He enumerated five characteristic marks of the democracy: 1, an equality of rights for all; 2, the rejection of arbitrary power as ordinarily exercised by eastern princes; 3, appointment to offices by lot; 4, responsibility in office; 5, deliberation in common, and the framing of laws in popular assemblies.
[1] Zoroaster's Gathas states that in order to bring peace, prosperity, stability, progress and happiness to the living world, people are to select only competent persons.
"[6] Diodorus mentions that after the Assyrians had ruled Asia for five hundred years "they were conquered by the Medes, and thereafter no king arose for many generations to lay claim to supreme power, but the city-states, enjoying a regimen of their own, were administered in a democratic fashion".
[7][8] Herodotus writes "After Assyrians had ruled upper Asia for five hundred and twenty years, the Medes were the first who began to revolt from them.
Then Deioces seeing that everything now depend on him, would not sit in his former sear of judgment, and said he would give no more decisions; for it was of no advantage to him (he said) to leave his own business and spend all day judging the cases of his neighbors.
This caused robbery and lawlessness to increase greatly in the towns; and, gathering together, the Medes conferred about their present affairs, and said (here, as IP suppose, the main speakers were Deioces' friends), 'since we cannot go on living in the present way in the land, come, let us set up a king over us; in this way the land will be well governed, and we ourselves shall attend to our business and not be routed by lawlessness.'
[16][17] He advocates a complete democracy,[18] on the grounds that under a democratic system "offices of state are exercised by lot".
[31] The book "The Archaic Smile of Herodotus" notes that "in arguing that democracy will be good for Persia, Otanes contradicts himself, for he proposes to change the traditional form of government.
[34] Even though Otanes has not used the term demokratia in his speech, but his emphasis on equality under the law, elections by lot, and collective decisions makes it clear that he represents the democratic viewpoint.
[39] From the viewpoint of the methodological approach, Otanes provided a "practical example" of Cambyses, that how he acted as a monarch in power.
[citation needed] The moral force of Otanes' argument derives from his conviction that monarchy and oligarchy have proven untrustworthy, insofar as natural vanity is bound to corrupt even good individuals if left unchecked.
The parliament was of two parts: one of the wise men and magi from across the country, and the second the relatives of the royal family.
[49][50] The first session of the Megisthanes parliament, was held in Nowruz of the year 137 BC, where Mithridates I personally attended the council.
Much of the aristocratic group in the council comprised the Seven Great Houses of Iran, continuing the Achaemenid tradition.
[56][57] Over the same provoke, in wake of eras there had appeared conflicting views towards its constituent structure and naming conventions.
[58] The Parthian kingdom was not solely based on absolutism, but there was a parliament of sorts where important issues were being resolved discussed.
[60] Justin considers one of the reasons for the collapse of Parthian empire to be the power of this council and the extreme actions of its members.