Pericles' Funeral Oration:
Democracy

Quote of the Day:

"Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.  When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses" (Thuc. II.37).

Reading Assignment:

• Thucydides, "Pericles' Funeral Oration" (Origins anthology, 4-13)
  • One more time
• Athenian Democracy:  A Brief Introduction

Writing Assignment:

Today's assignment has two parts.

• First, write a paragraph or two explaining what you think the term "democracy" means today.
   
• Second, write a paragraph or two explaining what the term "democracy" meant to Pericles, as expressed in the Funeral Oration.

Terms:

Politeia
Cleisthenes
Demos
Ekklesia
Boule
Council of 500
Prytany
Archons
Strategos (pl. strategoi)
Pericles
Liturgy
Choregos
Trierarch
Ostracism
Ostrakon (pl. ostraka)

Links:

• For fun, look at Dr J's Illustrated Pericles' Funeral Oration and America and Dr J's Illustrated Pericles' Funeral Oration and Philadelphia.

• For a detailed description of the functioning of Athenian democracy, try Athenian Daily Life:  Politics

• For more on Athenian democracy, explore Demos: Classical Athenian Democracy
• Here are some pictures of ostraka