Lesson 2: Cleisthenes’

Democracy
Week 4 – Democracy in Athens
Plutarch*
“[Cleisthenes] not only performed the noble exploit of driving

out the Pisistratids and destroying their tyranny but went on

to establish laws and a constitution that was admirably

balanced so as to promote harmony between citizens and

security for the whole state.”

Reorganising the Tribes
• Cleisthenes dismantled the old unfair tribes and
made 10 new tribes

• These new tribes would form the basis of the new

Athenian democracy

• Belonging to a tribe was hereditary, and Cleisthenes

was careful to make sure each tribe was roughly
equal in wealth and status
Council of 500 (Boule)
• Under Cleisthenes Athens was a direct
democracy – major decisions were to be
made by all citizens voting

• However there needed to be something to

manage day-to-day affairs and to set
agendas for the citizens to vote on

• Cleisthenes set up a Council of 500

members to do this
Council of “500”*
• 500 is a difficult number to work with for day
to day affairs!

• The Athenians had 10 months years, each

tribe’s 50 selected members of the Boule for
the year would take care of affairs for one
month of the year

• Again a carefully made system to ensure

fairness – only a month of “power” (the boule
didn’t hold all the power anyway) was not
enough for any one tribe to cause much
trouble
 The Strategoi
• Selection by lot leads to a very obvious flaw – not everyone knows
what they are doing

• Thus this system could not be in place for choosing the leaders of
the military (strategoi), yet a fair system needed to exist

• Under Cleisthenes’ reforms, each tribe had to vote for their own
strategoi, and each of the ten had equal say when it came to
making decisions
Military
Service
Success!*
• The old tribes were gone and everyone was mixed together

• There was no more loyalty to tribes – tribes existed just for organisational purposes

• Everyone had to serve in the military and everyone had some kind of say to how
Athens was run

• Pericles further improved the democracy a few decades later

• At least if they were a citizen, that was a whole other problem they never fixed…