The Elements Of Democracy In Ancient Sparta And Athens

Spartan’s government was far superior to the government of Athens. Sparta had elements of an oligarchy. The two rulers were a piece of the administration for convention were the Council of Elders, or Gerousia, a gathering of twenty-eight Spartiate men and the two lords that who make charges, that the Assembly, or basic man, vote on. . There were broad governing rules to ensure that no part, or branch, turned out to be too intense. The Assembly was made out of each mature male in Sparta, yet hypothetically anyone could take part. They voted whether to pass bills into law, and against normal conviction, they could vote more than yes or no. These individuals from the Assembly were picked, by the fair evaluators, who sat in an alternate room and tuned in for the loudest cheer for every hopeful. This technique gave everyone a shot, and in the event that you truly needed a specific competitor, you could simply shout louder. The Ephors, were a gathering of five individuals, who settled on everyday choices, and were chosen yearly.

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.

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.

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.

The principal of Democracy is something that we often fail to appreciate. Democracy means a government that allows the public to be heard by having periodically held elections.

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.)

Two kings ruled Sparta together with equal powers in religious and military matters. There was a council of elders to determine judicial issues and all proposals to the citizens. Moreover, a Spartan assembly of thirty males taken from a small, elite population, ratified decisions that had already been formulated. A board of ephors, elected annually, balanced the power of kings, controlled foreign policy, presided at assembly, and guarded against rebellion by the Helots. To say that Sparta was militaristic and aristocratic was extremely accurate. Everything in society involved the military and the city-state was ruled by select members of

(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

City-states are a political unit that included a city and its surrounding lands and villages. Each of the Greek city-states had their own form of government and army. Since Greece was made up of city-states they would all work together as a big army, but would also fight against each other. Some of the city-states were larger than others. For example, Athens, which contained a population of 200,000 people, Argos only had around 15,000 people.

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.

The major ancient Greek city-states -Athens and Sparta, depict different forms of government which are; monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Aristocracy and democracy were found in Athens whereas monarchy and oligarchy were more established in Sparta. Both cities, in a way, they demonstrated a tyranny form of government. However, in reality, these forms of governments were controversial and one could debate their existence in each city-state.

For individuals in Sparta during the classical Greek period, life was simple. Men were meant to be warriors and women were meant to breed warriors (Brand, 2003). The population of Sparta was made up overwhelmingly of slaves, leading to a military political system. According to Brand (2003), most of the political decision making was done by the Gerousia. The Gerousia consisted of 30 wealthy Spartan aristocrats, who had survived war to the age of 60 (no small feat, when the expectancy was 35 and you could be killed for having a deformity as a baby). Two of these positions were reserved for the two kings of Sparta. The Gerousia was typically conservative and

The reason for this is that few people actually ruled Sparta, and their power or time in office was limited to avoid corruption. There were two kings to keep a check on one another, there were 28 members of the Gerousia – a council of elders that included the two kings, five ephors who held in their hands the highest of powers but only served for one year, and the apella which was made up of all other Spartan citizens or Homoioi.

According to Brand (n.d) the political system of Sparta had many layers in the decision making process and consisted mainly from the Assembly, the Gerousia and the Euphors. Only male and free citizens were allowed to be a part of the decision making process and the relevant bodies while at the same time people who lost their citizenship were not allowed to be members to either the Assembly, Gerousia or the Euphors (Brand, n.d). According to Brand (n.d) the Spartan Assembly was the least powerful body followed by the Gerousia and the Euphors however mostly the Gerousia and the Euphors had significant powers and members of both bodies they had to be older than 60 years old. Apart from being the most powerful bodies of public governance in Sparta the requirement for both bodies was that other people would nominate candidates (Brand, n.d).