Most Greek
states of any size issued their own coins, and their money at this time was
in almost all cases silver. Silver had become plentiful, and prices had
necessarily gone up. Thus the price of barley and wheat had become two or
three times dearer than a hundred years before. Far more remarkable was the
increase in the price of stock. In the days of Solon a sheep could be bought
for a drachma; in the days of Pericles, its cost might approach fifty
drachmae. As money was cheap, interest should have been low; but mercantile
enterprise was so active, the demand for capital so great, and security so
inadequate, that the usual price of a loan was twelve per cent."

And page 363 of "A History of Greece," by J.B.Bury and Russell Meiggs:

"Money was now much more plentiful, and prices far higher, than before. This
was due to the large amount of the precious metals, chiefly gold, which had
been brought into circulation in the Greek world in the last quarter of the
fifth century ( i.e. B.C. ). The continuous war led to the coining of the
treasures which had been accumulating for many years in temples; and the
banking system circulated the money which would otherwise have been hoarded
in private houses. But, although the precious metals became plentiful, the
rate of interest did not fall; men could still get twelve per cent for a
loan of their money. This fact is highly significant; it shows clearly that
industries were more thriving and trade more active, and consequently
capital in greater demand. The high rate of interest must always be
remembered when we read of a Greek described as wealthy with a capital which
would nowadays seem small." "The changed attitude of the individual to the
state is shown by the introduction of payment for attending the meetings of
the Assembly. The original obol a meeting was soon raised to two obols and
then, before 391 ( B.C. ), to three obols. Finally the pay was raised to a
drachma for ordinary meetings and a drachma and a half for the sovereign
meeting of each prytany, which was reserved for special business, and apt to
be less exciting. The remuneration for serving in the law courts was not
increased; it was found that half a drachma was sufficient to draw
applicants for the judge's ticket."

In ancient pagan Athens, this is what the currency was like:

6 obols = 1 drachma.

100 drachmae = 1 mina.

2 minas = 1 stater.

30 staters = 1 talent.

See Aristotle, "The Athenian Constitution," translated by P.J.Rhodes,
Penguin Books Ltd, England, 1984, page176. Also on page 176 of the above:

In the 300's B.C., "an invalid was entitled to a maintenance grant if his
property was less than 3 minas." Ibid, page 151, note 49.4: "Grants to war
invalids are attested from the sixth century ( i.e. B.C. ); grants to all
impoverished invalid citizens were probably introduced in the second half of
the fifth. In the early fourth century the grant was one obol a day; at all
times it was less than an unskilled but able-bodied man could earn, and less
than was paid for the performance of civic duties." Ibid, page 158, note
62.2: "Assembly pay, like most other payments, was increased to keep pace
with inflation, but the rate of pay for jurors was the same in the 320's
B.C. as in the 420's B.C."

Many of the poorer Athenian citizens were usually absent from Athens as
rowers in naval patrols, or as colonists or cleruchies in overseas Athenian
colonies. The middle class Athenian male citizens often served as marines on
Athenian naval vessels, as sentry men on the walls and fortifications of the
city of Athens, and as garrisons in overseas Athenian subject city-states.
The heavy body-armored, heavily armed Athenian hoplite soldier when he
served as a marine on an Athenian naval vessel was called an epibatae. The
southern Greek Macedonian hoplite phalanx infantrymen, armed with pikes and
swords, along with the similarly heavy body-armored southern Greek
Macedonian cavalry lancer and swordsmen, was for its time the best military
in the world. Athenian hoplites often came from the middle class known as
the zeugitae, while the poorer class of Athenian citizens known as the
thetes usually served as rowers on the top deck of Athenian navy vessels
known as triremes, with metics on the middle deck, and slaves on the bottom
deck. The thetes also served as light body-armored infantry or peltasts,
often armed with slings, javelins, axes, bows and arrows, and swords. The
cavalry in Athens came usually from the upper-class of the citizenry,
although the cavalry archers often were drawn from the Athenian
middle-class. Most of the thetes as mentioned before were absent from the
city of Athens as rowers on naval patrols, or as rowers in the Athenian
merchant marine.

Aristophanes, "The Wasps, The Poet and the Women, The Frogs." Translated
with an introduction by David Barrett, Penguin Books Ltd, England, 1964,
pages 35-36:

"Membership of the Jury Corps was open only to citizens over thirty (
middle-age in those days, but no other qualifications were required ). The
official strength of the Corps was 6,000 members being chosen by lot at the
beginning of each year, 600 from each of the ten phylai ( i.e. Cleisthenic
tribes ). ( Whether as many volunteers as this were normally forthcoming is
a little doubtful ). Jurymen wore short brown cloaks and carried staves. On
the days when trials were being held, members of the Corps who wished to
serve on a jury presented themselves early in the morning and the various
juries were selected by lot as required. Important cases were tried by a
full court of 501 jurymen, and on exceptional occasions a case might be
heard by several 'courts' sitting together. Private lawsuits came before
smaller juries, possibly of 201 members." Aristotle, "The Athenian
Constituion," translated by P.J. Rhodes, Penguin Books Ltd, England, 1984,
pages 98, 112 and 162, note 67.2-3. Private lawsuit - 1000 drachmae limit -
201 out of 600 jurors selected ( i.e. 1000 drachmae maximum in damages
awarded ). Over 1000 drachmae in damages awarded - 401 jurors out of 600
jurors selected. page 113: - Public lawsuit - 501 jurors out of 600 jurors
selected. Important public suit - 1000 jurors - 2 panels combined in the
heliaea ( final court of appeal ). Very important public lawsuit - 3 panels
combined - 1500 jurors.




.

Quantcast