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> Only the richest ancient Athenians paid taxes And only the richest ancient Athenians had the right to vote. There may be some causation...
by NumberCruncher 6y ago
> Only the richest ancient Athenians paid taxes
And only the richest ancient Athenians had the right to vote. There may be some causation...
- amai 6y agoNot true. The Athenians didn't vote at all. They selected their politicians by lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition?oldformat=true#Ancient_Athen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition?oldformat=true#Ancie... "The Athenians believed sortition to be democratic but not elections[5] and used complex procedures with purpose-built allotment machines (kleroteria) to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office." "In Athens, to be eligible to be chosen by lot, citizens self-selected themselves into the available pool, then lotteries in the kleroteria machines. The magistracies assigned by lot generally had terms of service of 1 year. A citizen could not hold any particular magistracy more than once in his lifetime, but could hold other magistracies. All male citizens over 30 years of age, who were not disenfranchised by atimia, were eligible. Those selected through lot underwent examination called dokimasia in order to avoid incompetent officials. "
- peterwwillis 6y agoAnd yet, the officials selected for office were more likely to be land owners or merchants, or their friends were. And the more intelligent you were, the more likely you had a privileged upbringing and a particular set of values.