Compare And Contrast Sparta And Athenian Government

Spartan’s government was far superior to the government of Athens. Sparta had elements of an oligarchy. The two rulers were a piece of the administration for convention were the Council of Elders, or Gerousia, a gathering of twenty-eight Spartiate men and the two lords that who make charges, that the Assembly, or basic man, vote on. . There were broad governing rules to ensure that no part, or branch, turned out to be too intense. The Assembly was made out of each mature male in Sparta, yet hypothetically anyone could take part. They voted whether to pass bills into law, and against normal conviction, they could vote more than yes or no. These individuals from the Assembly were picked, by the fair evaluators, who sat in an alternate room and tuned in for the loudest cheer for every hopeful. This technique gave everyone a shot, and in the event that you truly needed a specific competitor, you could simply shout louder. The Ephors, were a gathering of five individuals, who settled on everyday choices, and were chosen yearly.

The government in Sparta followed a very different coarse than that of the Athenians. It was controlled by an oligarchy in which the power was held by a group of five men called ephors. Working below the ephors was the Council of Elders and an Assembly. Male citizens over age sixty could serve on the Council while anyone, male or female, over the age of twenty could be a member of the Assembly. Though the citizens had little say in the decisions made by the government, the system worked effectively. Over the years, the Spartan's brutal reputation in war grew so great that other nations and city-states were too frightened to attack Sparta even though the Spartan army was no larger then eight thousand men. The Spartan Constitution called for all men to begin their military education at the age of seven, where they were trained to be tough and self-sufficient. Every man in the army fought with a great deal of passion for his country. Life in Sparta may have been rough, but the rest of the Greeks envied the Spartans for their simplicity, straight forwardness, and fanatical dedication. The beliefs of Sparta were oriented around the state. The individual lived and died for the state. The combination of this philosophy, the education of Spartan males, and the discipline of their army gave the Spartans the stability needed to survive in Ancient Greece.

Sparta was ruled by a king or at some point two kings. These two kings were from two separate families of royalty and neither of them had absolute power. The king or kings had to be consulted by the Ephors. The Ephors had a lot of power and authority in the Spartan government. They were a group of five elders, men over the age of 30 who would serve in this position for a year. They had the power to bring up charges against anyone in Sparta, including the king. Unlike Athens who was set on trying to establish a peaceful democratic atmosphere; Sparta was a lot more militaristic and strict. One of the Spartan government’s main priorities was the strength of the Spartan army. They believed that strength, endurance and numbers were a key part in a successful and powerful army. Therefore every Spartan boy at the age of seven would be taken away from their mothers and put into training for the next 13 years.

At the age of 7 boys were taken from their families and entered agoge. This program sculpts the boys into warriors. They are beaten and battered by each other, taught not to show pain. This toughness and fearlessness is seen throughout Bernard Knox excerpt. In the document Xerxes sends a man to spy on the Spartans. When he arrives to the camp he is astonished, not by the number of Spartan soldiers but by the lack of uneasiness in the men. Many men were combing there hair as if the culmination of war right around the corner was nothing more than another training exercise. After they had completed agoge around the age of 20 they were given the opportunity to fully become a Spartan solider. They had to be voted in unanimously by their peers. If they were not voted in by age 30 they would not be granted Spartan citizenship. This meant that they could not marry, hold office, or father children. However, the Spartans

The next factor that aided Sparta’s rise was the rigorous military training. A Spartan’s training began as an infant. The Gerousia, a Spartan council of elders, inspected every Spartan baby . Any child that was deemed weak, deformed, or sick would be left at mount Taygetus to die . Once the rest of the surviving children turned seven years old, they would be put into the agoge . The agoge was the rigorous military training that every Spartan man had to pass through before they became full Spartan

The Spartan government consisted of a small council included the kings and the elders that oversee the Spartan society and cast votes to make important political decisions. The Athenians regarded their government as a democracy as “its administration is in the hands, nit of the few, but of the many,”(D3), a direct contrary to the government structure of Sparta of which the power was in the hands of the few. Furthermore, according to Plutarch in Document 4, Spartan leaders, for instance, Lycurgus, wished to create a society with restricted lives and well regulated institutions where each citizen had a designated purpose; whereas the the power was given to the “masses, the poor and the commons” to preserve democracy. This difference in political structure reflected the value of the two city-states. The Spartan kept their government power concentalized in the hands of a few powerfuls so political decisions could be made more efficiently, which would preserve their focus on building military fondation rather than on the social aspect of their society. On the other hand, the Athenians valued free-speech and exchange of ideas; this form of democracy undoubtedly resulted in their innovations in fields such as philosophy, literature, and art.

At age 7, young men were sent to the military and athletic school. Here, they learned strength, discipline, perseverance, aptitudes, and how to manage serious torment. At the age of 20 a male Spartan turned into an officer and perused an existence with his kindred fighters. Regular,

The slaves tried to revolt but were shut down by the Spartans even though they were so highly outnumbered. The Spartans began to train their soldiers differently. In case the slaves revolted again, the army could just slaughter the salves in battle. They began to train their soldiers at a younger age. They would be sorted out as soon as they were born and the strong would live with their mothers until they were seven while the weak were killed by being thrown off the top of a cliff. They were trained until they were twenty years old when they would be full time soldiers. At age thirty they would be matched up with a wife and attempt to produce strong baby boys with them. At age sixty a soldier would retire and become part of the council. Life expectancy was forty-five so not many people made it to sixty. While Sparta was growing the best army the world had ever seen, the Persian Empire had taken control from India to Turkey and planned to attack Greece next. Sparta helped the Greek city-states from being conquered by Persia which causes Persia to send a large army to attack Marathon. Athens wins the war after being more advanced in combat and Persia retreats. After a Persian civil war, Xerxes takes over as the Persian emperor and leads the largest army ever seen to attack Athens. Athenians take guard at Thermopylae and after one day of fighting, 300 Spartan soldiers tell the Athenians to fall farther back and they will stale as long as possible so they could

In Sparta there was an assembly made up of recognized free male citizens. Periokoi, Helots and Spartan men who lost their citizenship rights were not allowed to join the assembly. The Assembly decided who to elect into the Ephors and Gerousia, made legislation and decisions for war. The power of the assembly was limited to what Ephors and Gerousia would allow, they decided what decisions the assembly were allowed to make and who had the power to veto their decisions.

Sparta was a warrior society centered on the loyalty of the state and military service, at Sparta the children used to begin their training to become a warrior at the age of 7, leaving their houses to join the barracks, where they also learned to write and read. The Spartan army was considered the best in the world, due to their commitment to the training and their battle strategy, they could overcome any opponent, to increase their power in the battlefield, the warriors were taught to fight until the death, because giving up was a dishonorable act towards Sparta (“300”, 02/27). The society was divided into 3 different groups; Equals, Half-citizen who were considered full citizens, and the Helots who were slaves. The Spartan government, different from the Persian Empire, had a decentralized government, splitting the power between the council, which consisted in 2 kings and 28 nobles (man over the age of 60).(Dr. Kaz, lecture, 02/24) Sparta had an strong and stable government, being considered the best in Greece. The woman in Sparta had much more freedom than in other place at that time, as the men were always training for the army, the woman had an important role in organizing and controlling the city, they were also treated very well, because they regarded them as the producer of the Spartan soldier. (Dr. Kaz, lecture,

For individuals in Sparta during the classical Greek period, life was simple. Men were meant to be warriors and women were meant to breed warriors (Brand, 2003). The population of Sparta was made up overwhelmingly of slaves, leading to a military political system. According to Brand (2003), most of the political decision making was done by the Gerousia. The Gerousia consisted of 30 wealthy Spartan aristocrats, who had survived war to the age of 60 (no small feat, when the expectancy was 35 and you could be killed for having a deformity as a baby). Two of these positions were reserved for the two kings of Sparta. The Gerousia was typically conservative and

In ancient Greece rose two of the greatest city-states of its time. These city states were the first of their time to display characteristics of a true society of people who collaborate with each other and the first to form an official government. The two major forms of government in Greece were democracy and oligarchy; which was best represented by the city states of Athens and Sparta. The government chosen of Athens is the key reason to the fall of Greece and the reason Sparta is the superior of the two city-states. The democratic form of government which is great and needed today was not the type of government needed at the time for Greece because its main priority should have been survival and war.

The Ephors controlled almost every aspect of Spartan life and were only limited by the fact that they could only rule for one year

Sparta was, above all, a military state, and emphasis on military fitness began at birth, imprinted through society and the political system. The education of the Spartan male children prove that the military and war was constantly a huge part of Spartan society, and the laws and systems that Sparta was governed by, only enforced the militaristic attitude into the society of Sparta. That the Spartans needed to be ready for war is proved by the discord between the Spartiate and the helots, who outnumbered and under ranked the Spartans.

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.