Athens
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:01 am
Athens
Surrounded by impressive walls built in the aftermath of Persia's invasion, the city is a fortress upon which the goddess Athena herself has given her blessing. Once past the walls and walking into Athens, one cannot help but see the beauty. Living in the shadow of the Acropolis upon which sits the beautiful Parthenon in service of Athena herself, it is easy to see why so many live here, and why Athens inspires such jealousy in her rivals.
Within Athens one finds many buildings built close together, the heart of the Polis beating steadily as people are able to live in community with each other. Further within the city there is beauty to be seen everywhere, from the propylaeum of Mnesicles that guards the only entrance to the Acropolis, to the 30-foot-high bronze seated statue of Athena Promachos. All around the city people are in discussion of the higher purists in life, art, music, and more.
Culture
Athens is a city of words more than actions. Though, the impressive navy of Athens does make it clear that they do not just sit around either. It is almost routine to find people locked in debate when traveling around the agora, and there are many attempts to try and reach the truth of the universe from pure logic.
Underpinning all of this is one simple belief, to be Athenian is to be superior. Spartans have their strength it's true, no one will deny them that - but that is all they have. Athens may not be able to match their strength on the field, but once a bully has lost their sticks, they are nothing. It is with this same idea that the worst punishment for a criminal is often Banishment - to be exiled from Athens, from the Polis - this is the truest punishment that can be delivered. For once you are exiled from Athens, you lose the beauty of the city.
Living in the Polis comes with it's own costs. For those that have money, special taxes may be called to help fund necessary things for the city - from paying for a warship to funding a tragic chorus. Though these costs come with benefits too, as in times of strife Athens provides her citizens with food to live. And should one ever find themselves in truly hard times, a citizen can always sign a contract to work the city's silver mines, and while a portion goes to the city the majority of wealth a citizen manages to dig up under the contract would go to them.
The above is of course all true, should you be a citizen of Athens; citizenship however, is not true for everyone. About half of Athens are metics, that is they are immigrants to the city. A metic enjoys much of the same responsibilities of a citizen, without as many of the benefits. Taxes might still be called for them if they have money - this in addition to the metoikion, a special tax just for metics amounting to 12 Drachmae a year for a metic and their household; however a metic would not be allowed to own property and any of the special protections for citizens were not afforded to a metic. Even still though, this is better than many other cities as; outside the cosmopolitan Corinth many polis simply do not allow foreigners to stay at all. Further a metic has little hope of becoming a citizen; even someone born within Athens is not an Athenian citizen, unless their parents are. There are a few cases though where Citizenship was granted to a metic, and as such it is not impossible - if one can blend perfectly into the polis and be seen as part of the community then perhaps one will find that route opened to them.
One thing all did have, Citizen or Metic alike though, was access to the courts. If wrong was done to you, you could see justice from the Law.
Within Athens, and in truth, all of Attica, the Citizens of Athens are divided into 10 tribes:
- Erechthesis
- Aegeis
- Pandianis
- Leontis
- Acamantis
- Oeneis
- Cecropis
- Hippothontis
- Aeantis
- Antiochis
Political Structure
Athens, the seat of Democracy. Anyone, so long as they are a citizen who has completed their military training as ephebes, is allowed to vote on decisions that will affect the course of the city.
The three main sections of Athenian Government are:
- The Ecclesia
- The Boule
- The Dikasteria
The central events of the Athenian democracy are the meetings of the Ecclesia (Assembly) which take place at the Pnyx. The Ecclesia's members are not elected, but attend by right when they choose. Democracy in Athens is direct, rather than representative: any adult citizen over the age of 20 that has completed their training as ephebes could take part and it was a duty to do so. The officials of the democracy are in part elected by the Ecclesia and in large part chosen by lottery in a process called sortition.
The assembly has three main functions: it makes executive pronouncements (decrees, such as deciding to go to war or granting citizenship to a foreigner), electing some officials, and legislation. In the recent past the Ecclesia also tried political crimes; however within the last few years this function has shifted to the law courts, that is the Dikasteria.
The standard format for a decision within the Ecclesia is that of speakers making speeches for and against a position, followed by a general vote (usually by show of hands called kheirotonia or 'arm stretching') of yes or no - with the vote being determined by the leaders based on sight; if there is an error suspected any member of the Ecclesia may call for a recount. A few votes require a quorum of 6000 people - one such example being a vote to grant a Metic citizenship, in such cases beads are passed out; one white (for yes) and one black (for no); at the time of voting the beads are thrown into a large clay jar which is broken open at the end, and then the beads counted. For votes of ostracism, ostraka - broken pieces of pottery - are passed out, and members of the Ecclesia indicate their vote by scratching in the name of the person they wish to ostracize into the piece, the ostraka were then collected and a vote counted.
Though there might be blocs of opinion, sometimes enduring, on important matters, there are no political parties. Voting is by simple majority, and there is hardly a limit on what the Ecclesia can do. If the Ecclesia breaks the law, the only thing that might happen is that it will punish those who had made the proposal that it had agreed to. If a mistake has been made, from the assembly's viewpoint it could only be because it had been misled.
There are 10 fixed months throughout the year of the Ecclesia, one in each of the state months; with other meetings called as needed. There is no fixed date as the meetings of the Ecclesia must avoid being on the same day as any festival which follow a lunar calendar rather than the state calendar.
When it comes time for a meeting of the Ecclesia, public servants form a cordon with a red-stained rope and herd citizens from the agora into the assembly meeting place, the Pnyx. A fine being imposed on those who got the red on their clothes, typically only a drachma, but that is enough to make sure that most citizens avoid getting such a stain. By that same token, one must be physically present to vote in the Ecclesia, military service, distance, and other barriers might prevent one from exercising their rights and duties as a citizen.
The Boule
Fifty Olympiads ago, Solon is said to have created a boule of 400 to guide the work of the assembly. Since the reforms of Cleisthenes, the Athenian Boule has been expanded to 500 and is elected by lot every year. Each of Cleisthenes's 10 tribes provide 50 councilors who are at least 30 years old. The Boule's roles in public affairs include finance, maintaining the military's cavalry and fleet of ships, advising the generals, approving of newly elected magistrates, and receiving ambassadors. Most importantly, the Boule drafts probouleumata, or deliberations for the Ecclesia to discuss and approve on. During emergencies, the Ecclesia also can grant special temporary powers to the Boule.
The members from each of the ten tribes in the Boule take it in turns to act as a standing committee (the prytaneis) of the Boule for a period of thirty-six days. All fifty members of the prytaneis on duty are housed and fed in the tholos of the Prytaneion, a building adjacent to the bouleuterion, where the boule meets. A chairman for each tribe is chosen by lot each day, who is required to stay in the tholos for the next 24 hours, presiding over meetings of the Boule and Assembly.
The boule also serves as an executive committee for the assembly, and oversees the activities of certain other magistrates. The boule coordinates the activities of the various boards and magistrates that carry out the administrative functions of Athens and provide from its own membership randomly selected boards of ten responsible for areas ranging from naval affairs to religious observances. Altogether, the boule is responsible for a great portion of the administration of the state, but is granted relatively little latitude for initiative; the boule's control over policy is executed in its probouleutic, rather than its executive function; in the former, it prepares measures for deliberation by the assembly, in the latter, it merely executed the wishes of the assembly.
The Dikasteria
Athens has an elaborate legal system centered on full citizen rights. To sit as a juror one must be 30 or older, the same as that for office holders but ten years older than that required for participation in the assembly; this gives the courts a certain standing in relation to the assembly. Jurors are required to be under oath, which was not required for attendance at the assembly. The authority exercised by the courts has the same basis as that of the assembly: both are regarded as expressing the direct will of the people. Unlike office holders (magistrates), who can be impeached and prosecuted for misconduct, the jurors can not be censured, for they, in effect, are the people and no authority can be higher than that. A corollary of this was that, at least acclaimed by defendants, if a court makes an unjust decision, it must have been because it had been misled by a litigant.
Essentially there are two grades of a suit, a smaller kind known as dike or private suit, and a larger kind known as graphe or public suit. For private suits, the minimum jury size is 200 (increased to 401 if a sum of over 1,000 drachmas was at issue), for public suits 501. Juries are selected by lot from a panel of 600 jurors, there being 600 jurors from each of the ten tribes of Athens, making a jury pool of 6,000 in total. With particularly important graphe the jury could be increased by adding in extra allotments of 500. Lastly, the first time a new kind of case is brought to court, all 6,000 members of the jury pool may attended to one case.
The cases are put by the litigants themselves in the form of an exchange of single speeches timed by a water clock, first prosecutor then defendant. In a public suit the litigants each have three hours to speak, much less in private suits (typically the time is in proportion to the amount of money at stake). Decisions are made by voting without any time set aside for deliberation. Jurors do talk informally amongst themselves during the voting procedure and juries can be rowdy, shouting out their disapproval or disbelief of things said by the litigants. The jury can only cast a 'yes' or 'no' vote as to the guilt and sentence of the defendant. For private suits only the victims or their families can prosecute, while for public suits anyone (ho boulomenos, 'whoever wants to' i.e. any citizen with full citizen rights) can bring a case since the issues in these major suits are regarded as affecting the community as a whole.
Justice is rapid: a case can last no longer than one day and must be completed by the time the sun set. Some convictions trigger an automatic penalty, but where this is not the case the two litigants each propose a penalty for the convicted defendant and the jury chooses between them in a further vote. No appeal is possible. There is however a mechanism for prosecuting the witnesses of a successful prosecutor, which can lead to the undoing of the earlier verdict if such a prosecution shows that the Dikasteria was mislead.
Payment for jurors was introduced by Pericles at two obols (six obols make a drachma) for a day spent adjudicating cases.
One important element of the courts is the marked anti-professionalism. There are no lawyers, litigants must represent themselves; and while there were magistrates to manage the courts, such positions were limited to once in a lifetime as such no one held it for so long as to truly become an expert in the court. And while it is possible to pay for the services of a speechwriter to help with presenting your ideas, it would be important to make sure that such a fact not be found out. Jurors are often more impressed if it seems as though litigants are speaking for themselves - not echoing the words of another.
Military
Army
In the manner of neighboring city-states, the backbone of the Athenian military on land was the hoplite. Accompanying every hoplite was a lightly armed attendant, typically a poor citizen who could not afford a regular suit of armor (panoplia). These attendants carried the hoplite's shield (aspis) until the battle and most of the baggage. While generally armed with javelins, they sometimes had spears, slings or bows. The attendants acted as skirmishers before the pitched battle and were assigned to guard the camp during the actual fight. When the battle was over, they would attempt either to cover the retreat of the main body or slaughter the fleeing enemy forces if their own hoplites were victorious.
During and after the Peloponnesian Wars, the use and importance of light troops increased with the introduction of the peltasts: lightly armored, if at all, and armed with javelins and a shield, the pelte. Their effectiveness in battle, even against the best-trained heavy hoplites, was demonstrated by the Athenian general Iphicrates, who annihilated an entire Spartan mora with his peltasts.
Navy
During the Greco-Persian Wars, Athens developed a large, powerful navy in the eastern Mediterranean Sea that defeated the even larger Persian Navy at the Battle of Salamis. The Athenian Navy consisted of 80,000 crewing 400 ships. The backbone of the navy's manpower was a core of professional rowers drawn from the lower classes of Athenian society. This gave the Athenian fleets an advantage in training over the less professional fleets of its rivals.
The main warships of the fleet were the triremes. With its fleet, Athens obtained hegemony over the rest of the Greek city-states forming the First Athenian Empire. Its fleet was destroyed and its empire lost during the Peloponnesian War. Athens regained some of its naval power after the Second Athenian League was rebuilt; however, it never fully recovered as its rivals were much stronger than before. The fleet included two sacred ships, the Paralus and the Salaminia used for diplomatic and ceremonial duties.
Defenses
The strongest defensive asset that Athens possessed were their City Walls. Athens was surrounded by defensive walls from the Bronze Age and they were rebuilt and extended over the centuries.
In addition, the Long Walls consisted of two parallel walls leading to the port of Piraeus, running nearly 4.5 miles long, parallel to each other, with a narrow passage between them and, furthermore, a wall to Phalerum on the east, 4 miles long. There were therefore three long walls in all; but the name Long Walls seems to have been confined to the two leading to the Piraeus, while the one leading to Phalerum was called the Phalerian Wall. The entire circuit of the walls was nearly 22 miles, of which 5.5 miles belonged to the city, 9.5 miles to the long walls, and 7 miles to Piraeus, Munichia, and Phalerum.
Basic History
Athens has been continuously inhabited in one form or another since roughly 3000 BCE. By 1400 BC, the settlement had become an important center of the Mycenaean civilization, and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress, whose remains can be recognized from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. Unlike other Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos, it is not known whether Athens suffered destruction around 1200 BC. However, Athens, like many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 150 years afterwards.
Iron Age burials, in the Kerameikos and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens was one of the leading centers of trade and prosperity in the region. The leading position of Athens may well be the result of its central location in the Greek world, its secure stronghold on the Acropolis and its access to the sea, which gave it a natural advantage over inland rivals such as Thebes and Sparta.
By the 6th century BC, widespread social unrest led to the reforms of Solon. These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. Athens had by this time become a significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the rebellion of the Ionian cities against Persian rule. In the ensuing Greco-Persian Wars Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at Marathon in 490 BC, and crucially at Salamis in 480 BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being captured and sacked twice by the Persians within one year, after a heroic but ultimately failed resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks led by King Leonidas, after both Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persians.
The decades that followed became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy, during which time Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece, with its cultural achievements laying the foundations for Western civilization. The playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides flourished in Athens during this time, as did the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates, and the philosopher Socrates. Guided by Pericles, who promoted the arts and fostered democracy, Athens embarked on an ambitious building program that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including the Parthenon), as well as empire-building via the Delian League. Originally intended as an association of Greek city-states to continue the fight against the Persians, the league soon turned into a vehicle for Athens's own imperial ambitions.
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in 478 BCE, was an association of Greek city-states, with the number of members numbering between 150 and 330 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.
The League's modern name derives from its official meeting place, the island of Delos, where congresses were held in the temple and where the treasury stood until, in a symbolic gesture, Pericles moved it to Athens in 454 BC.
Shortly after its inception, Athens began to use the League's funds for its own purposes, which led to conflicts between Athens and the less powerful members of the League. By 431 BC, the threat the League presented to Spartan hegemony combined with Athens's heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.
