Ideal Polis In Athens

Athens and Sparta were similar in some parts of their governmental structure. One of the ways that they were similar is that they both had an assembly for eligible voters. In Sparta it was the popular assembly and in Athens it was called the people’s assembly. Both countries also had the power distributed. Sparta had the kings, the ephors and the gerousia while Athens had magistrates, a council and jurors. Athens was different from Sparta’s governmental structure in the way that they had no king or someone that appeared to hold the executive branch. Sparta had no court or jurors for those who infringed the

During the times of Ancient Greece, two major forms of government existed, democracy and oligarchy. The city-states of Athens and Sparta are the best representatives of democracy and oligarchy, respectively. The focus of the times was directed towards military capabilities, while the Athenians were more interested in comfort and culture. It was the oligarchy in Sparta that put a war-like attitude as its first priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greece. These factors empowered Sparta and led to the development of an authoritative and potent state. Other contrasting issues included women’s rights, social classes, and value of human life.

When Solon abolished this it made many wealthy and some poor people angry because they wanted the money that they were owed. All of these acts and some more were a step towards democracy in Athens. But, it was not only Solon that helped Athens become a democratic state. He divided the nation into ten different tribes instead of the original four. He created a government that included people from all different classes. This helped with getting the lower classes voice in the government. This act pleased everyone because all the citizens were able to decide their laws. The government consisted of five hundred citizens. The people also picked their leaders and generals. “...they began to elect the generals by tribes, one for each tribe…”(Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution, The Reforms of Cleisthenes). This gave the people of Athens the power to elect their leaders, pleasing the masses greatly. It also gave power to many people and not one group, like it used to be. These are the major changes and difference that Solon and Cleisthenes made to the Athenian Constitution. They improved it dramatically and made it more democratic. They did this by giving more power and say to the citizens and gave them the right to

Athens is superior towards Sparta throughout ancient Greek history. During the Archaic Age, Sparta was solely focused on fighting wars and training their children for these wars. Athens on the contrary, was a city that focused heavily on the arts and was a very relaxed and peaceful city to live in. In Athens, all men born to Athenian parents were citizens, in Sparta, only the wealthy were citizens. In 594 BCE, Salon, the new leader of Athens, he created a constitution that ended the political control of the wealthy. Unless someone was part of the 1 percent, Athens gave members of society more rights than Sparta. By 508 BCE, Cleisthenes came to power in Athens and creates a democratic constitution of all people. While this advancement occurred

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. Some governments work better with a monarchy, for others a democracy is the right choice. For Athens a democracy brought the city to peace, but they went through many different types of governments before they settled on the democratic government. The Athenian government moved and changed from a monarchy, aristocratic oligarchy, tyranny, and finally to a direct democracy, through the different rulings of different archon emperors and leaders.

The American government consists of 3 branches: The Legislative Branch which makes the laws and incorporates the congress, the senate, and the house of representatives. The Executive Branch which carries out the laws and incorporates the president, the vice president, and the cabinet. The Judicial Branch which interprets laws and incorporates the Supreme court and other federal courts. The federal court system has three main levels: district courts (the trial court), circuit courts which are the first level of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States, the final level of appeal in the federal system. There are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court throughout the country.

On account of Athens, the idea of a democracy, or as it was called then Demokratia, ensued. The idea of a rule of the people/eligible citizens that we now have today, in example America, was originated from this. This idea concocted by this ancient civilization, provides a sound foundation in which the current government called democracy in the world today.

The political organization that prejudiced western civilization the most was Athens, where direct democracy was formed. Democracy developed in Athens in the 500s with a lot of conflict and uneasiness at the time. Time after time of trying to achieve peace, improving rulers slowly allowed citizens to take part in the city-state’s government. A series of improvements took power from multiple noble families and gave it to the citizenry. The government of Athens incorporated three major bodies: the Assembly, the Council of 500, and the People’s Court. While Athenians experienced direct democracy, the Romans established the form of government known as a republic—a form of government where the elected officials govern the state and are responsible

In Sparta, there is a sense of similarity amongst male citizens as they are all soldiers and had political rights, but Spartan men are divided by wealth. Therefore, there is no equality amongst its citizens. Only free born native males of Sparta or Athens had any form of right to public political life.

The ancient cities of Athens and Sparta were acrimonious foes in historic Greece. While, like many cities within and around Greece, posed many similarities, there differences were even greater; these differences usually proved to showcase which rival cities held the “upper-hand” in their jurisdiction and rule over the other free cities. To make the case of which city held a more prudent political power, however, in addition to whose was best? I think that all depends on beliefs and political allegiance. Both Athens and Sparta, respectively, were the conceptual ideological form of citizenry.

Research Question: How did Athens’ system of direct democracy contribute to the success of its military engagements during the 5th century?

The Ekklesia was the assembly in Athens. It consisted only of men, they were able to make laws. The ordinary citizen in Athens was allowed to voice their views on certain matters. This allowed them to engage in debates around the laws of Athens and was a very different set up to how things were done in Sparta. The minimum number needed for a meeting to be viewed as valid was 6000 members. If the members were absent from the meeting with no legitimate reason for their absence, then they would be fined severely for not attending. The Thetes (serfs), the Zeugitai (ordinary soldiers), the Hippeis (horsemen) and Pentakosiomedimnoi (500-bushel men) were all members of the Ekklesia and most were part of the Boule. The Thetes were the only ones that were not part of the Boule but were part of the Ekklesia.

Having the right to participate in the public affairs in Athens and in Sparta was a contrasting landscape; since the culture that shaped the social and economic environment of both countries determined the political right of each individual. Even Athens which is often referred as the birth play of democracy was not a democracy as we know the term today. On the other hand, the Spartan society which has the unrefined pretention to be “equal” was based on exclusion and hierarchy. In short, the Sparta was undoubtedly pervaded by ostracism. In many extents Athens and Sparta were like the day and night.

Democracy allows a party of political representatives to be elected by the people to rule a country or state. Democracy originated in Ancient Greece with many different reforms, and a spectrum of many different political leaders including Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles. But was the democratic movement affected by revolutionary ardour or evolution?

And another key feature is that they have equal justice, and no one is above the law, it's expressed in the phrase "...our laws secure equal justice for all...". So no one can get away with committing crimes and breaking the laws. In a sentence in source I it says that they debate and discuss matters, therefore it suggests that the people use words instead of violence. It almost seems like they are referring to the Spartans when they say that, because they are enemies and in war with each other so Pericles probably wants to prove to the people how much better the Athenians were than Spartans, since it was a speech to honor those who died in battle against Spartans. Pericles also said "...do not allow absorption in their own various affairs to interfere with their knowledge of the city's", and that suggests that public affairs are more important than private affairs, and that one should be able to separate those affairs from each other in order to not be affected of one another when handling something in public or private. The people seems very supportive of the system because they attend both public and private duties. Words like "us" and "we" are mainly used in source I instead of "I" or "me". Those key words suggests that everyone