The Similarities And Differences Of Athens And Classical Greece

Sparta’s government was said to have a mixture of the major types of government which is oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy. While Athens seems to only have a democracy. In Document 2, an excerpt from “The Spartan Constitution” by Aristotle there’s a quote that states “they praise Lacedaemon because it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy..” This quote tells exactly what type of government Sparta had. It’s also said that Sparta is the foundation for the governments we now have in the world. Athens on the other hand had a democracy as stated in Document 3, an excerpt from “Funeral Orations” by Pericles a quotes from this excerpt states “it is true that our government is a democracy, because it’s administration is in the hands, not of the few, but of many..” This quote clearly states that the type of government Athens has is a

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.

Athens and Sparta are two powerful city-states, different from each other in such way that

Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and well known cities among all the Greek nations. Most would find it easier to find more similarities among these two groups of mighty people. But there are some differences between these two power houses. For instance the way that these cities were governed and their political procedures and functions were quite different from each other.

Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.

It was not just anyone who could participate in the decision making that would affect the community. In order to participate in the government in Athens you had to be a free male. Athens was a democracy and it had a legislative council (Boule). The Boule was made up of 500 councilors, with 50 men each selected from the ten tribes. The Boule would then create laws that they would present back to the popular assembly (all the free men in the ten tribes) who would vote for or against the new laws (Brand).

Ancient Greece was comprised of over 1500 city-states, their sizes varying from 200,000 to barely a town (in modern times). Each city-state had its own type of government; there wasn’t one to rule them all. The majority of governments were an oligarchy. This is defined as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization or institution.” Sparta was the most famous and powerful Greek oligarchy. It was made up of a council with their two kings, 28 members who were elected for 1-year terms by the citizens, and 5 officials who served their whole life. This council made every decision for the city-state and wrote the laws. They were also the ones making sure people followed them. Another part of Sparta’s government was the Assembly, a group of citizens that approved laws. They were expected to do this without debate.

In Athens, the people’s assembly was known as the Ekklesia. It was comprised of all free male citizens over age twenty. The Ekklesia voted on laws proposed by the legislative council known as the Boule. Fifty men were chosen from each of the ten tribes of Athens to serve on the

In Sparta, all things were centered around the military. There was an executive branch of the government run by “Ephors” who were elected annually and were accompanied by two kings who passed down their crowns to their offspring. For non-wealthy Spartans, becoming an Ephor was the only path towards having a political role.

In Sparta, all free-males were members of the assembly apart the periokoi, helots, and the freeborn of Sparta who had lost their citizen rights. Also, all free males were allowed to Ephors. In exception, to be a Getousia or a king which was reserved to the two royal families. To other side in Athens, every Athenian was free to participate in the public office and pass and reject some laws proposed by the Boule-council. The assembly were composed by 10 tribes and each tribe had 50 members which means 500 members of the assembly. And, even the non-aristocrats was able to be an Areopagus. In genaral, what separated these

Both the elected kings, as well as the Ephors, created a general assembly, whose purpose was to vote on and pass legislation and make civil decisions. Sparta’s system of government was very exclusive and open to members of only the highest social standing. Citizens were deprived from civil rights, warriors were wrongfully accused of erroneous crimes, which was known also as “tresantes” (the tremblings) “They had to shave half of their beard to show their status and accept to be beaten, until they prove themselves worthy in battle.” (Fanourgakis, Manolis 1.) Sparta’s laws, handcuffed their citizens to their political empowerment, you had no choices or social freedom.

The government The government in Sparta was different from Athens in almost every way, beginning with is government. While Athens was a democracy, Sparta was an oligarchy. In an oligarchy the ruling power is in the hands of a few people. Like Athens, Sparta has an assembly.

The assembly Athenian met two or three time by month in order to vote if he could show so far. However, Athenian citizens that were only men have also participated to their government by serving like publics officers or like jury in legal cases. These jurors were chosen randomly and were paid for the service.

Unlike huge empires, Ancient Greece was made up of small city-states that each consisted of a walled city and its bordering territory in the countryside. These separate city-states developed in Greece near the Aegean Sea at around 800 BC. Each city-state had its own beliefs with differing forms of government. Although the individual establishments were usually peaceful with one another, rival city-states also waged wars. Athens, the largest and most powerful city-state in Greek civilization, was the first place in the world to develop a type of democracy.

According to Brand (2010) there were very different political models in ancient Sparta and Athens. Indeed, he advises that Athens was a much more developed powerhouse, where today’s democracy initiated, whereby Sparta was, conversely, a fierce warmongering state where only male warriors participated in politics. However, Brand also acknowledges elements of democracy in both city states.