Oligarchies In Sparta

The leaders who instigated democracy in Athens, Greece in the 6th and 5th century BCE created a functioning system of government that attempted to benefit its citizens. However, the system of democracy included weaknesses that didn’t support all people to the best of its ability and was overthrown in the end due to war. Several significant leaders were necessary in the commencement of Athenian democracy. These included Solon, Cleisthenes and Pericles. All three had heavy influence in the establishment of democracy, but it was Pericles who truly prospered it. Solon was an aristocratic, not a democratic, but he still believed in supporting the people. Cleisthenes began land reforms which made all of Attica connected as one. Pericles made Athens

Approximately 2500 years ago a series of changes and reformations in political thought led to the creation of the ancient Athenian democracy. Through the changes implemented by Solon and Cleisthenes during the Golden Age of Greece, democracy was born in Athens. Although it was somewhat impractical, exclusionist, and only open to a very small percentage of the total Athenian population, its impact is still felt today. Athenian democracy is widely recognized as the model from which all other forms of democratic rule has evolved from. Through the principles handed down from that Athenian democracy, ancient Greek culture remains a prominent presence in contemporary life, particularly in regard to its democratic policies.

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City-State of Athens. This is actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens of the city-state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens’s collapse during the Peloponnesian War, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government.

From these conflicts rose many different forms of new government. Sparta would become dominated by a prevailing military regime; while Athens would become a more moderate aristocratic government, one that would eventually be replaced by Cleisthenes’ form of democracy.

The Athenians changed governments many times. They started democracy, they had tyranny, they had aristocracy, they had oligarchy, and they had monarchy. Solon was the one that got rid of the oligarchy. An oligarchy is when a small group of wealthy and high class people rule the government. The Athenians switched around

Athens became a democracy under the rule of Solon in 594 B.C. In addition to eliminating serfdom, Solon altered the stringent laws of a previous ruler,

Ancient Athens was not truly democratic because the middle class was in charge of politics. The upper and lower classes were not in politics at all. It was not democratic because the only people that could vote were men who are of citizen birth by both parents. People whose parent is a slave could not become a citizen so they could not vote. Democracy was excluding women, free foreigners and slaves.

democracy ended in Athens, it did continue on in Rhodes and the legacy of Athenian democracy

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

When evaluating the government of ancient Athens, some might say that it was a democracy, however, it can be better described as an oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group of people has the power and control (Doc. D by Mogens Herman Hansen). A democracy takes all the citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account, unlike an oligarchy that only takes the male citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account. Thus, Athens is more similar to an oligarchy than a democracy. The people of Athens also decide as a whole what the best government for their city-state was, as opposed to a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions for them and their city-state. Athens could be seen as not a true democracy because of the lack of basic democratic rules and methods such as what they define democracy as, who is able to vote, and how they vote.

It was usually a tyranny, a form of monarchy or a select group of people. The Greek states could either be ruled by a single individual, such as monarchs and tyrants, or a select group of people, an oligarchy, or every male citizen, which was a democracy. Also the idea of a democracy was regarded as the Greeks' greatest contribution to civilizations of today. But actually monarchies were rare and often not distinguished from a tyranny unless the hereditary ruler was really kind and ruled in the interest of his people rather than himself. But tyrants were not necessarily considered evil, rather they were considered rulers that were just looking out for themselves.“The most famous monarchies were the states of Macedonia and Epiros, where the ruler shared power with an assembly of people” (Cartwright). The Ancient Greek government went through a lot of changes, but, unlike the government, the military stayed

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

Supposedly formed by Lycurgus, the government in Sparta is very unique in that it is an Oligarchy; combining monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.

Athens is the home of democracy. It is the first known example of where people began to govern themselves. The democracy of Athens slowly developed around 500 BC, during the Classical

Democracy began to emerge in Greece during the archaic (800-500) and classic (500-323) period, and it has expanded through the country over time . Greeks came up with the idea of democracy through discussions among citizens and with the majority voting; this was called direct democracy as everyone could debate and vote in one place to determine new policy for the country. During this period, only men were allowed to vote and give their opinions, others were not allowed to participate in government’s decisions . However, over time, the democratic government in Greece changed to be more open for every citizen. The poor, men and women, had the same rights, and equal share of power.