Hey, congratulations! You 've just won the lottery, only the prize isn't cash or a luxury cruise.

It's a position in your country 's national legislature.

And you aren't the only lucky winner.

All of your fellow lawmakers were chosen in the same way.

This might strike you as a strange way to run a government, let alone a democracy.

Elections are the epitome of democracy, right?

Well, the ancient Athenians, who coined the word, had another view.

In fact, elections only played a small role in Athenian democracy, with most offices filled by random lottery from a pool of citizen volunteers.

Unlike the representative democracies common today, where voters elect leaders to make laws and decisions on their behalf,

5th Century BC Athens was a direct democracy that encouraged wide participation through the principle of Ho Boulomenos, or " anyone who wishes ".

This meant that any of its approximately 30, 000 eligible citizens could attend the Ecclesia,

a general assembly meeting several times a month.

In principle, any of the 6, 000 or so who showed up at each session had the right to address their fellow citizens,

propose a law, or bring a public lawsuit.

Of course, a crowd of 6, 000 people trying to speak at the same time would not have made for effective government.

So the Athenian system also relied on a 500 member governing council, called the Boule, to set the agenda and evaluate proposals,

in addition to hundreds of jurors and magistrates to handle legal matters.

Rather than being elected or appointed, the people in these positions were chosen by lot.

This process of randomized selection is known as sortition.

The only positions filled by elections were those recognized as requiring expertise, such as generals.

But these were considered aristocratic, meaning ruled by the best,

as opposed to democracy 's ruled by the many.