Analyze Athenian direct democracy (Cleisthenes' reforms 508 BCE through the Periclean period and the end of the Classical Athenian democracy in 322 BCE) — its institutions (Assembly / Council of 500 / popular courts / ostracism) AND its citizenship-exclusion ratio (~10-13% per Mogens Herman Hansen 1991): only adult male citizens could vote; women, enslaved people (~25-30% of Attic population), metics (resident foreigners), and children were excluded
Exercise
Difficulty 4
~7 min
hist.g6.f.ex_31
Evidence Evaluation
Prompt
How did Athenian silver-mine slavery at Laurion relate to Athenian democracy? Apply both Humanity-FIRST framing and the constitutional-contradiction lens carried from G5-Spring.
How it's presented
mode
text
Answer criteria
type
rubric scored writing
rubric
3 stars: Laurion silver mines funded Athenian fleet → Salamis 480 BCE victory → Athenian democracy's military foundation + Humanity-FIRST naming of enslaved miners + constitutional-contradiction parallel (~10-13% voting Athens / Founding Contradiction of US Constitution G5-Spring). 2 stars: 3 of 4. 1 star: 2. 0: <2.
Hints
- Silver-mine revenues funded the Athenian fleet.
- Constitutional contradiction from G5-Spring extended to Athenian democracy.
Misconceptions to watch
- Treating Athenian democracy as fully separable from its slavery
- Forgetting the G5-Spring Constitutional Contradiction parallel
Used in lessons