Compare And Contrast Spartan And Athenians

During the ancient Athenian democracy, everyone voted on everything and held power by only 15% of the population, this was also known as a direct democracy. In ancient Athens, there was no leadership position. The council contained about 500 people who were chosen randomly and at least served for one year. For the citizens assembly, all citizens voted on laws. In courts, there were 501-2500 citizen jurors, and for citizenship, only men 18 and older could be able to vote and the

Doc E states, “Two kings who were generals in command of the armies and with some religious duties.” In Sparta you might like this government because if there were two kings they could make two decisions and then meet in the middle if you like one and not the other. Doc E also states, “The Assembly of all Spartan males aged 30 or over could support or veto the council's recommendations by shouting out their votes.” Since the Spartan assembly was 30 and older they could make wiser decisions and not have some 20 year old come and make terrible decisions. Finally, the Government Document Set states, “Usually classified as an "oligarchy" (rule by a few), but it had elements of monarchy (rule by kings), democracy (through the election of council/senators), and aristocracy (rule by the upper class or land owning class),”(Doc E).

The reason for this is that few people actually ruled Sparta, and their power or time in office was limited to avoid corruption. There were two kings to keep a check on one another, there were 28 members of the Gerousia – a council of elders that included the two kings, five ephors who held in their hands the highest of powers but only served for one year, and the apella which was made up of all other Spartan citizens or Homoioi.

In Sparta there are two factions that held office, the Ephors and Gerousia. The Ephors had five people elected annually by the assembly. The Gerousia is a council of Spartan aristocrats that were at least 60 years old and also had two kings.

Spartan’s government was far superior to the government of Athens. Sparta had elements of an oligarchy. The two kings were part of the government for tradition were the Council of Elders, or Gerousia, a group of twenty-eight Spartiate men and the two kings that who create bills, that the Assembly, or common man, vote on. . There were extensive checks and balances to make sure that no part, or branch, became too powerful. The Assembly was composed of every adult male in Sparta, but theoretically anybody could participate.

In Sparta there were two kings who were at the same time part of an elder council called Gerousia formed by aristocrats over 60 years, which was designed for 30 members at same time although his designation was for life. This Gerousia had the equivalent degree to the Roman senate.

・How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? In Athens case, its citizens, consisted of all adult male, 20 years and older, participated in their government. Additionally, it doesn't include the economic condition. Pericles, a democratic leader insisted the importance of the service to the city state, therefore though the poor, if he satisfies to be called the citizen, it can join to participate in.

The Athenian citizen had a further contribution to the government than Spartans citizens. The Athenian government allowed its citizens to take part in government positions, aside from military positions, as it stated on a textbook, Echoes from the Past that ”Every citizen had an equal chance to hold public office”(Newman, Echoes from the Past, page132). Which signifies that being in the government position means having the capability to rule and not wealth. In the Athenian democracy, each council member and government officials had an

How did the people in Sparta and Athens obtain the right to participate in public life. In Sparta the Assembly was the first step of participating in public life. According to (Brand n,d) , free male citizens of Sparta were members of the popular assembly. The assembly met monthly and had electoral powers to choose the annual Ephors and new members of the Gerousia when spots became available among the 30.

Though Athens and Sparta are often considered as pure examples of one form of government or another, they, in fact, had mixed forms of government that incorporated characteristics from the various definitions of government as described in dictionaries. The two city-states also changed governments and metamorphosed in small and large ways over the course of their long histories. Sparta was partially an oligarchy, a monarchy, and an aristocracy. Participation in government was limited to the rich Spartan citizens who ruled over a slave caste, the helots. The state was purportedly ruled by two hereditary kings of two royal families, both supposedly equal in authority, so that one could not act against the power and political enactments of the

Spartan government also allowed for its citizens to participate in decisions that would affect the community on a whole. If you were a free male citizen, you were part of the Assembly. The Assembly had monthly meetings and would pass laws and make decisions regarding war. To be considered eligible for the assembly, a Spartan man must first join a Syssitia. A Syssitia was a small group (about 15) of Spartan men who would share meals with each other. At the age of 20 a Spartan man would try to join a Syssitia. This required a vote of yes from all members of the Syssitia the Spartan man was trying to join. Failure to join a Syssitia would result in loss of citizenship and the ability to participate in the Assembly (Brand).

The most important city-states of Ancient Greece was Sparta and Athens. Both of these city-states shared similar characteristics such as both would remain the foundation for the Greek political world. Both Athens and Sparta had a similar government system. Their members were elected by the people. Athens is said to be the of democracy. Athenians were educated(except girls) but they never knew much about brute force, unlike the Spartans. The Spartans changed their society to remove all social distinction and became the greatest soldiers in Greece. Even girls were trained to become soldiers because for the Spartans there is no such thing as inequality; women can do the job of mem. However, in Athens, girls did not receive an education like the boys in Athen did but, instead, were expected to become housewives. The Greeks never unified

The Spartan government was considered an oligarchy (“oligos” translates to “few” and “archia” translates to “rule”), whereas the Athenian government was a democracy (“demos” translates to “people or the masses” and “kratis” translates to rule). Therefore, the governments differed but had some similar aspects. One major difference was that Sparta’s government was exclusive to only members of a high social standing, while Athens’ government was more inclusive. The Spartan government was very unique in that it had two kings. It also had a council of elders consisting of twenty-eight males over the age of sixty, an assembly which was open to citizens, and an executive committee of five ephors chosen by lot from the citizens. The office of ephors was created in order to control the kings even though the kings still retained military and religious leadership. The Athenian government went through many changes as their civilization developed. It went through all four stages of government: monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and, finally, democracy. The Athenian’s “democracy” was very different from the form of government we are all

In Sparta, all free males were able to participate in public life after they had completed their training as soldiers. Their time in Agoge, the Spartan system of military training, lasted from age seven to twenty. At age twenty they began to serve the army. Although Spartan women were excluded from officially participating in government and decision making, they often made decisions when it came to their household and moved about with more freedom than other greek women.

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.