Mycenaean Vs Greek

There were a number of city-states, each of which had its own constitution/rules. Athens, Sparta and Corinth for example. Some had kings, and some, like Athens had a form of democracy.

     Greek society began by the formation of the city-state. "The city-state, based on tribal allegiances, was generally the first political association during the early stages of civilization." ( Perry, 45) This was the first step in the progression toward

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

The major reason for Greece's city-states, instead of being dominated by a king was its geography. Greece has a mountainous terrain, many valleys, and many islands that are offshore. These characteristics encouraged many local

The Polis was a unique institution formed during the Dark Ages (1100-776 BCE) in Ancient Greece following the fall of Mycenaean Civilization. The term polis can also be translated in to city-state in that each poleis was its own independent state which were generally organized in to complex hierarchical structures. Poleis were independent in several aspects such as (but not limited to): political, judicial and religious dealings. There were many notable poleis in Ancient Greek, and many of them were in their prime, were very successful however, the ideal polis was Athens. Athens was a model polis because of its political systems, economy, intellectual capital and naval strength.

The city-state (polis), influenced modern Western society with their ideas of civic duty, social justice, and individual liberty. Democracy in ancient Athens was an extremely unique approach to government, since no other society had attempted it before.

The geography of Greece inspired a new way of centering the people, called city-state. “A city-state is a political unit made up of a city and the surrounding lands.” (Prentice Hall World History The Modern World) Besides the new governing system, the Greeks also commenced reforms in military technology. Bronze weapons and armours were replaced by the cheaper iron products, and the phalanx military formation was created to be a more efficient method of fighting in warfares. During the age of Pericles, the Acropolis and other buildings were rebuilt and the Greeks honored their gods in temples and festivals. Philosophers commenced to focus on morality and ethics, which would be applied to the laws of the government. Aristotle, Plato’s most pleased student, developed his own form of government by studying all forms of government and utilizing the advantages of each one. One principle in his form of government was that even the ruler must be subject to the law, this which influenced our modern day government. Ancient Greek civilization assuredly amended countless ideas that impacted the world.

Because the Greek city-states were self-governing entities and not bound together by any type of central control or an empire, as in other ancient civilizations, various different governing formats developed independently and allowed for experimentation and change Sources: Blackwell, C. (2003). Athenian Democracy: a brief overview. Retrieved on 23th November 2016 from http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_democracy_overview?page=3 Cartledge, 2011 The Democratic Experiment, BBC History http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml Dr P Brandt, Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship, Retrieved November 23th 2016, https://umdrive.memphis.edu/pbrand/public/Ancient%20World%20Online/Athens%20%26%20Sparta%20dictatorship%20%26%20democracy.pdf Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, and others, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

Greece had a mountainous landscape so it was hard to develop a single central government. Greece’s typical political organization were city-states that used direct democracies. Each city state had a different governing style. A main factor that led to Greece’s fall was the lack of community due to the rise of feudalism in society, independence, and competitiveness. Alliances shifted constantly while tension and conflict increased between the rich and the

The ancient Greeks were particularly concerned with such fundamental questions as who should rule and how? As this question is also the major concern of many society and nation in this modern day. In this assignment I will try to Compare and contrast all the forms o the Ancient Greek city state government raging from monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

A city-state by definition is a city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state. Greek city-states began as poor farming communities. City-states formed because the landscaping of Greece made it almost impossible to travel from place to place. This caused them to have poor communication. Over time, the population of these communities around Greece had no choice but to become their own independent city-state. Each city-state shared common characteristics. They all created their own government, collected taxes, and worshiped their own god or goddess (GreekBoston 1). However, some city-states developed into large and more complex communities (GreekBoston 1). They would build walls and armies in their best interests to keep invaders out. Not only would they have to worry about invaders from other countries but they would have to worry about invaders from other parts of Greece. The two main city-states of Greece were Sparta and Athens.

Greece was the first civilization to introduce the Polis, or City-state model. A City-state is where a city with its surrounding territory forms an independent state. With the occupation of the Greeks by the Romans, they witnessed the effectiveness and success of the City-state, thus Rome rose politically based on the City-state model much like that of Ancient Greece. Along with the presence of City-states in both the Greek and Roman civilizations, copious amounts of other political advancements in these ancient societies were so successful their systems can be seen in modern day governments. For

There were many changes throughout Ancient Greek history regarding politics and society. The Greeks first believed that the gods could give a person power and godlike kings ruled. Then they refused to believe that this could be possible. After this revelation, poleis, small city-states, begin to form. These poleis were made up of equal, free males (Morris and Powell 4).

Ancient Greece had various city-states because of this there were a number of different varieties of governments. Each city-state had their own government system. Aristotle a Greek philosopher who split Greek government into different classes:

This book talks about the city states individually rather than together. Because of the terrain, it was difficult for these city-states to join, however some did for protection. Most city-states included religious, public and private space. Each Greek city also had its own constitution. Government varied from early forms of democracy to oligarchy to tyranny.