Governance, Citizenship, and Power in the Ancient Greek Polis

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This worksheet is for 10th-grade history students. Answer each prompt thoroughly using historical evidence from classical Greece between 500 and 300 BCE.

Recall: Identify the primary open-air assembly in Classical Athens where all eligible male citizens voted on legislation.
Recall: What was the main function of the Athenian Boule (Council of 500)?
Category Check: List the three main demographic groups residing in a Greek polis who were completely excluded from political citizenship.
Cause and Effect: Why did Greek geography (mountain ranges, fragmented valleys, and islands) contribute to the development of independent poleis instead of a single centralized kingdom?
Comparison: Contrast how public decisions were legitimized in an ancient Greek polis compared to the contemporary Achaemenid Persian Empire.
Source Analysis: Read this adapted excerpt from Aristotle's Politics (c. 330 BCE): 'A citizen in the strict sense is someone who shares in the administration of justice and in the holding of office.' Explain how limiting this role to free adult males affected the daily power dynamic inside a Greek city.

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Governance, Citizenship, and Power in the Ancient Greek Polis

Answer key

Recall: Identify the primary open-air assembly in Classical Athens where all eligible male citizens voted on legislation.
The Ekklesia (or Assembly).
Recall: What was the main function of the Athenian Boule (Council of 500)?
The Boule prepared the agenda for the general assembly, supervised public funds, and oversaw routine administrative decisions between assembly sessions.
Category Check: List the three main demographic groups residing in a Greek polis who were completely excluded from political citizenship.
Women, resident aliens (metics), and enslaved people.
Cause and Effect: Why did Greek geography (mountain ranges, fragmented valleys, and islands) contribute to the development of independent poleis instead of a single centralized kingdom?
Rugged terrain and natural marine barriers isolated communities, making overland transport and communication difficult. This isolation encouraged independent regional centers to establish their own local laws, customs, and protective armies.
Comparison: Contrast how public decisions were legitimized in an ancient Greek polis compared to the contemporary Achaemenid Persian Empire.
In a Greek polis, decisions derived legitimacy from collective debate, majority votes among citizens, and written statutory law. In the Persian Empire, legitimacy derived from the divine right and hereditary authority of the Great King, whose royal will was binding on all subjects.
Source Analysis: Read this adapted excerpt from Aristotle's Politics (c. 330 BCE): 'A citizen in the strict sense is someone who shares in the administration of justice and in the holding of office.' Explain how limiting this role to free adult males affected the daily power dynamic inside a Greek city.
By restricting office-holding and judicial power to free adult men, the citizen minority controlled all laws regarding taxation, property, and military service, while the majority of the population (women, metics, and enslaved workers) had no legal recourse or political voice to alter their social standing.