The production of artworks in Ancient
Greece in the classical era (Golden age of
Pericles)
Florou Paraskevi, Fidanis Apostolos, Betsakos Konstantinos,
Christodoulou Despina, Chatzigiannis Michael
English translation, Parasxakis Zafeiris-Akilas, Stampoulidou
Thomai
Introduction
The political life in ancient Athens is indissolubly related to the idea
“Democracy”. Democracy was germinated there and formed the most lair way of
governance because all Athens citizens had to express their opinion in public.
Of course, from time to time there were alterations to the political system by
composing democratic institution and therefore taking democratic measures.
The most popular and important institutions were:
The council of 500 (“Vouli”): a political body of five hundred councilors,
50 of each tribe of the city, the main role of which was to draft the
deliberations for discuss and approval in the Ecclesia.
Areios Pagos: the council appointed in Areios Pagos had the power to
enforce the law and to punish the offenders. It was formed by noble
families form their own members.
Ostracism: is probably the most strict measure of the democratic political
system according to which Athenian civilians voted for a co-civilian to be
exiled for 10 years judging by their reputation. The voting procedure took
place in the “Agora” where Athenians threw in highly secured place a piece
of broken pottery, on which they wrote the name of the candidate to be
exiled.
Despite the changes in the political system, it seemed to be functioning correctly,
keeping Athenians satisfied in a degree that led other towns to embrace this
system.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships (“leitourgiae”) were established in Ancient Greece by Clisthenes
and flourished during the Golden Era of Pericles. Sponsorships in Ancient Greece
were a way of taxation, but also a movement of love towards arts. The sponsor
was a wealthy Athenian who covered some public expenses as a way of serving
his city. These leitourgiae also took the form of paying the expenses of a theatrical
performance. In this way the rich citizens spend a part of their wealth for the
city. The expenses that were covered by the sponsor where called sponsorships
(“leitourgiae”). On the other side, the state paid for the deprived citizens the
29