Spartan Government Vs Athenian Government Essay

Athens weren’t a democracy because they didn’t allow citizen women, foreigners, or slaves to vote. Athens didn’t allow people to think differently or they'd be killed or sent away. Many people had barely any rights because they were either slaves, women, or people who weren't born in a Athens couldn’t participate

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.

Athenian democracy focuses on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focuses on military force. Democracy is a system of government where the citizens have the right to vote, whereas the oligarchy is when a group of people is in control of the government and it’s only their opinion and decision that are taken to consideration. Implicating the thesis that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, which is supported by three evidence points. Firstly, the Athenian citizen's participation in government, by voting and taking part in the government position.Secondly, the Athenian men are provided with better education by being taught how to read and write, not only focused on military training. Lastly, the Athens advancement in military protection for the safety of its citizens.

Have you ever heard of Athens and the first democracy, well I have been studying it for a few months. After studying Athens widespread forms of government and it’s so called democracy, I have come to a conclusion that Athens wasn’t truly democratic for many textual reasons. Here's why

In Document D, it states that every citizen was to write down the name of the person that they thought were most deserving of a high political power, and to govern the democracy. After being elected, each man could only be in power for ten years, meaning that Athens had a sense of organization, and they could prevent someone from getting too much power.

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

Athens and Sparta, the two largest and most powerful cities in ancient Greece (between 800 and 323 BCE) were two different models of polis, their social, political and cultural values and ways of life were dramatically different. (Brand, n.d.)

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.

The Spartan government consisted of a small council included the kings and the elders that oversee the Spartan society and cast votes to make important political decisions. The Athenians regarded their government as a democracy as “its administration is in the hands, nit of the few, but of the many,”(D3), a direct contrary to the government structure of Sparta of which the power was in the hands of the few. Furthermore, according to Plutarch in Document 4, Spartan leaders, for instance, Lycurgus, wished to create a society with restricted lives and well regulated institutions where each citizen had a designated purpose; whereas the the power was given to the “masses, the poor and the commons” to preserve democracy. This difference in political structure reflected the value of the two city-states. The Spartan kept their government power concentalized in the hands of a few powerfuls so political decisions could be made more efficiently, which would preserve their focus on building military fondation rather than on the social aspect of their society. On the other hand, the Athenians valued free-speech and exchange of ideas; this form of democracy undoubtedly resulted in their innovations in fields such as philosophy, literature, and art.

(Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship, 2016) Spartan society & public office was made up of: The Kings: a dual kingship of two different royal tribes. The Kings were not true monarch because they were overruled by the Gerousia and the

After the wars, Athens emerges as the center of all activity amongst each city-state in Greece. One of the key features within the Athenian society was the arrangement of public assembly and the rule of the people, democracy. In the assemblies, any male citizen could actively vote

Similarly, these two-city states do not extend political rights to women, slaves, foreigners and non-citizens. They both believed in the concepts of “demos” male citizenships. Therefore, the governmental structure of Sparta’s Popular Assembly is similar to Athen’s Ekklesia or People’s Assembly. These two assemblies support all the male citizens of Athens and Sparta to their right to vote or elect government officials, to pass or reject laws or policies, and to make decisions regarding the wars. Finally, the Sparta’s Ephors and the Athens Strategois have an identical governing rules to serve in office annually or a one-year term.

Slaves, foreigners, and women were not considered citizens. This kept the citizen pool very small. Any of the citizens could run, and be elected for office. And the peoples votes mattered, they actually counted in Athenian direct democracy. For it to work at all though, an informed citizenry was necessary.

A man in Athens had full citizenship, which meant he had political influence, but on the days he was not participating in the democracy, he was at the market trading goods, but he was also in the army or having house parties with friends. A woman did not have as much fun. She had a partial citizenship because the men thought she was inferior. Because the men of the ancient world thought she was inferior so, she was to tend to the home, family, and teach the children until they were seven This is a basic overview of Ancient Athenian society. This society consisted of the upper, lower and middle class,

First of Sparta was an Oligarchy, meaning only a few rule, Sparta has two kings, but they were subjected to the will of Gerousia and Ephors, the Gerousia were a group of 28 men over 60 plus the two kings and the Ephors consisted of five magistrates elected annually (Brand). The Gerousia were the most powerful ones since only the richest and most conservative of the Spartan society and they remain members for life once chosen and controlled what laws and issues can be even discussed when the Assembly comes together which were all the free men of the Spartan society (Brand). The Assembly do choose the Gerousia