Greek City States Vs. Modern Greece

During 750-500 B.C.E, Ancient Greece is a place that is known for some city-states, called poleis. Each polis differ particular on economically, politically, and military, When in doubt, however, the city-states did not get along. Two of the most well known and powerful city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta is far better than Athens on the grounds that their armed force was strong and defensive.

The most distinctive feature of Greek political culture lay in the extent of popular participation in political life that occurred within the city-states. This participation was based on the unique ideas of “citizenship,” of free people running the affairs of state, and of equality for all citizens before the law. Political participation in Greek city-states was much wider than in Persia, but it varied considerably between city-states and over time. Early in Greek history, only the wealthy and wellborn had the rights of full citizenship, but middle- and lower-class men gradually obtained these rights in some city-states.

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.

During the Fifth century, Greece was controlled by two main powers; Athens and Sparta. These city-states were very different. Sparta was known for their strength, discipline, individuality, beauty, sports, and learning (Beck et al. 131). Athens was known for education, fitness, art, literature, and wealth. Not to overlook the rights of women, which were a little elevated in Sparta, the city that had an overall greater respect for human rights, would be Athens.

The geography of Greece affected its development because of the various islands and mountainous ranges there could not have a central government like Rome. They had polis’ or city states. A strategic political organization tool to control the many islands. The Mediterranean sea, mountains, islands, and climate isolated divided Greece into city states, virtually This led to a personal form of government which was an early form of democracy. City states came in various sizes, ranging from a few thousand inhabitants to a size of Athens. Each Polis was each fiercely independent and jealous of each others leading to fighting. But on the other hand the whole greek civilization was created on the Aegean Sea with deep pitted coastlines creating natural harbors. Making trade that much easier. Greece couldn't trade overland so the need to import and export goods oversee was needed. Greece imported metals, woods, and food from all over Cyprus, Egypt, Sicily. etc. Greece

The city-states of Ancient Greek provide examples of different types of government structures that, even

These self-governed city-states were governed by the natural laws of the universe. The polis also had a psychological pull to the point where it was infested into the art, religion, literature and philosophy (Document 1). In a way similar to India though, everyone identified first and foremost with their polis identity, like the Indians did with their caste system (Document 1). The way to gain power in Greece was not though money, but through family names and heritage, but in 330 BC, Cleisthenes created the basis of his reform for Greece: the demes (Document 2). By doing this he takes out the powerful noble families and gives the lower class the power to decide what happens with their government and therefore became more “deme-ocratic.” He did many things to change the structure of Greece to make it fairer. For example he took the original four tribes of Greece and redistributed them into ten different tribes so now the tribes can have more “civic rights.” Another example of what Cleisthenes did to fix things was that he increased the Council members from 400 to 500. Now each tribe was only sending fifty representatives, instead of the original hundred. Finally, one last example is that Cleisthenes divided Greece up into thirty parts. Ten urban and suburban, ten costal and ten inland and each of these contained its own special number of demes. Now, men were to be identified first by their demes name, which is very similar to India’s recognition of their caste name or level (Document

In the fifth century BCE, Sparta developed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sparta was limited in size (population), but its military was famous for its toughness. Even with a small population of an army of about 8,000 men, they managed to defend Sparta from incoming attacks. Unfortunately, Spartan boys were forced to join and receive training from age 7. Like the battle of Thermopylae, Sparta was able to shield itself, but all the warriors died.

During the late Archaic Greek and Classical periods, two particular city-states were in existence with significant similarities as well as differences. These two city-states, Sparta and Athens have unique formations of government, histories, goals, as well as societies.

In ancient Greece there were two major polises which allowed the Greek culture to achieve greatness during the 400-500 B.C.E. era. These two polises were Athens and Sparta; both city states differed in many ways before the start of the Persian War. There were low rugged mountains that separated these two city states so communication and travel were difficult. The government of these two city states can be seen as a primary difference between the two. Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, and Cleithenes were four leaders that greatly influenced the political development of Athens. Athens and Sparta differed primarily in their political, social, and economical aspects. But there were other difference that Athens and Sparta share which I will examine in this essay.

Sparta, an oligarchy, a military state, was located in the rich and productive plains of Laconia, it was the city with the largest military and constantly focused on war: boys were bred to be soldiers; girls were brought up to birth boys who grew up to be soldiers, a polis where slaves and helots were forced to work. Life in Sparta revolved around obedience and war. (Brand, n.d.)

Sparta and Athens were two of the most dominant and influential city-states in Greek history. The social and political evolution of these two city-states are intriguing and provide insight into different types of government.

Greece was organized into many different city-states. All city-states differed from each other in some ways but all shared some characteristics too. “City-state is an independent or nearly independent state in which political and cultural activities are concentrated in a single urban center” (Legon). They were the main city with an area of land around them. Every city-state had their own coins, government, and laws. The most common governments in the city-states consisted of monarchies, oligarchies, dictatorships, and sometimes democracies. Greek city-states all were very similar but had differences.

In a relatively resource-poor region, a society rose from the access of foreign sources of raw materials and markets abroad. This society came to be known as one of the largest nations in Eurasia. The rise and fall of this great nation has to do with war-fare and the conflict between city-states. Their division led to the widespread of language and culture. This is the great story of Ancient Greece and how individualism changed the view Greece had on certain issues. (Bulliet 99) From 1000 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E, Ancient Greece’s view on individualism changed the political system Greece had, over time changed the way individuals thought and made important Intellectual changes, and gradually changed the Economic system such as bartering.

Very few civilizations have had as profound an influence on the world as those of ancient Greece. The Greeks laid the foundations for fields varying from philosophy to political theory to war tactics. However, this influence was not just due to their intelligence or success, but their widespread presence in the Mediterranean. Greek culture was spread throughout their known world in two distinct manners, the foundation of apoikia in the Archaic Age (8th century to 500 B.C. ) and imperialists by poleis, primarily Athens of the Classical Age (490 - 323 B.C ). Though the culture of a mother city (mētropolis) may have spread through two very different manners of “colonization.” The word is not used in the literal sense, but rather hereafter used to mean “spreading of culture”, as the former can hardly be described using the contemporary definition of colonization and the latter was through Athenian empire-building. These developments had a significant impact on ancient Greece and our modern perception thereof. Like most of the ancient world, we can best analyze these methods of colonialism through extant artifacts. I will analyze an inscription of the foundation oath of Cyrene, which recounts the decision and manner in which the island of Thera sent its citizens to the form a new polis, and the fragments of the Lapis Primus, a marble monolith that documented tributes to Athens when the city was at the peak of its imperial age, evidencing the magnitude of their power and influence in the Greek region.