... he introduced the principle of pay for jury service. The principle of this democracy was the Assembly (ekklesia), which was open to all citizens over the age of 18. Every member had the right to speak, and it was the assembly that decided all legislative and policy matters. There was also a council (Boule), which was made up of 500 citizens over the age of 30. These people were elected for a year and were responsible for preparing business and also making sure decisions were carried out. This system did have one major flaw that was often exploited by skilful orators. This flaw was that established laws could be overridden by the assembly, and members could be easily talked into and out of things by other politicians. Homers ideal democracy overcomes this flaw by having a strong and powerful king who controls the assembly, and makes sure that this doesn't ...

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