In most of antiquity the benefit of citizenship was tied to the obligation to fight war campaigns.Įven though the Roman Republic contributed significantly to many aspects of democracy, only a minority of Romans were citizens with votes in elections for representatives. The exclusion of large parts of the population from the citizen body is closely related to the ancient understanding of citizenship. However, Athenian citizenship excluded women, slaves, foreigners (μέτοικοι / métoikoi), non-landowners, and men under 20 years of age. All eligible citizens were allowed to speak and vote in the assembly, which set the laws of the city state. Cleisthenes is referred to as “the father of Athenian democracy.Īthenian democracy took the form of a direct democracy, and it had two distinguishing features: the random selection of ordinary citizens to fill the few existing government administrative and judicial offices, and a legislative assembly consisting of all Athenian citizens. Led by Cleisthenes, Athenians established what is generally held as the first democracy in 508–507 BC. The word comes from demos, “common people” and kratos, “strength”. The term “democracy” first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens during classical antiquity.
