Athens Democracy

debates

Read the passage. Fill in the blanks with words from the word list. assembly vote

polis oligarchies

pottery

democracy people

The system of democracy was introduced 2,500 years ago in Athens, Greece. The Greek 12 of Athens was famous for its government. Unlike most Greek city-states, which were ruled by

13, monarchies or tyrants, Athens in the 5th century B.C. was a -14 which means the rule of the 15 In Athens, male citizens would gather in an 16 on a hill and make new laws for the city. At the assembly, every Athenian

citizen had the right to speak his opinion. Citizens held public

17____ and speeches before laws were passed.

In Athenian democracy each male citizen also had a right to 18 The citizens usually voted by having a show of hands. If

they needed a secret vote then they voted by scratching their answers on a broken piece of 19

Did you know?

The word Democracy comes from the Greek words 'demos' and 'kratia', meaning 'the people rule'.

Fun Fact: In ancient Athens, the worlds first democracy, they had a process called ostracism, where once a year the people could vote on the politician they thought was most destructive to the democratic process. The "winner" was banished from Athens for 10 years.​