Classical Athens and Rome, both innovated the way of government by creating the first forms of government in which the people have power. Classical Athens was known as the first civilization to use a direct democracy in which the people governed. Male citizens above the age of 30 (12% of the population) were the only part of the Athenian population that could take part in the government of Athens. The Greeks also relied on the lottery to elect the council and the court. These lottery machines were called the kleroterion. The use of the kleroterion made sure that rulers did not pick jury members based on a bias and gave more power to the people. Using the kleroterion, male citizens above the age of 30 all had a chance of serving in the Athenian government at one point in their lives. After the male citizens were selected by the lottery they would serve a one year term until it expired. Although these terms might seem short, the jobs of those elected were very important. The Assembly voted on the most important topics from voting to foreign policies. Moreover, the Council of 500 decided on what problems should be presented to the assembly. Finally, the third branch also known as The Courts decided on whether or not something was legal. The Courts also consisted of a jury similar to the one of the judicial branch. Unlike a representative republic which was later used by the Romans, the Greeks had plenty of free time to invest in direct democracy, hence, they didn’t need to
To begin with, both of their ways that they chose the officials were similar but also differed. The Athenian Government and the Roman Republic both had the citizens of each side choose the officials, but they both had a difference in limitations on how they chose the officials. In Athens, the citizens would vote for the officials, but the people who were official citizens were the ones who were 18 or over, born in Athens, and had to be males. This means that outsiders, slaves, or women could not vote because they were not considered citizens. Additionally, the Athenian Government system for voting was organized with citizens by the name of demes or demos; who belonged to tribes and where combined with others of the same area to make a larger group, which in turn were combined to form ten tribes. (Gill, thoughtco 2017). In contrast, citizens of Rome had to be over 15 years old, male slaves could also vote if they were granted freedom, the women were considered citizens but had no voting rights. The
“During the 40 annual meetings of the Ekklesia, any of the roughly 40,000 male citizens of Athens was allowed to appear and participate. That's a lot of people vying for floor time. In the U.S. this system has been improved upon with the implementation of a Congressional legislative body made up of elected senators and representatives from each state” (Classroom Synonym). Clearly in the U.S. it takes less people to make decisions then it did in Athens. The Council of Athens did not have elected leaders similar to how the United States has it today. People in the council were chosen by lottery. In America the President and his staff have to be elected. The President has executive power in the United States. In Athens, 500 men had the same power that one person has in the US. As for the Judicial branches Athens had hundreds of men on the jury and they finished court in one day. In the United States, there are 12 jury men and women and it is a very long
Rome is a better system than athens because they are more organized they have a little bit more freedom and the education is better. There's better government they have better rights and there's more citizen ship you also don't need as much as athen..
Athens has a better government system then the Roman Republic. some might say the Romans were better. But Athens is more about the people; they are also more secure. They are also carful with who can be a citizen rather then "stingy". They are just more carful.
In the Athenian government the people had a lot of power through the use of the voting system. In the Athenian constitution Aristotle wrote “(Doc B) The democracy has made itself master of everything and administers everything by its votes in the assembly and by the law-courts”. So the Athenian assembly
The Athenian and Spartan governments had extremely different approaches to life. The democratic views of the Athenians were open minded and curious, focused on development. The oligarchic views of the spartans were more narrow minded and restricted, focused on constancy. The athenian democracy distributed power very well and gave everyone a fair share in the decision being made. Athenian life was comfortable and free, the polar opposite to the cruelty of Spartan life. The Athenian democracy also used their wealth very wisely inciting the development of their civilisation. Based on the information below, the Athenian population lived a happier life.
Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.
The early development of Greek society was influenced by many societies such as the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Minoans. For instance, the earliest Greek writing style which was called Linear B was influenced by the Minoan writing style called Linear A. Furthermore, the Greeks not only adopted the Minoans’ writing style but they also used the ship-building and agricultural techniques used by the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. Despite their similarities, the Greeks had their characteristics that distinguished them from the rest. The Greeks were never unified but they did create one of the world’s most remarkable cultural eras.
The diversity of the structures and culture of the Greek society led to a great variation in the ways and conditions of living from city to city. The citizens of Sparta and Athens, the two largest city-states then differed in everything, except Each city has its specificity, which it adheres to and distinguishes it from other city-states. Only government systems. Despite the commonalities and differences between the systems of government in the Greek cities. the free citizens of these cities were changing the regimes and their rulers.
This paper will discuss both Spartan and Athenian government in contrast. It will discuss rules and regulations under which each society operated in detail.
In ancient greek civilization, government typically varied from city-state to city-state. One of the city states, Athen which was the first democracy. Other Greek cities set up democracies but none were as well documented as Athens. In a democratic government the people hold the power; there are different types of democracy and “Athens was a direct democracy, which is when citizens vote directly on legislation and executive bills, However participation was not open to all residents”. To vote in Athens you had to be an adult male, you could not be a foreigner, slave, or a woman. Sparta had an Oligarchy form of government. An oligarchy means government by the few, “The “few” who made policy in the oligarchy which rules Sparta were mae
The reforms of Cleisthenes established the basis for the Athenian democracy. All citizens enrolled in ten tribes and each tribe chose 50 members by lottery each year for a new council of 500 people. These 500 people had the responsibility to take care of foreign and financial affairs. There was also an assembly of all male citizens, and they had the final authority in passing laws through free and open debate. In Sparta there were two kings who led the army and ruled their city-state. There were five ephors elected each year and they were responsible for the education of the youth and the behavior of citizens. There was also a council of elders that consisted of two kings and 28 citizens over the age of 60. They decided on issues to present to the assembly who were also all male citizens. There was no debate on resolution to these issues, only voting.
The Athenian government was laid out by using all four forms of government. These four types are as follows; monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Around the period of 750 B.C.E. Athens went through each one in the order I listed them. After they went through all of this it finally ended with a “winner of the ensuring free-for-all was Cleisthenes (who ruled from 508-494 B.C.E.), an aristocrat and the true founder of the Athenian democracy.” (Alder & Pouwels 2015, p. 105). Basically, they would have a town meeting with all the free males Athenians to make the decision for the city-state. They would vote at these meetings. Next, “the boule was a council of five hundred citizens who were chosen by lot
Introduction. Sparta and Athens share some great similarities in their government structure, the biggest one being that all the respective free citizens possessed similar rights, but there are also striking differences, with Athens being culture-oriented while Sparta imprinted on a military lifestyle. In the following paragraphs we are going to analyse the similarities and differences between government in the two city states and how it was organised.
However, in order for this to happen the Athenian citizens were to cooperate with the system. The assembly which was part of the Athenian government had several tasks to take care of which included: making administrative declarations, electing individuals into official positions, creating a constitution, and punishing those who committed crimes. The idea of how much an individual will get paid, who can serve in public offices, and who possesses authority were all dealt with in an arbitrary fashion. This is to give everyone an equal opportunity. People were penalized for misconduct. The laws were to be followed strictly according to the Rule of Law. Those who served in high positions were able to run for election as many times as they desired. “They did not have a salary because it prevented them from running for office simply to acquire money” (Hunt 82). These improvements drove the Athenian Empire towards democracy. A change from power in the hands of the archons to power in the hands of jurymen was implemented.