Athenian Democracy: A Reaction to Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Invasion

Aristotle believed every state was a partnership, built on the premise that collectively, the state, and thereby its people, would work together for the common good of the community.<a href="https://medium.com/@mikeyucuis/athenian-democracy-a-reaction-to-tyranny-oligarchy-and-invasion-12342dbd37f#_ftn1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[1]</a> This communal approach to governance was a defining characteristic of ancient Greece. The type of government a city-state adopted was influenced by the experiences of the people and their interaction with those living nearby. For instance, ancient Sparta was a land-locked oligarchy that concentrated the power of the polis in the hands of thirty-five individuals who fought to dominate and enslave their neighbors on the Peloponnese.<a href="https://medium.com/@mikeyucuis/athenian-democracy-a-reaction-to-tyranny-oligarchy-and-invasion-12342dbd37f#_ftn2" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[2]</a> Although on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to interacting with those living nearby, just as in Sparta, the land helped define the community. Unlike Sparta, the Athenians were a sea-faring people who were exposed to many different peoples and ideas. Being of the sea fostered a resiliency and ingenuity in governance not found in Sparta. In his Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War, Pericles cites the unbroken succession of generations that resided in Attica and the strength this gave Athens in fighting its wars.<a href="https://medium.com/@mikeyucuis/athenian-democracy-a-reaction-to-tyranny-oligarchy-and-invasion-12342dbd37f#_ftn3" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[3]</a> Throughout its history, when faced with the threat of oligarchy, tyranny, or invasion, the Athenian response was to expand democracy further and draw upon the power of its citizens. <a href="https://medium.com/@mikeyucuis/athenian-democracy-a-reaction-to-tyranny-oligarchy-and-invasion-12342dbd37f">Click Here</a>