Evolution of democracy in Athens

Answer 1

A serious attempt was made in 508 BCE by Cleisthenes who established the people's assembly as the arbiter of power, but this was reversed 20 years later in 480 BCE when the Persian threat brought the aristocrats back to power to lead the country's defence.

This was overthrown 20 years after that in 460 BCE when Ephialtes returned control to the popular assembly. He was murdered for this and his deputy Pericles took over, and twenty years later expelled the aristocratic counter-reformists, establishing a radical democracy where the male citizens met in fortnightly assembly to pass laws and direct actions which were carried out by the Council.

This radical direct democracy had a mixed result, with an over-confident Pericles leading Athens into the destructive Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 years and devastated Greece. Pericles died and, opportunists influencing the people into often unwise actions. These resulted in Athens losing to the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Athens lost its allies and prosperity and settled down to becoming a second rate power, and adopted a restricted form of democracy which tried to get rid of the rabble-rousers.