How Greek Culture Contributed to Development of Democracy

Introduction 

Apparently, Greek culture is one of the most sophisticated and complicated systems that has evolved over thousands of years. Chronologically, the Greek culture started during the times of Mycenaean Greece and due to the influence of Roman and Byzantine Empire, the culture transformed into Classical Greece ( Almond & Verba, 2015) . Due to its diversity, Greek culture has been considered by historians as the cradle of Western culture and democracy. Most modern democracies adopted the system of governance and beliefs that were practiced in the Ancient Greek. Most historical works explore how Greeks used systemic thoughts and literary forms to create an ideal Western art that has revolutionized democracies in many nations.

Democracy in Ancient Greece 

The establishment of democracy in Greece started from the aristocratic and religious systems governed by the minority group who were usually wealthy families. Some factors that the lower class group were not satisfied with forcing them to arise and fight for their rights ( Almond & Verba, 2015) . Due to the advantage of numbers, because the lower class people were the majority, they managed to be victorious over the rulers by either killing or exiling them and then sharing out equally the resources that were owned by the leaders. Today, United States, United Kingdom, and other nations use democracy. The only difference between the ancient democracy in Greece and the modern democracies in various states is that the contemporary democracy is more direct whereby people vote on who should make the decisions in the country ( Brummett, 2014) . Greeks voted on the decisions and policies to govern them rather than choosing leaders. To understand how democracy arose from the Greek culture, there are various aspects to consider as discussed below.

Public Councils in the Iliad, Kings, and Tyrants. 

Homer's Iliad is just one of the warfare poems that talked about honor and suffering. These were two the factors that prevailed in Ancient Greece and shaped the system of governance during the aristocratic period ( Wallace, 2014) . After the Greeks overturned aristocracy and religious systems of governance, they came up with a regime where public offices were allocated to people by lot numbers or an oligarchic system where suitable candidates to fill leadership positions were voted in by the public. The elected leaders were then expected to rule all tribes without discrimination for a set period before another election was held. At the time such an organized system was working in Greece, neighboring countries were under the dictatorial leadership ( Wallace, 2014) . As a result, they were characterized by political instability and civil wars which led to the loss of life and destruction of property. Although some critics and tyrant groups considered the democratic allotment system a religious practice, the system was gradually adopted by neighboring nations who felt that the civil wars were not prudent for humanity.

Plato and Aristotle believed that democracy was defined by equality in selection and representation in political affairs ( Wallace, 2014) . They used literary devices such as oral narratives and poetry to express their ideas that were a reflection of the Greek culture and how it was practiced in governance. The democracy that was prevailing in various parts of the nation during ancient times never came easily, citizens fought along tribal, or regime lines and usually, those who won became the rulers. Through activists, these transformed into a more democratic system such as Athenian democracy. In this regime, each tribe had an equal representation whereby they were allowed to choose fifty of its members who would represent their tribe at Assembly of the People and run activities of the city ( Wallace, 2014) . Even though this reform destroyed the customary neighborhood, it still brought equality and peace that has served as a template in many modern democracies.

Redressing Social and Economic Inequality 

In the Greek society before the commencement of democracy, the male citizens above eighteen years had full legal status to vote, own property, and hold public office. The male-dominated social setting changed to a more diverse population where every social group had defined roles. The gap between the different classes was bridged through interaction when performing various tasks in the society ( Dorling, 2011) . The social system became more conducive to all categories of social groups which brought peace and cohesion that allowed the perpetuation of democratic processes imposed on people by the governing laws and policies.

Greece has had poor soil for agriculture since time immemorial. As a result, citizens depended on imported goods for survival ( Dorling, 2011) . In most occasions, the upper-class people got the best-imported products and sometimes even took all imports. This created enmity between the two social groups causing civil wars that transformed the organization of Ancient Greece. They gradually turned their economic systems of trade into trade organizations and localized management of imported basic needs such as food, medical products, and clothes. This led to the development of a proper taxation system that bridged the gap between the rich and the poor ( Dorling, 2011) . Non-essential products such as jewelry and alcoholic drinks were taxed higher than essential goods.

Communal Norms, Rituals, and Beliefs 

Greek philosophers such as Plutarch wrote biographies of some iconic personalities in Ancient Greek and how they lived. In his books, Plutarch explored the rituals, traditions, characters, and lives of Greek and Roman orators, statesmen, and soldiers. For instance, he used the love affairs of Solon, a good statesman, to explain how Greeks solved disputes without bringing enmity and harsh feelings into mediation talks ( Lewis, 2013) . Plutarch also wrote about an ancient king called Lycurgus to show how the Greeks punished people who had gone against the laws of the land. King Lycurgus killed his only son and Dionysus made his kingdom of Thrace dry and barren as a result of his people failing to punish him. To regain the fertility of their land, people bound Lycurgus and left him to be eaten by man-eating horses as a punishment for his injustice ( Buszard, 2010) . This shows that any violation of the set policies in the Ancient Greek had to be punished and this maintained peace and order that citizens enjoyed. As a result, it was easier to enforce democracy which influenced other nations to follow the same system.

Thucydides version of Pericles' funeral oration is a famous speech that was delivered in the Athenian annual funeral ceremony that was usually held in honor of all those who had died in the war ( Taylor, 2010) . The statement praised the success of military forces, acknowledged the greatness of Athens, and urged the audience to live up to the standards of those who they were celebrating a life well lived. Today, almost all nations hold ceremonies to commemorate the heroes of their states, to address the difficulties in the economy, or to urge citizens to emulate the deeds of their forefathers who fought for independence ( Taylor, 2010) . For instance, during the burial of Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett delivered a lengthy oration in praise of Lincoln. He started with describing Athenian funeral orations and citing the significance of people knowing about such important occasions in the nation.

Conclusion 

Research shows that Greeks, and particularly the Athenians, were the first people to form democracies. Due to the success of their freedom and system of governance, it has been argued that they were the pioneers who brought the democracy to the modern world by passing it down to the Romans, then to the European nations and eventually the whole world. Any male citizen over 18 years was given a democratic choice to vote for the policies they prefer. This great deal of control over their governance systems has been termed as the most potent thing that forced activists in Europe and United States to push for adoption of such a system. I believe, there is a lot of material that we can draw from the Greek culture which today's system of governance and democracies have adopted.

References

Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (2015). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations . Princeton university press. 

Brummett, B. (2014). Rhetoric in popular culture . New York, NY: Sage Publications. 

Buszard, B. (2010). The Speech of Greek and Roman Women in Plutarch’s Lives. Classical Philology , 105 (1), 83-115. 

Dorling, D. (2011). Injustice: Why social inequality persists . University of Bristol, UK: Policy Press. 

Lewis, J. D. (2013). Solon the thinker: political thought in archaic Athens . London, UK: A&C Black Publishing Company. 

Taylor, M. (2010). Thucydides, Pericles, and the idea of Athens in the Peloponnesian War . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 

Wallace, R. W. (2014). Greek Oligarchy, and the pre-Solonian Areopagos Council in [Aristotle] Ath. Pol. 2.2-8.4. Polis: The Journal of Ancient Greek Political Thought , 31 (2), 191-205.