Democracy in Athens

Greek society was made up of citizens (men who were born in the city state) and non-citizens (women, foreigners and slaves).

In Athens it was decided that all citizens could choose the government officials, and vote for or against new laws. They held a large meeting on the slopes of a hill in Athens where any citizen could speak, and tell the government what it should be doing. This was called the Assembly, and there had to be at least 6,000 citizens at every Assembly.

Asking to speak at the Assembly