Athenian democracy was originally made up of 3 parts. The first and most important branch- the Ekklesia, or Assembly, was the governing body which made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws, and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials. The Boule which was the second most important group was made up of 500 men which supervised workers and were in charge of navy ships and army horses. The third and last branch, the Dikasteria, was the court system within the government made up of 500 jurors that were all men who were older than 30. This three-branch system influenced many government systems within the future including the way the US government system is organized. Interestingly enough, the Athenian democracy did not incorporate voting systems as we see in American Democracy today. Instead, they elected or appointed officials based on the status, work, and/or family status of each individual. This way of bringing in government officials kept the elitist form of government the society was used to before where the government was run by those considered higher up in society. While democracy did bring new freedoms and unity within society, this was seen as an issue by many including the philosopher Plato as he argued democracy was unsustainable and could lead to the manipulation of the society by its leaders.
Herman Hansen, Mogens. “ The Concepts of Demos, Ekklesia, and Dikasterion in Classical Athens.” 2010, doi: https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/1541/1631.