Government and Culture in
Athens
Athens was a democracy. An
assembly of citizens voted on issues that concerned their city. Pericles
saw to it that any citizen could serve in the assembly or sit on a jury.
Those who did were paid. Athens had schools to teach philosophy, the
search for wisdom and the right way to live. Socrates, a teacher, was
brought to trial for "urging young people to revolt." He was sentenced
to death. Plato wrote down Socrates' ideas and also became a famous
teacher. Sophocles and Euripides pioneered forms of drams that are a
part of modern western theater.
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