Athenian democracy is for the most part known as the first democracy to be established in society. It can have many meanings, but one definition of effectiveness is the amount of success something contributes in achieving its goal or function. Although the aristocratic bias and corruption in the democracy led to some of its ineffectiveness, the social classes established and the functions of the democracy itself contributed to the effectiveness of Athenian democracy overall.
One factor that led to the ineffectiveness of the Athenian democracy was the aristocratic bias and corruption that existed within it. This aristocracy caused both corruption and an unfair balance in the government. Magistrates who were elected happened to be paid more…show more content… One such social class that the effectiveness of democracy is heavily attributed to is slavery. Slaves were an essential part to both the Athenian democracy, and with that, the Athenian economy. Slaves were used in banking, mining, industry, and as servants. Furthermore, slaves were also a huge part of the military. Scythian archers, who were made up of about 1,200 slaves, were skilled archers who enforced orders for magistrates and for the democratic assembly. These slaves were most likely owned by Athens, and basically known as “police.” Around 406 BCE male slaves in the military were freed in exchange for them manning ships in the Battle of Arginusae. Besides slaves, foreigners were also used in battles and wars, and foreigners were also known as a minority as far as social class and citizenship goes. The democracy was in charge of and put to use these different social classes, and slavery, to benefit Athens economically and politically. However, it’s debatable whether the Athenian’s dependence on slavery and certain social classes could affect how successful of a government it was. Despite this, most Athenians would be unaffected as far as the loss of slavery. Even though slaves were extremely useful to both Athenian economy and the democracy, there were less of them compared to the rest of the population. As Cambridge historian A.H.M Jones explains, “The slave population, male and female, was at maximum about 20,000 as against approximately 62,00 free adults, male and female, or 124,000 free persons, including children.” Even more, a lot of Athenian citizens worked as casual laborers, peasant farmers, craftsmen, and seamen, making a majority of citizens similar in vocation to the slaves. Casual laborers, who were similar to slaves but still in the thetic class, earned 1 ½ drachma per day. Even in the boule, the average pay of 5 obols was almost half
