Pericles'+Goals,+Assembly,+and+the+Council+of+500

Pericles’ Goals, Assembly, and the Council of 500 Summary

Although there is much to cover on Pericles’ goals, assembly, and the council of five hundred, here is a short paragraph to give you an idea of what you will learn about. Pericles’ goals are quite simple. The three goals were to strengthen democracy, consolidate the empire, and to make Athens the most important city in that part of the world. The Council of 500 represented the full-time government of Athens. It consisted of 500 citizens. The Council could issue decrees on its own regarding certain matters, but its main function was to prepare the agenda for meetings of the Assembly. The Council would meet together to talk and vote on “Preliminary decrees” and any of these that passed the Council’s vote went on for discussion and voting in the Assembly. The Assembly was responsible for the general conduct of [|Athens]’ public business. This included sending embassies to conduct business with other states.

Pericles’ Goals, Assembly, and the Council of 500 Outline

Pericles’ Goals I. Wanted to beautify Athens a. Wanted to make Athens the center of Greece’s attention. b. He rebuilt what the Persian wars destroyed by building new buildings plus building the acropolis. 1. He got money from the Delian League. 2. Parthenon had the statue of Athena, the city’s protector. II. Expanded the empire a. The Delian League was formed with the other cities/states of Greece. 1. Moved treasury to Athens. 2. Other cities/states became part of the Athenian empire. b. Athens had many navy ships and soldiers III. Strengthen democracy a. Wanted to make a change in the balance of power when it came to the rich and poor b.Changed rule to spread power evenly by paying public officials so poor could be in office 1. United States government based off of Athens government 2. Made it so all people could vote

Assembly I. Symbolizes Popular Democracy a. Also known as Ecclesia. b. Enables ordinary citizens to vote and participate in government decisions. 1. Athenians created Legislative branch 2. Any one could speak, no matter what the situation was II. Only citizens have this right. a. Athenians don’t easily give citizenship to everybody 1. Only men met 2. Used majority rule b. Must be over 18

The council of 500 I. Consisted of 500 citizens a. 50 from each of 10 tribes. b. Each person serves for 10 years 1. Two main courts 2. Each member called counselor II. Citizens were paid for participation a. Citizen had to be 30 years of age to be a counselor 1. People volunteered rather to be drafted on to the council 2. I was possible to serve 2 times as a councilman. b. Council members could be kicked out for inappropriate behavoire

Pericles. He led Athens with only a few goals. Beautify Athens, expand Athens Empire, and strengthen democracy. With these goals, he created an assembly that is also called the Ecclesia. It gave poorer citizens the right to vote and participate in government decisions. With that came the Council of 500. These ideas all lead up to enable Athens to be the great city it was. Pericles tried his hardest to make Athens the center of Greece 's attention. He rebuilt what the Persian War destroyed. This also included building new things. Pericles built the Acropolis, one of the most famous land marks in Greece. He also built the Parthenon. Inside the Parthenon, there is a statue of the cities protector, the Goddess Athena. To build all of this, he took money from the Delian League. Speaking of the league, let's go more in depth. To help expand the empire, he formed the Delian league to help protect everybody from foreign invaders. The Delian League was an alliance of city states in Greece. They sent men to fight, gave money, and ships to build a strong navy. After a while, they moved the treasury to Athens, making it possible for Pericles to take money from the treasury. This is where he got the money to beautify Athens. The people in the league were mad at him for using the money inappropriately. Eventually, other cities became a part of Athens. Because of the location change of the treasury, other areas became a part of Athens. They now had many naval ships and soldiers. He made a change in Athens's looks and empire, but there is one last change to be made; the change dealing with democracy. He wanted to make democracy stronger by letting more people vote. He wanted to change the balance of power when it came to the rich and poor. He changed the rule to spread power evenly by paying public officials so the poor could be in office. He finally got it so all citizens could vote, with the exception of women and slaves. If any of this sounds familiar, it is because the United States government is based off of this government, along with other places in Greece. Now let's learn about the popular democracy, or the assembly. The assembly was made for more than one reason. One of the reasons was to enable ordinary citizens to vote, like I said when I described expanding the democracy. The Athenians created the legislative branch. Since there were no representatives, if you were a male citizen, you could speak no matter what. To meet in the assembly, you had to have been male, and you had to have been a citizen. The Athenians didn't give out citizenship very easily; you had to work for it. You also had to be 18. They used majority rule to solve their problems. Next let me turn your attention to something a little different, the council of 500. The council consisted of 500 members. There were 50 people from each of the 10 tribes. They called their members councilmen. Each councilman served for 1 year. It was possible for a councilman to serve more than 1 term. It was also possible to not serve a full term because you got kicked out due to of inappropriate behavior. There were two main courts, the People's Court and the Council of the Areopagus. The citizens were paid for participation. People volunteered rather than being drafted on to the council. So, do you like the information I gave you? Do you want to learn more? Well if you like to play on the internet, here are a few websites for you!

The golden age of Greece http://www.eduplace.com/ss/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/reviews/pdfs/LS_6_12_01.pdf

Athens http://www.periclespress.com/athens2m.html

The Assembly http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_assembly?page=1&greekEncoding=UnicodeC

Athenian Assembly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_Assembly

Ecclesia (ancient Athens) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_%28ancient_Athens%29

Athenian Democracy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy

The Council http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_council?page=1&greekEncoding=UnicodeC

If you're not the type of person to play on the computer, but you like to read books, here are some books on the topic:

Robert Flacelière's __Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles__.

V. Alexandria's __What **Life Was Like at the Dawn of Democracy : Classical Athens, 525-322 BC**__**.**

Perry Scott's __Pericles__.

Some need-to-know facts we have learned today were: Pericles' three goals were to beautify Athens, expand democracy, and to expand the empire. The Delian league was made up from a bunch of city states that wanted to protect themselves from Persia. The Delian League moved the treasury to Athens, giving the Athenians access to the treasury. The council of 500 was made of 50 people from 10 tribes. Only male citizens over the age of 18 could be in an assembly. The assembly was also known as Ecclesia. Overall, we sure have learned a lot about these subjects!