Many this election day may now know that voting stretches back thousands of years before the US and across the world, from the Ancient Greeks to the Iroquois. What can we learn from the rise and fall of these ancient democracies?
Many know the United States as the birthplace of modern democracy. However, our form of government traces its roots back to the very beginnings of civilization.
Are democracies a powerful tool, considering they evolved independently all over the world and throughout history, or are they fragile, seeing as they have almost all eventually collapsed?
What lessons can we learn from the past in order to make the right decision on this election day?
President Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd as he leaves a rally Sunday, Nov. 4,2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Ancient Greece
Many of our political traditions trace back to the Greeks, and with good reason: they developed the first well-documented democracy. More specifically, the citystate of Athens practiced a direct democracy, wherein all eligible citizens could convene as the “ Ekklesia” and vote on every major issue by tossing pebbles in opposing baskets and then counting.
Parthenon temple on a bright day. Acropolis in Athens, Greece (Credit: Getty royalty free)
One such decision was to “ostracize” a politician or other notorious citizen, which meant banishing them from the city for 10 years (hence the meaning of the word today).
One can imagine having everyone vote on every issue would get pretty tedious; however, Ancient Athens had a population of only 300,000 and less than a third were eligible to vote (only male, non-slave adults, like the US for over half of its history). At any time, fewer than 5,000 actually attended the meetings of the Ekklesia, as most were out working or serving in the military.
The Athenians feared politicians taking on too much power and thus insisted on making all decisions themselves. Unlike under our current system, suggestions unpopular with the majority could not become law.
Moreover, the Greeks were so proud of their democracy that they tried to export the idea to other city states (sound familiar?)
Ultimately, their attempts at democracy-building failed after they lost the Peloponnesian war to the totalitarian Spartans. Nevertheless, their system of government, as described by Plato and Aristotle, would serve as an inspiration to our founding fathers.
The Roman Republic
As with Greece, Rome began as a republic, but after centuries, found itself in an irresponsible and unsustainable military dictatorship.
The Etruscan were the early kings of Central Italy, who, in 510 BCE (around the same time as the Greek democracy), were expelled and replaced with a constitutional republic. Leading citizens in the community would comprise the senate, and the senators would vote on a pair of consols to lead the country for a year, a role much like our president today.
As Rome became a great Mediterranean empire (the largest of its day), its wealthy landowners imported slaves and resources and got ever wealthier, while the average worker drifted further into poverty. It did not help that as much as 80% of Rome’s tax dollars went towards foreign wars and empire building (many historians draw a parallel between Rome and the US).
Ultimately, the growing inequality and social unrest resulted in the rise of strong-man generals who promised to help the poor, the most cunning of whom, Julius Caesar, declared himself dictator for life.
Julius Caesar Statue In Rome Rome, Italy. Stock. Video of a statue of Julius Caesar.
In the centuries that followed, the emperors became ever the more prodigal and out-of-touch, resulting in characters like Caligula, who named his horse “consul,” or Nero, who according to popular myth, “fiddled as Rome burned.”
Ultimately, terrible leadership, reckless spending, and the growing resentment of inequality (which helped inspire and spread Christianity) brought the Roman Empire to its knees.
Iroquois Confederacy
The ancient democracies/republics of the old world are well-known, but many aren’t aware that the United States was not the first republic in the new world.
The Iroquois Confederacy, founded as early as 1142, united the five oft-warring Iroquois nations (Iroquois means “warring people”) under a republic known as the “ Great League of Peace .”
Of course, as we know from our nation’s history, the Iroquois did not cease to wage war, but all the nations did agree to wage war together against others, allowing them to overpower other peoples like the Huron or Mohican.
The Iroquois League was governed by the Grand Council, which was comprised of 50 representatives, each the chief of a clan in one of the original five nations. Some historians even believe that the crafters of our own government took some inspiration from the Iroquois. The equal powers that the Iroquois afforded to women also helped inspire the American suffrage movement.
Under their strong republic, the Iroquois once occupied large swaths of New York state, Pennsylvania, and even Canada. However, during the American Revolution, the Iroquois mistakenly sided with the British. The subsequent loss of many of their territories to the American colonists, and the forced relocation up to British-held Canada, signaled the end for the once mighty Iroquois Confederacy.
Iroquois confederacy treaty with the United States (signed by George Washington). (Kevin Wolf/AP Images for The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian)
Nevertheless, the Iroquois Grand Council, with all of its ceremonial and cultural heritage, still exists among the Iroquois nation to this day.
The Power of the Vote
Ultimately, democracy and republicanism, when used responsibly, have been a powerful tool for the advancement of society. However, when they fall into the wrong hands or succumb to external pressures, democracy can prove dangerous and unsustainable.
We mustn’t forget that not too long ago, around 1943, there were only two legitimate democracies left in the world, and both were at the risk of collapse.
Only by voting responsibly can we protect our democratic experiment from the end that so many others have met.
As a medical student and award-winning researcher with a background in genetics and anthropology, I tell the story of, by and for our species.
