--..

Quarterly oftheNational Archives

SUMMER 1993 VOL. 25 NO.2

 Editorial Policy. Prologue is published quarterly by Cover: This 336 R.C. stele, entitled Law against Tyr-
the National Archives and Records Administration. Its anny, depicts Democracy crowning Demos (the people
primary purpose is to bring to public attention the re- of Athens). The inscription is an Athenian law forbid-
sources and programs of the National Archives, the ding antidemocratic coups.
regional archives, and the presidential libraries. Ac-
cordingly, Prologue in the main publishes material
based, in whole or in part, on the holdings and pro-
grams of these institutions. In keeping with the non- ACTING ARcmVIST OF THE UNITED STATES
partisan character of the National Archives, Prologue Trudy Huskamp Peterson
will not accept articles that are politically partisan or ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST, PUBLIC PROGRAMS
that deal with contemporary political issues. Linda N. Brown
Articles are selected for publication by the editor
DEPUTY ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST,
in consultation with experts, but final responsibility
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
for the decision to publish an article rests with the
Archivist of the United States. The editor reserves the Charles W. Bender
right to make changes in articles accepted for publica- DIRECTOR, MARKETING AND PRODUCT
tion and will consult the author should substantive DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
questions arise. Published articles do not necessarily Sandra E. Glasser
represent the views of the National Archives or of any
other agency of the United States government. EDITOR
Manuscripts should be double spaced. Footnotes Henry J. Gwiazda II
should also be double spaced and numbered consecu-
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
tively in a separate section following the text. Prospec-
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 Contents
Essays 127 ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Josiah Ober and Catherine Vanderpool
137 THINKING ABOUT DEMOCRACY: ANCIENT GREECE AND
MODERN AMERICA
Jennifer Tolbert Roberts
149 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: AN ACT OF JUSTICE
John Hope Franklin
157 DEMOCRACY IN THE WORKPLACE: WORKING WOMEN IN
MIDWESTERN UNIONS, 1943-1945
Michael J. Lewandowski

Features 124 PROLOGUE IN PERSPECTIVE: " ... AND HENCEFORTH

SHALL BE FREE ... "
Trudy Huskamp Peterson
170 PROLOGUE PORTFOLIO: "JOY RIDE IN A PAINT-BOX"
Lynn Bassanese
174 WORLD WAR II: FIFTY YEARS AGO ...
176 GENEALOGY NOTES: THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN
GENEALOGICAL SERVICE
Patricia Boeck Eames

Departments 182 ACCESSIONS AND OPENINGS

206 PUBLICATIONS
209 NEWS AND NOTICES
 , , '

Prologue in Perspective

"• • • and henceforth shall

be free ..."
I I

By Trudy Huskamp Peterson

n January the National Archives marked the darkest days of the Civil War. But through

I the l30th anniversary of the Emancipation

Proclamation, signed by President Abra-
ham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, This land-
mark document was on public display for the
first time since 1979 in the Archives Rotunda
that darkness shone forth this simple but elo-
quent beacon of hope, full of promise. Lincoln's
proclamation pledged that this nation was mov-
ing, however imperfectly at first, toward the
goal of freedom and equal rights under the law
between December 31, 1992, and January 4, for all Americans. The Emancipation Proclama- .I
1993. A specially constructed case made it pos- tion illuminated a key step along the path of
sible for nearly twenty thousand visitors to see human progress.
the entire document, which is written on both Over the years, we have practically loved this
sides of two large sheets of paper and one side priceless document to death-not unlike the
of a third sheet. This was, in fact, the first time Declaration of Independence, which shows to-
that it has been possible to display the entire day the effects of many years of overexposure.
text at once. In a sense, all archival work reflects the tension
The National Archives concluded this special between careful preservation and public access.
l30th anniversary commemoration with a public But we have a particular dilemma with a great
lecture by one of the foremost scholarly author- document like the Emancipation Proclamation.
ities on the Emancipation Proclamation, Dr. Too much of either preservation or access is not
John Hope Franklin. Dr. Franklin's remarks are wise: If we keep documents away from all light
included in this issue of Prologue, along with a and other harmful environmental conditions,
facsimile of parts of the document he has rightly we deny ourselves the opportunity to see and
termed "a great American document of free- treasure them. But if we display vulnerable doc-
dom." uments too much, we risk or even hasten their
As the Civil War began, the Confederate Gen. eventual loss.
Pierre G. T. Beauregard said, "The political hos- Had a National Archives existed when the
tilities of a generation were now face to face Emancipation Proclamation was created (or
with weapons instead of words." For four when the Declaration of Independence was
bloody years Americans used those weapons, drafted, for that matter), both of these now-
but they did not forget the power of words. Ul- fragile documents would be in much better con-
timately words rather than bloodshed became dition today. The fundamental responsibility of
the war's greatest and most lasting legacy. The the National Archives is ensuring against further
Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's Second Inaugu- deterioration of either document so that future
ral, and the Emancipation Proclamation are generations will have them to see and to treas-
some of the greatest documents not only of our ure. We are proud to fulfill that responsibility on
own history but of human history. behalf of the American people and for all those
The document we commemorated in January who treasure freedom.
was conceived and proclaimed during some of Dr. Franklin's remarks helped to illuminate

124 SUMMER 1993

 the importance of the Emancipation Proclama- lining the Union's view of the conflict as one for
tion and its place in history as a beacon of hope freedom. In addition, increasing numbers of
for all peoples. Penned in highly acidic ink on black men had served in uniform, and every
inferior paper over a century ago, then overex- advance of Union troops expanded the domain
posed to light and overhandled, the document of freedom for former slaves. The Emancipation
itself is now in a weakened condition. Although Proclamation thus undoubtedly hastened vic-
its words on paper may be faint today, its pre- tory. As Dr. Franklin has said, there was now
cious message remains as radiant and clear as no turning back: Slavery was doomed in the
ever. And with proper care, long after all of us United States.
are gone, the Emancipation Proclamation will The Emancipation Proclamation also served
still be here, shining forth with that enduring as a vital foundation for the Thirteenth Amend-
message of freedom-and of hope. ment, which banned slavery, and for subse-
The Civil War produced another landmark: quent efforts to secure the rights of freedom for
the great dome on the Capitol Building in Wash- black Americans. Still later, the Proclamation in-
ington, D.C. Completion of the dome was an act spired those who took direct action to call atten-
of great optimism, confidence, and courage on tion to the lingering gap between promise and
the part of the federal government, and by Pres- reality. The Emancipation Proclamation remains
ident Lincoln himself, who insisted that the an important symbol of our struggle to attain
work go on even when the fortunes of war were the ideal of liberty and freedom upon which our
rather bleak for the Union. In early 1865, the nation was founded and upon which we base
eastward-gazing, nineteen-and-one-half-foot our self-government. May this document, care-
statue of Freedom was finally hoisted to the top fully preserved by the National Archives, long
of the dome, symbolizing that a reunited nation continue to inspire both us and all other free-
could look toward a future of freedom for all its dom-loving persons around the globe. 0
peoples.
The statue was a visible symbol of freedom,
and it remains one today. But the Emancipation
Proclamation was more than a symbol: It was
producing some highly visible consequences all
across the land. The Proclamation had already
changed the character of the Civil War, under- Acting Archivist of the United States

Cantributors
Josiah Ober is professor of Greek history at Princeton University, where he is James B. Duke Professor of
University and co-director of the Democracy 2,500 History Emeritus. Past president of the American
Project, sponsored by the American School of Classi- Historical Association and the Society of Phi Beta
cal Studies at Athens. He has written Mass and Elite in Kappa, his publications include From Slavery to Free-
Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of dom (1947), The Emancipation Proclamation (1963), and
the People (1989) and other books and articles on Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988 (1990).
Greek history and archaeology.
Michael J. Lewandowski is an archivist in the Civil
Catherine Vanderpool is associate director of the De- Reference Branch of the National Archives. He holds
mocracy 2,500 Project. She is Director/U.5. Opera- a B.A. in history from The American University and
tions for the American School and has lectured on is an M.A. candidate at the University of Maryland.
Greek and Roman art and archaeology. She is cur- He serves as treasurer of American Federation of
rently preparing a publication on Roman portrait Government Employees Local 2578.
sculpture from the school's excavation in Corinth.
Jennifer Tolbert Roberts is professor of history at Lynn A. Bassanese is the public affairs specialist at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas and visiting the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New
professor of classical languages at the City College of York. She received her B.A. in history from Marist
New York. She is the author of Accountability in Athe- College.
nian Government (1985) and the coauthor with Richard
Patricia A. Eames coordinates 207 National Archives
Greaves and Robert Zaller of Civilizations of the West:
The Human Adventure. volunteers and directs tour and school workshop pro-
grams for visitors to the National Archives. She re-
John Hope Franklin has taught at Fisk University, ceived her B.A. in political science and philosophy
the University of Chicago, and most recently, Duke from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

AND HENCEFORTH SHALL BE FREE 125

 Athenian Democracy

I I

By Josiah Ober and Catherine Vanderpool

wo thousand five hundred years ago, that is to say,

sometime between July of 508 and July of 507 B.C.,
there occurred one of the most influential revolutions
in the history of western civilization. In that year, the
ordinary citizens of Athens rose en masse against a
ruling clique of Athenian aristocrats and the foreign
army of occupation supporting them. The spontane-
ous, leaderless uprising was successful. Some of the foreign soldiers
were executed on the spot; others, along with the leader of the Athe-
nian quislings, Isagoras, were expelled from the city-state. Suddenly
and remarkably the people of Athens found themselves in control of
their own political destiny-and they now had to decide what to do
about it. What they eventually did was to lay the foundations for the
world's first democracy-a government that has been studied,
praised, and often condemned. Until the American and French rev-
olutions of the late eighteenth century developed new democratic
institutions, Athenian democracy was also universally regarded as
the ultimate experiment with political freedom and equality.
Even today, Athens remains the best documented example of direct
democracy in human history (in contrast to the representative democ-
racy of many modern nations). The story of Athenian democracy,
however, can only be partially told by the few and precious ancient
texts that have survived the centuries-whether those of Thucydides,
Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, or others. But these, taken together with
the material record obtained principally through extensive archaeo-
logical investigation, can re-create for us a vivid image of the ancient
democracy that has greatly, if indirectly, influenced our own. Much
of the history of Athenian democracy took place in and around the
ancient political and commercial center of Athens, known as the Ag-
ora. Excavations of the Agora have also revealed much about early
Athenian social structure.
At the time of the revolution, Athens was a polis (city-state) in
central Greece, covering an area of approximately one thousand
square miles and populated by some 150,000 persons. It shared many
of the features that characterized other Greek city-states. Power lay,
as it had for many generations, in the hands of a few large aristocratic
families, their claim to political power and prestige based on extensive
property holdings and their supposedly noble bloodlines. Outside
this small group, the rest of the population played little direct role in

127
 Albeit for ultimately selfish reasons,
Peisistratos attempted to build up grass
roots patriotism by focusing on Athenian
uniqueness, instituting new national fes-
tivals and monumental building pro-
grams, and encouraging cultivation of the
arts, both visual and literary. The Acrop-
olis, increasingly the focus of religious ac-
tivity, and the Agora, now focus of com-
mercial and political activity, were the re-
cipients of benefactions not only by
Peisistratos himself but by members of
his family. Evidence of the tribute paid by
the tyrants to religious tradition is re-
flected, for example, in the Altar of the
the political life of the city. poor and powerless that legal recognition Twelve Gods, dedicated in 522-521 B.C.,
Among the finds in the Agora, which was necessary to keep its members from whose foundations have been uncovered
in the early centuries of the first millen- being confused with, or even becoming, in the Agora excavations. In addition to
nium B.C. served mainly as a cemetery, slaves. temples and altars, the Peisistratids also
are grave goods from burials where the A generation before the revolution of improved the city's infrastructure, donat-
wealth and position of the deceased is re- 508-507 B.C. the government had been ing utilitarian structures such as aque-
flected in gold jewelry, fine glass, and el- taken over by a single man, Peisistratos, ducts and fountain houses.
egant pottery. One of the most curious and his family. Peisistratos was known as Peisistratos worked to break the op-
finds, from a female burial of the mid- a tyrannos, but the Greek word did not pressive hold of the old aristocratic fami-
ninth century, is a terra-cotta chest with a have the same connotations as does the lies on their dependents, which meant
lid decorated with five miniature struc- modern English cognate, "tyrant." Al- the effective liberation of many Athe-
tures thought to represent granaries. In though the portrayal of the Peisistratids nians from the informal, but powerful,
turn, these granaries have been inter- in surviving literary sources is generally social bonds that tied them to the aristo-
preted as a reference to the source of the hostile, archaeological evidence shows crats. For this reason, the "tyrant" was
family's wealth. Perhaps they numbered even as they ruled, other members of the probably quite popular with most nonar-
among the pentekosiomedimnoi, those aristocracy continued to serve as archons istocratic Athenians. But Peisistratos's
Athenians whose property produced 500 (chief magistrates of the Athenian state).l sons, Hipparchos and Hippias, who took
medimnoi, equivalent to 730 bushels, of Excavations in the Agora have uncovered over as rulers of the polis after his death,
wheat or barley a year. a fragmentary inscription that preserves were more capricious and failed to retain
In addition to the "500 medimnoi peo- portions of the names of the archons dur- the loyalty of the ordinary citizens. Their
ple," the early-sixth-century constitution ing the 520s, including that of Kleis- diminishing popularity encouraged the
of Solon, known as the Lawgiver, recog- thenes, whose postrevolution reforms old aristocratic families to try to over-
nized three other classes: the hippeis marked the beginning of democracy. throw the tyranny. The begirming of the
(knights), who could afford to maintain a end for the Peisistratids is viVidly memo-
horse and had land producing 300 medim- rialized by a fragmentary inscription from
noi per year; the zeugitai (teamsters), who the base of one of the most famous stat-
owned a pair of oxen for plowing and ues in the Agora. Preserved is the name
whose land produced 200 medimnoi per "Harmodios" and the phrase "estab-
year; and the thetes, or common laborers. lished their native land." Harmodios and
Perhaps we can read indirect reference to his friend and companion Aristogeiton
these additional classes in objects such as
~----
..~
slew Hipparchos in 514 B.C., setting in
the pyxis (a round, lidded box) of the mid- '. , motion a chain of events that ultimately
eighth century B.C. that has three horses led to the overthrow of the family. Al-
perched on the lid, recalling the hippeis, most immediately the two friends became
or a terra-cotta figure showing a pair of symbols of the struggle against tyranny
oxen and their driver, recalling the team- Ownership of horses qualified a man for and were honored by statues in the Ag-
sters. One of the humblest items found, the class of knights (hippeis), a cavalry- ora. With the help of Sparta, an extraor-
an iron pick, recalls the thetes, a class so man to defend the city. dinarily powerful and conservative city-

128 SUMMER 1993

 PROLOGUE

state in southern Greece, the Athenians prominent families thought to be a threat anny and the revolution itself; there was
expelled the last son of Peisistratos, Hip- to Isagoras and then attempted to dis- no longer a viable tradition on which to
pias, from Athens in 510 B.C.-two years solve the Athenian advisory council. But build a new government. The people
before the revolution. here Isagoras and KIeomenes made a se- would not tolerate continued aristocratic
After the end of the tyranny, many rious mistake. The councilmen (who re- rule, and tyranny had been discredited
aristocrats hoped for and expected a main anonymous in our sources) re- by the harsh reign of Hipparchos and
quick return to government as usual- sisted, and their brave resistance sparked Hippias. How then to restore legitimate
that is, to the pre-tyranny days in which the spontaneous uprising of the mass of political authority?
Athenian society and politics were dom- Athenians. Isagoras and his allies fled to KIeisthenes' remarkable insight-and
inated by a handful of powerful and the Acropolis but surrendered after a the origin of ancient democracy-was to
wealthy families. Two leaders, Isagoras three-day siege. build a new political order quite literally
and Kleisthenes, quickly emerged and Immediately following the expulsion of from the ground up. He divided the
just as quickly became rivals for power. Isagoras and the Spartans, the people of Athenian population into ten new tribes,
Isagoras had an immediate advantage- effectively breaking up the centuries-old
he was a close friend of Kleomenes, the power structure. Each tribe was deliber-
leading king of Sparta. (Sparta, anoma- ately subdivided and gerrymandered so
lously, was ruled by two kings and a as to include people from different parts
council of elders.) Kleomenes had stayed of Attica. The tribes were named after ten
at Isagoras's house during the military early Athenian heroes, who were ever af-
operations that ended in the expulsion of ter referred to as the Eponymous Heroes.
the Peisistratid tyrants, and it was whis- The foundations of the Monument of the
pered that the Spartan king had been al- Eponymous Heroes have been excavated
lowed free access to Isagoras's wife. Be in the Agora just east of the Metroon (the
that as it may, Isagoras certainly had state archives). Over sixteen meters long,
friends in high places, and his influential the base supported bronze statues of the
contacts gained him election as the chief heroes.
archon-the most important officer in the The roots of Kleisthenes' new system
Athenian government-for the year 508- lay in much smaller political units-the
507 B.C. Kleisthenes was initially flum- existing village and neighborhood com-
moxed, but he soon struck back with a munities that dotted the territory of Ath-
daring and original plan; he turned away ens. Kleisthenes designated 140 of these
from intra-elite politics and openly solic- little communities as demes (demoi),
ited the support of the ordinary citizens. which translates as "peoples." Each
Writing about a half century after the fact, deme was to be a semi-independent po-
the Greek historian Herodotus remarked litical entity that would be responsible for
that Kleisthenes set about to become the its own internal government. The adult
trusted comrade of the people and male members of each deme (on the av-
quickly began to overshadow his rival in erage about one hundred to two hundred
Athenian politics. Spartan warriors helped to overthrow the people) would be expected to meet regu-
Not to be outdone by his opponent's tyrants of Athens but were soon expelled larly in an open assembly, at which every
bold initiative, Isagoras responded by by Kleisthenes and his anny. member had a vote, and everyone could
playing his trump card. He sent word of speak his mind ("his" is precise, as
the unsettling developments to Athens recalled their comrade Kleis- women were never regarded as citizens
KIeomenes, who dispatched a herald to thenes. He was faced with a remarkable of Athens or of any other Greek polis).
Athens ordering KIeisthenes int~ exile. challenge--to create a system of govern- Among the duties of the deme assembly
KIeisthenes had no choice but to obey; ment that would be acceptable to the rev- was the "election" of new members-no
Sparta was, after all, the dominant mili- olution-inspired Athenian people and to one could be a citizen of the deme unless
tary state in Greece. But affairs in Athens have it operating smoothly before the he had been voted in by the other mem-
were still unsettled. Kleomenes arrived in Spartans inevitably returned to punish bers. Election was tremendously signifi-
the city with a small army and proceeded Athens for its insolent behavior. Kleis- cant because deme membership was,
to establish Isagoras and his friends as thenes' options were limited. The old hi- from this period on, the basis of citizen-
the new government of Athens. erarchical social order had been shattered ship in the polis itself. Thus, overnight,
KIeomenes first expelled seven hundred by the double blow of a generation of tyr- the Athenian citizen body became a self-

ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 129

 PROLOGUE

establishing body, and that body was re- inscription on a fragment of a marble ba-
sponsible for its own membership. sin found close by its foundation indi-
Kleisthenes' new system called upon cates that it belonged to the council; ar-
each deme to send a certain number of chaeologists speculate that it may have
representatives (based on population) to held water in which Athenians washed or
an advisory council of five hundred citi- dipped their hands (as a form of ritual
zens, fifty from each tribe. The council purification) before entering any sacred
handled the day-to-day business of the place.
government. At first, the selection of rep- Administration of the council lay in the
resentatives may have been by election, hands of a rotating executive committee,
but soon the demes adopted the method the prytaneis, each tribe's fifty councilmen
of an open lottery. Any citizen aged thirty serving as such for thirty-five or thirty-six
or older who was willing to serve (and days at a time. Headquartered in the Tho-
perhaps half or three-quarters of all Athe- los, a round building next to the Bouleu-
nian citizens did eventually serve a term terion, the prytaneis ate at public expense
in the council) could put his name in the throughout their term of office. Frag-
lottery. If his lot came up in the drawing, ments of the Tholos dining ware have
he was sent to the council. Councilmen turned up in excavations, clearly marked
could only serve two nonconsecutive an- with the letters "DE," the first two letters Silver and bronze coins show the head of
nual terms, and most served only one. of the word demosion, or public property. Athena, goddess and patroness of Athens,
and an owl, her sacred bird.
The councilmen met regularly in a special The council's most important task was
building on the west side of the Agora, the preparation of the agenda for the na-
the Bouleuterion. The earliest form of the tional assembly, the much larger govern- the chance to stand up and address the
council house appears to date from ing body made up of all Athenian citizens assembly for as long as two conditions
around 500 B.C. It served simultaneously who cared to show up. Meetings of the pertained: his voice held out, and his fel-
as the state archives until the end of the assembly, held outdoors in a natural de- low citizens were willing to listen to him.
fifth century, at which time the council pression shaped like a theater and located Addressing the assembly was a tough
moved to a new Bouleuterion, and the on a ridge (the Pnyx) to the west of the and potentially humiliating undertaking.
old building, now known as the Metroon, Agora and the Acropolis, were remark- When the assemblymen decided a speech
was dedicated entirely to archival pur- able affairs. In the fourth century B.C. (the was of excessive length, they Simply
poses. Remains of the foundations of the period for which our sources are most de- hooted and jeered the speaker from the
early Bouleuterion have led to its recon- tailed), the assembly, or ekklesia, met forty orator's stand.
struction as a nearly square building, pre- times each year. Six thousand to eight After everyone who wished to speak
sumably filled with wooden benches. The thousand men regularly attended, ap- had faced this public gauntlet, a vote was
proximately 2~2S percent of the total cit- taken by counting raised hands. A simple
izen body. After a preliminary sacrifice to majority determined the issue, and if it
the state gods, a member of the prytaneis, passed, the new decree immediately be-
selected by lot as "president for the day," came Athenian policy. Thus, for exam-
would call the meeting to order. He an- ple, if the assembly voted for war with
nounced the first item on the agenda, Sparta, a state of war would immediately
which could be anything from a change be declared. It was in this manner that all
in the calendar of the state religion to the of the important business of the state was
state of the city's food supply, welfare attended to; taxes were levied, alliances
provisions for the orphaned and handi- with other states were made or broken,
capped, or a declaration of war against a and generals and other specialized offi-
neighboring polis. The president then in- cials were elected to annual terms of of-
dicated the council's recommendation on fice. By ca. 390 B.C., the Athenians
the subject, if it had one to offer (some- deemed it necessary to reimburse citizens
times it did not). In either case, he then for their attendance at deliberations of the
opened the subject for discussion by ask- ekklesia. Shortly following the devastating
A senate (boule), composed of five hun- ing, "Who among the Athenians wishes Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), Ath-
dred members, met year round in the to speak?" At this point everyone of the ens was plagued by economic hardship.
Bouleuterion to debate legislation. thousands of men in the audience had Many Athenians were impoverished in

130 SUMMER 1993

 PROLOGUE

the postwar years, and taking an unpaid sians at the river Eurymedon ca. 469 B.C., were scattered throughout the city. A se-
day off work imposed a real strain. In or- and Themistokles, the architect of Athe- ries of rooms excavated in the northeast
der to make it possible for working Athe- nian naval power and the man responsi- corner of the Agora may have served as a
nians to fulfill their citizen duties, lead ble for successfully deploying the Athe- law court from the late fifth century B.C.,
tokens were distributed to those attend- nian fleet against the Persians at Salamis as suggested by finds of bronze ballots
ing the meeting and could be redeemed in 480 B.C. In practical terms, those ostra- and a ballot box.
for first one, then two, and finally nine cized were invariably prominent politi- A jury, usually consisting of two hun-
obols per day for certain meetings (an obol cians, men who frequently took it upon dred to five hundred men (although its
was the equivalent of one-sixth of a themselves to address the assembly on size might occasionally reach twenty-five
drachma, which equaled roughly one important affairs and who ran for major hundred), would be drawn from the list
day's wage). offices. The ostracism procedure ensured of approximately six thousand available
To the modern observer, perhaps the that political leadership in Athens was al- jurors. As with the assemblymen, the ju-
most unusual meetings of the assembly ways a tenuous business and always sub- rors were for the most part ordinary
were those held to carry out an ostracism. ject to sharp and sudden reversals of for- working men chosen for a period of one
Until the late fifth century B.C. when the tune. Those Athenians who actively par- year and (in the fourth century B.C.) as-
procedure was abandoned, the Athenian ticipated in the affairs of the polis also put signed to courts by an elaborate allotment
citizens voted annually whether or not to themselves at the mercy of the people machine. Jurors received compensation
hold an ostracism. 2 If the vote was posi- they hoped to lead, a people who held from the mid-fifth century B.C., when
tive, a date was set for the actual cere- their leaders to almost impossibly high Perikles introduced a two-obol stipend for
mony. On the designated day, every standards of conduct. In 406 B.C., for ex- service. In the 420s, Kleon raised this to
Athenian citizen was entitled to come to ample, after a victory over the Spartan three obols. Their goal was to encourage
the Agora with a shard of pottery (ostra- fleet at Arginusae, the Athenians, over- participation of poorer men in the demo-
kon) on which he (or someone for him) strained by the length and devastation of cratic process. 3
had scratched the name of the man he the Peloponnesian War, condemned six
thought most deserved banishment from of the victorious generals to death for not
the polis. At the end of the day, if a quo- picking up survivors.
rum of six thousand votes had been cast, Disputes between citizens that could
the "winner," the man whose name was not be resolved by private or public arbi-
found on the most shards, was forced tration and crimes against society were
into exile for ten years. Among the pow- normally resolved in the people's courts.
erful political figures of the fifth century A citizen who felt himself wronged or
thus eliminated were Kimon (son of Mil- who believed that a crime had been com-
tiades), the general who defeated the Per- mitted would, in front of witnesses, chal-
lenge the malefactor to appear before a
certain state magistrate at a certain time.
In civil cases, the magistrate might re-
quire the disputants to appear before an
official public arbitrator. In the fourth
century B.C., every Athenian citizen who
reached age sixty was expected to put his
accumulated wisdom and experience to
work by serving for one year as an arbi-
trator. The arbitrator would attempt to re-
solve the problem equitably, but if he
failed to satisfy both parties, the evidence
presented to him was sealed, and the
case was forwarded to the people's
courts. The Athenians were a notoriously
litigious people, causing the comic play-
wright Aristophanes to joke, "The cicada
Athenians held ostracisms to protect de- sings for only a month, but the people of This ballot box is where jurors cast their
mocracy. Above, the ballots (ostrakon) of Athens are buzzing with lawsuits and votes. A hollow ballot signifies guilt, a
Megakles and Kimon. trials their whole life long." Law courts solid one, innocence.

ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 131

 PROLOGUE

poor speaking voice would step aside and at state expense. As Athenian juries were
allow a friend to continue to plead his required to choose one of the two alter-
case. natives, it is not surprising that Sokrates
After listening to the two speeches, the was penalized with death.
jury voted; all verdicts were in principle Trials could be equally problematic for
final. As in the assembly, a simple major- the plaintiff. The Athenian judicial calen-
ity determined the issue; though in jury dar was rather busy, and nuisance suits
trials from the fifth century on, a secret were looked upon with great disap-
ballot procedure was employed in the proval. Thus, in many categories of legal
place of a show of hands. This was prob- action, if the plaintiff did not receive one-
ably done to avoid undue influence by fifth of the jury votes cast (thus justifying
the powerful, revenge by relatives, or his case), he could be severely fined. If he
bribery of jurors. By the middle of the was incapable of paying the fine, he
fourth century B.C., the secret voting pro- would be stripped of citizenship and
cedure employed bronze ballots manu- forced into exile.
factured with an axle through the middle, Kleisthenes' system of government,
half of them hollow and half solid. After which was soon given the newly coined
all the evidence was presented, each ju-
ror, in full view of all, received one of
Water clocks limited the speaking time of each type of ballot. As they voted, jurors
trial participants. This clay clock runs held their thumbs and forefingers over
about six minutes.
the ends of the axles (disguising which
hand held which ballot), placing one into
To speed up trials and to keep them to a receptacle for valid votes, the other into
a one-day limit, the Athenians timed a waste receptacle. A hollow ballot indi-
speakers with a klepsydra, or water clock. cated a vote for the plaintiff, a solid for
Some clocks may have allowed only a few the defendant.
minutes of speaking time, but judging The penalties levied in many categories
from speeches preserved in literary texts, of legal action were fixed by law, gener-
the harangues could be of considerably ally consisting of a fine, exile, or death.
greater length. The trial itself consisted of Rarely was long-term imprisonment pre-
an officially timed speech by the plaintiff, scribed as Athens had no formal prison
followed by a speech of the same length system. While there was a jail in which to
by the defendant. Each party to the case hold those who could not be released on
had to speak for himself, at least in the- bail, Athenians would probably find
ory. There were no professional lawyers long-term imprisonment a waste of state
in Athens, although there were men will- resources, especially as exile was a viable
ing to write a clever legal speech for a fee. option. In certain cases, however, no
Persuading an Athenian jury often re- penalty was set by law, and a different
quired more than just the facts. A litigant procedure was used. If, after the first pair
might attempt to persuade jurors that he of speeches, the jury voted for the plain-
was a better citizen than his opponent- tiff, each litigant was given a second
more public-spirited, more generous with chance to address the court, this time to
his time and resources, and less offensive propose alternate penalties. The stakes
in his private life. Many jury trials (espe- could be very high. In the famous trial of
cially of rich and powerful men) were Sokrates, who in 399 B.C. was charged
highly publicized contests in which polit- with impiety and corrupting the youth of
ical opponents competed for the respect Athens, the prosecution called for the
and admiration of their fellow citizens. death penalty. Ordinarily the defendant
But a private citizen, unskilled in the arts (now officially guilty) would propose a
of rhetoric, might be at a disadvantage in stiff fine or possibly even exile. In his Perikles, a great leader and statesman of
such a contest. Thus, occasionally, after case, however, Sokrates proposed an classical Athens, was responsible for
speaking a few words, a litigant with a ironic "penalty" of being feasted for life building the Parthenon.

132 SUMMER 1993

name demokratia, meaning "people
power," was a startling success. As ex-
pected, the Spartans attacked the city-
state in 506 B.C., but the Athenian army,
mustered under the new political regime,
faced down the invaders. Herodotus was
impressed by this event and noted that
before the revolution the Athenians were
not a major power in the Greek world,
but after the liberation, they were unstop-
pable. Indeed, democratic Athens went
on to become the most powerful state in
Greece, playing a key role in the success-
ful Greek resistance to the great Persian
invasion of 480 B.C. and subsequently cre-
ating the first and only great classical
Greek empire in the Aegean. There is no
doubt that Herodotus was right; this tre-
mendous surge in Athens's ability to play
a leading role in international affairs was Throughout the fifth century, Athens's military strength lay primarily in its vast fleet
quite directly a result of the democratic of warships (triremes).
political order.
In the century following the reforms,
Athens extended its power well beyond each of which carried 170 rowers posi- least a quarter of the total population was
its borders and from mid-century experi- tioned on three banks of oars. wiped out in a few years by wartime
enced a peak of glory, prosperity, and re- Although Athens and Sparta had coop- plague, and battle deaths numbered in
newal under the leadership of the states- erated against the Persians, the two city- the tens of thousands. Modern estimates
man Perikles. Athens built up a powerful states remained locked in a bitter rivalry. suggest that, by the end of the war, the
army and navy, which in organization Peace was declared between Athens and male population of Athens may have
and administration reflected the new po- Sparta in 446, giving Athens a chance to been cut in half.
litical system. The ekklesia elected one rebuild. The city and its temples had been The war, which Athens eventually lost,
general from each tribe per year, and at burned by the Persians in 480 B.C., and also put a tremendous strain on the de-
least in the early fifth century, the army the truce as well as additional funds pro- mocracy. In 411 B.C., soon after Athens
as a whole was managed by the po- vided from the opening of the silver had suffered a ghastly reverse in Sicily,
lemarch, or chief commander. The major- mines and the seizure of the Delos Trea- concerted terrorism by pro-oligarchy
ity of the army consisted of armed sury gave Perikles the chance not only to Athenians led to the temporary over-
hoplites, infantry soldiers wearing hel- repair the damage, but also to erect the throw of the democracy. But the oligar-
mets, breastplates, and greaves (armor Parthenon, Propylaea, and other build- chic government soon collapsed, and the
for the lower legs) and fighting with a ings throughout the city. The peace, democracy was restored. After the Spar-
shield and thrusting spear. The cavalry however, was short lived, and the re- tan victory in 404 B.C., the victors im-
formed a smaller elite unit because of the newed power struggle with Sparta would posed a new government administered
expense of maintaining a mount, al- test the resiliency of the democracy. by "The Thirty," a band of democracy-
though the state itself paid a maintenance In 431 B.C. war again erupted between hating Athenian aristocrats, whose
allowance to the owners after an annual Athens and Sparta; both city-states were leader, Kritias, was a well-known fol-
inspection. The Athenian navy, compris- by this time leaders of large confedera- lower of Sokrates. Once again, the dem-
ing as many as four hundred ships and cies; it was not just Athens versus Sparta ocrats fought back successfully. A band
eighty thousand sailors during its peak, but the Athenian empire versus the Spar- of prodemocracy Athenians gathered a
helped Athens dominate the eastern tan-led Peloponnesian League. The guerrilla army outside the city, chal-
Mediterranean in the fifth century B.C. stakes were high; it soon became clear lenged and defeated the military forces of
Many of the sailors, while citizens, were that the winner would dominate the The Thirty, took back the city, and in 403
drawn from the poorer ranks of society. whole of Greece. The Peloponnesian B.C. reinstituted the democracy. For the
They served principally as oarsmen for War, which lasted twenty-seven years, next eight decades, the Athenians en-
the wooden warships known as triremes, took a terrible toll on the Athenians; at joyed a stable democratic government

ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 133

and maintained their independence visited upon the poor and undistin-
against various external threats. The de- guished elsewhere.
mocracy was finally extinguished in 322 But if we honor Athens's successes, it
B.C., after Athens had been repeatedly Exhibit is at the same time important to remem-
defeated by the vastly superior military ber that the ideals and institutions on
forces of Macedon-an imperial nation- Information which Athenian society was based were
state in northern Greece that was gigantic & far removed from those assumed by con-
by the standards of the polis. Yet for cen- temporary American society. Democratic
turies thereafter the memory of democ- Schedule Athens proved no less willing than other
racy contributed to periodic revolts by the Greek states to commit ugly atrocities in
Athenians against a succession of foreign times of war, and the Athenian empire of
masters. Whenever the Athenians man- On June 15, 1993, the National Archives the fifth century was frankly exploitative.
aged to free themselves, they reinstated a will open a new exhibition, "The Birth of Many resident foreigners (metics) lived in
Democracy." Celebrating the 2,500th anni-
democratic government. versary of the first steps toward democracy Athens and were quite welcome to do so,
A modern admirer of democratic Ath- in Athens, the exhibit will explore the yet few of them ever had the opportunity
ens can point to a number of signal ac- workings of the world's first democratic to become citizens. After 451 B.C., when
government. Through ancient documents
complishments. The Athenians created and artifacts, some of which date from as Perikles' law restricting citizenship was
the first known complex society that pro- early as the ninth century B.C., visitors will passed, only those with both an Athenian
claimed and actively maintained signifi- learn how democracy started in Athens, father and mother could be brought be-
how it worked, and how it was defended.
cant political equality. When Athenians Viewing these ancient artifacts in the cases fore a deme assembly for consideration of
entered the assembly or sat on a jury, the flanking the Declaration of Independence, membership. Before this decree, only the
rich and the poor, the scion of the oldest the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, vis- father was required to be an Athenian.
itors will have a unique opportunity to
family and the "nobody, son of nobody," compare the first ancient democracy with Ironically, this law would later affect
were equals. When they raised their our system of government, the first mod- Perikles' own son, who was born of a for-
hands or dropped their juror's ballots, em democracy. The exhibition is free and eign mother. Only with the express per-
will be open to the public through January
their votes had identical weight. Notably, 2,1994. mission of the ekklesia could citizenship be
this equality was achieved without the The prestigious American School of Clas- granted to foreigners or the children of
need to resort to an oppressive statist en- sical Studies at Athens organized the exhi- foreigners. And even then, to ensure that
bition as the centerpiece of its "Democracy
forcement of social equality; there was no 2500 Project." Most of the artifacts come . no rules had been bent or broken,
push by the democratic government to from the Agora, the commercial and polit- "cleansings" were occasionally held in
equalize property or wealth. Moreover, ical heart of the ancient city, and are now the demes, stripping some people of their
housed in the Agora Museum in Athens.
Athenian citizen society was famous for The school has fielded the Agora excava- ever-tenuous citizenship.
having the highest level of freedom of tions almost continuously since 1930, inter- Athenian women enjoyed none of the
thought, speech, and behavior in the rupted only by World War II and its imme- equality and little of the freedom and dig-
diate aftermath. Through the generosity of
Greek world. Everybody knew that, as the Ministry of Culture of Greece, many of nity cherished by their citizen husbands.
the orator Demosthenes put it, "you can these objects will be seen for the first time An Athenian woman was normally ex-
praise Sparta in Athens, but not Athens outside of Greece. Other items included in pected to avoid frequenting public places.
the exhibit come from museums in Europe
in Sparta." As that comment suggests, and the United States. Women who were forced by economic
freedom of speech extended to the free- hardship into occupations such as ribbon-
dom to criticize the Athenian form of gov- selling in the Agora were objects of scorn
ernment. Among the most outstanding for the crime of committing hubris against to others and shame to their families.
products of Athenian literature produced one of his fellows. Hubris generally meant Women had little or no voice in the choice
under the democracy are works by verbal or physical assault but was never of their husbands; a father or male guard-
Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, many defined in the law code. Because it was ian would arrange a suitable match, and
of which are profoundly critical of the up to the jurymen themselves to decide if the girl might see her husband for the
workings of democracy. Finally, although some member of the aristocracy was us- first time at the betrothal. Further, she
there was no formal Athenian bill of ing his influence in an unacceptable man- had only indirect control (at best) over
rights, the practical workings of the de- ner, elite Athenians were careful to avoid her property, but if her husband divorced
mocracy served to protect the essential any sort of public arrogance that could be her, he was forced to return her dowry.
dignity of the lowliest citizen from insult interpreted by a hostile jury as hubris. Slave ownership was legal and proba-
or violent outrage by those who were his And so, Athenian citizenship provided bly quite common (although exact figures
superiors in strength, wealth, or political security against the types of personal in- do not exist) in the democratic state.
influence. Any Athenian could be tried dignity that social inequality has often Slaves were brought to Athens from all

134 SUMMER 1993

 PROLOGUE

over the eastern Mediterranean and Black

Sea regions. Some were Greeks taken by
the Athenians as prisoners of war. Others
were bought up by professional slave
dealers from various peoples of eastern
Europe, Asia, and northern Africa and
sold on the open market in Athens and
other Greek poleis. The conditions under
which slaves worked, especially those
purchased for the silver mines, were mis-
erable to the extreme. Although there
were laws against killing or hitting slaves,
they were hardly free from abuse. A
slave's testimony was allowed in an
Athenian courtroom only on the condi-
tion that it had been given under torture;
slaves who gave information without tor-
ture were assumed to be liars.
When celebrating the remarkable
equality, openness, and dignity enjoyed
by Athenian citizens, we must not forget
that those citizens were a relatively small By 400 B.C. the Agora included all the civic buildings used in the day-to-day adminis-
tration of the democracy.
minority who jealously guarded their
privileges against a more numerous and
oppressed majority of noncitizens. To jected in favor of a model based more on the shared knowledge of the community
claim, however, that we have nothing to the Republic of Rome. It was feared that and its inner workings permitted the cit-
learn from this early, and in many ways direct democracy had too few controls izens, in Aristotle's words, "to rule and
still unique, experiment in direct democ- and might lead to "rabble" rule. Direct be ruled in turns." The differences are
racy because Athenians had the moral democracy was a system that evolved in easy to see; remarkable is the fact that
standards of classical Greeks rather than what was, by modern standards, a small 2,500 years later we can still recognize
of twentieth-century Americans, is at homogeneous state, where it was possi- some common ground and respond
once anachronistic and ethnocentric. ble to travel from one end to the other, for (even if with mixed emotions) to the
Athenian democracy was a great polit- the most part, in less than a day; where words of Perikles, who declared his city
ical experiment, acknowledged by Amer- citizens could attend an assembly that "an education to Greece," indeed, to the
ica's Founding Fathers and ultimately re- met every ten days to pass laws; where world. 0

NOTES
© 1993 by Josiah Ober and Catherine Vanderpool could make a drachma for the days they worked, which may sug-
lThere were a total of nine archons, or state magistrates, se- gest to the modern mind that the workers would not give up a
lected (by various means) each year. The first was "the" archon, day's wage for lower-paying jury service. But the laborers did not
sometimes called the "eponymous" archon because he gave his work 365 days a year. We should also not immediately make the
name to the year. For clarity, we have called this officer "chief modernizing assumption that all Athenian actions were gov-
archon." This was clearly a very powerful office before 508 B.C. erned solely by "rational" economic motives. Serving on a jury
(much less so afterwards and largely ceremonial by the time of was regarded as vitally important in protecting basic rights, was
Perikles). It was the office of "the" archon that some of the other empowering, and probably was often a lot of fun. If we say that
aristocrats held under the Peisistratids. The second magistrate only the leisured citizens (nonworkers) served as jurors because
was the "king" archon. He was not actually a king but rather the the poorer men could not afford to, we must throw out the num-
head of the state religion. The third archon was the polemarch, or ber six thousand potential jurors (for which there is good textual
military leader. The remaining six archons were thesmothetes, or support), since there cannot have been that many leisure-class
leqal officials. Athenians. All the evidence (gathered especially by M. M. Mar-
We do not know why ostracism was abandoned after the late kle) suggests that we have every reason to suppose that most
fifth century B.C. Presumably it fell into disuse at least in part jurors fell between the leisured and the genuinely impoverished.
because its function was replaced by the legal action of graphe There may have been an overrepresentation by elderly men, but
paranomon, which was the indictment of the proposer of an illegal this cannot be proved. The dread that the wealthy felt of the
or "uncustomary" decree. courts is good evidence that poorer Athenians did in fact domi-
Jrhe issue of pay in Athens is very complex; some workers nate the courts.

ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 135