Greek heritage
Democracy flourished in ancient Greece, specifically in the V century Athens. C. (The Age of Pericles). Therefore it is often referred to as Athenian democracy. He had a relatively long life compared to current liberal democracies, it may speak of democratic period in Athens from Cleisthenes reforms around 510. C. until the suppression of democratic institutions because of the Macedonian hegemony in 322. C. It should also be cited as precedent timocratic system established by the Constitution of Athens Solon in the year 594. C.
Athens was one of the first known democracies (although some anthropological research suggests that democratic behavior were probably common in some societies stateless long before the golden age of Athens). Other Greek cities also established democracies, but not all Athenian modeled, and certainly none was as powerful or as stable (or well documented) as Athens. It remains a unique and intriguing experiment in direct democracy, where people do not elect representatives to vote on their behalf, but they developed legislation and executive power exercised personally. However, participation was far less universal, but within the participating barely influenced economic power, and the number of people involved was enormous. The public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.
Solon (594 a.), Cleisthenes (509 a.) And Ephialtes of Athens (462 a.) Contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. Historians disagree about which of them was responsible for the creation of each of the institutions, and which of them represented more faithfully a truly democratic movement. The most common is starting to refer to democracy Cleisthenes, since Solon's constitution was abolished and replaced by the tyranny of Peisistratus, whereas Ephialtes revised Cleisthenes' constitution in a relatively peaceful.
However, the most popular democratic leader was Pericles and long-lived, and after his death, Athenian democracy was twice interrupted by oligarchic revolution towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. The democratic system was slightly modified after being restored by Eucleides, in fact, most of the detailed descriptions of the system date from this time and not the original system of Pericles. It was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322. C. The Athenian institutions were restored again later, but how they came to be a real democracy is debatable.
