Aristotle said it flatly: selection by lot is democratic, election is oligarchic. In the first mode, fill Athenian offices both ways — and switch Pericles’ jury pay on and off — to see why he was right. In the second, start with everyone living in Attica and strip away each excluded group until only the voters are left.
A pool of 48 Athenian citizens
Shaded by Solon’s four property classes. Twelve of them will take seats on the Council.
Thetes · labourers and rowersZeugitai · hoplite farmersHippeis · horse-ownersPentakosiomedimnoi · the richest
How are the seats filled?
State pay for office and jury service
Pay was the change conservatives most resented, and the one that made the democracy “radical.” A man who works with his hands cannot lose a day’s wages to sit on a jury unless the state replaces them.
Everyone in Attica, 431 BCE
About 330,000 people — one dot per thousand. These are reconstructions from military and grain figures, not census data, and specialists disagree about every one of them. Switch each group off and watch what is left.
Who ended up on the Council
Over thirty years—
Press Fill the twelve seats to draw a Council, then switch the method and draw again.