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Differences between men and women in ancient sparta
The role of women held in Sparta at the time
Differences between men and women in ancient sparta
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SPARTA How did people in Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Only recognized free male citizens of Sparta were regarded. These were the only people who could make decisions affecting the community. They were known as the assembly which happens to be the lowest level in the community. Spartan females like other Greek cities had no rights to political and economic affairs as they were regarded as inferior. In addition slaves, Periokoi & Helots had no rights in the Spartan community. Who held public office? Positions for higher offices are chosen from the level of The Assembly which again is made up of only free male citizens. They met every month to elect people for higher offices from amongst them. Offices such as the Ephors or Gerousia. What rules governed the …show more content…
ATHENS How did people in Athens obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? All free adult men who were true born Athenians had the right to participate in the Assembly and make political/economic decisions Who held public office? The 500 bushel men were the richest men and they had the right to be selected into the highest political office which includes 10 Generals elected yearly. 300 bushel men served lesser political offices and in the army. Then came the 200 bushel men who qualified to be eletected into minor political offices. The free born male citizens known as Thetes could participate in the general assembly and cast their votes. What rules governed the selection of public office holders? An office such as the Boule or Legislative council consisted of 500 councilors, 50 from each of the 10 tibes. The assembly consisted of all free male Athenian citizens, they had the right to pass or reject laws that was proposed by the
“Orderly competition for office seemed essential to him, and to this end he revived certain old restrictions.” (Boatwright, 117) He made the sequential order of political offices more competitive after adding only two more praetors and leaving the consuls at two.
The Athenian government started out as a Monarchy and switched into an Aristocratic Oligarchy, then to Areopagus, nine Archons, and finally an Ecclesia. An Archon was used during the aristocratic society, in other words, a king. He ruled through the Areopagus, the chief judicial and policy-making of the government [Andrews]. At the beginning of Aristocratic, there was nine Archons that ruled for life and held office for ten years. In 682 B.C., the rule of office became annual. The years progressed and two more senior Archons were added, the Archon Basileus, Chief Archon and the Polemarch [Demand 141]. By the seventh century, all adult male citizens of Athens had the right to attend Ecclesia. The Ecclesia is an assembly of citizens who prepared the agenda for the Areopagus. Draco allowed the Strategoi to possess no debt and not own land less than 100 minas. Among the classes of Solon, the Boule is elected third class citizens who make up the council of 400. The
The community involvement began when democracy first developed in the early 7th century and furthered by Solon, who began reforming the Athenian justice system and organizing citizens by economic class. (10) Pericles pushed the envelope even further with the radical democracy of the Greek Golden Age, which emphasized direct democracy of the people by voting and selecting jurors to court cases randomly, giving more power to the poor classes and upsetting the elite. (11) However, with more freedom, came more responsibility. As Pericles himself said in his address to the Athenian people, "if a man takes no interest in public affairs, we alone do not commend him as quiet; but condemn him as useless." (12) To the Athenian people, participation in politics and law was not only important, but vital to government run by the people. Pericles even expounded on this by saying "action does not suffer from discussion but, rather, from the want of that instruction," (13) and "we have an exceptional gift of acting after calculating the prospects... whereas other men are bold from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection." (14) Athens was strong because the citizens needed to participate in their government and, in turn, needed to think critically about the decisions they made with each of their
In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means “the power of the people.” The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that “Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were essential in order to free up time for the citizens to participate in the matters of the state. The development of Athenian democracy has been fundamental for the basis of modern political thinking, although many in modern society UK would be sceptical to call it a democracy. Plato and Aristotle in The Republic and The Politics respectively were critical of the Athenian democracy, by examining the culture and ideology present the limitations and possible downfalls of a democratic way of life. Within this essay I will outline these limitations and evaluate their validity.
Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.
Athenian democracy includes participation of all adult, free, male, citizen, made possible for all. If at the beginning and during the thriving period of the Athens democracy the occupations of a state position was considered to be an worthy duty for the citizens, the taking in of ...
Citizens had a very significant job to fill, so diligent workers should have been participants. Athens was smart, but Rome had a slightly different approach. Around 500 BCE, two strong states created forms of citizenship. While Athens had no care whether a citizen was an elite or not, Rome focused on class and physique, all prime values. Citizenship will always be an important way to show status, and both Athens and Rome showed strong points. Athens had a better system of citizenship because all classes above slaves could become citizens, ostracism got rid of a potential over-thrower, and everything was decided by-lot.
In Sparta, only citizens could be members of the assembly. Sparta’s assembly was not a democracy it was a dictatorship. Sparta was a unique dual kingship, one king went to war and the other king stayed home. I would venture to describe them more like Generals
On which they would scratch the name of the person that represented a threat.”(Doc E)This demonstrates why Athens was a democratic society since not only did civilians get to decide on who is in office and who is not. Furthermore, because democracy means rule by the people, and male citizens of ancient Athens voted laws and officials into place.(doc c) This exemplifies how salient the majority's opinion was instead of opinions of just a few rich men .In addition, Athens “....constitution favors many instead of few.”(doc a) Also Athenians had the freedom to do whatever they desire a long as they did not disrupt any other citizen or violate a law. “The freedom which we enjoy in our governments also to our ordinary life…...we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes. But all this ease in our private life does not make us lawless as citizens.”(doc A) Therefore, this exhibits that this is a democratic government because this is a characteristic that can be seen in democratic governments today. To summarize why Athens was a democracy.Citizens were free to do what makes them jubilant as long as it did not interfere with the laws or fellow citizens. Male citizens could vote and elect the rulers and vote laws into place. These aspects all demonstrate why Athens
Between the years of 508 BCE and 322 CE, Greece flourished under democracy. However, some question if the flourishing of Athens is due to the democracy that was in place as opposed to other factors relevant in building a successful community. This investigation will examine the effectiveness of Athenian democracy in Greek society. Relevance of Athenian democracy can be seen in foundation of many democracies found worldwide. In this investigation the right to vote, protection of minorities, use of social class, the structure of democracy and how Greek democracy has influenced the world will be addressed. The place investigated will be Greece, specifically the capitol Athens. The effectiveness of Athenian democracy can be seen in social structure, protection of minorities, and right to vote, as well as its structure and influence of other countries around the world.
The origin of Athenian democracy can be followed back to Solon who “is one of the most revered figures in Greek history” because of his wisdom, integrity and political skills writes John Lewis (2008, p.1). Known as the lawgiver of Athens, he created the first constitution “when he was chosen as chief archon in 594 BC” explains William George Forrest (1996, p.30). In the same year, Solon initiated a series of laws and reforms that had a lasting impact on Athenian society. One particular law that Solon reformed, made him very favourable among the community. He let all enslaved Athenians free and relieved them from their debts.
The population size of the polis were small, and each male citizen was cognizant of their role and value within the community, and developed a strong spirit of independence. This sense of independence is what led the citizens within the polis to choose their own leaders, and overthrowing leaders that had done wrong by the greater populist or that the populist felt had abused their power. Athens, furthered this sense of independence by creating a democratic Athens, where full citizens were expected to run the governme...
“The polis itself became a major economic factor in terms of public employment on juries or in large public building projects, like Acropolis, or the famous Athenian navy ( Augustana university, n.d.)” Democracy provided significant benefits in an economically sense as office holders, jurymen members and administrative council of 500 as people where paid for their time served (Cartledge, 2011). “Power to the people, all the people, especially the poor majority, remained the guiding principle of Athenian democracy (Cartledge, 2011).” This government also paid the citizens to attend assembly, this enabled the poor to be able to attend the assembly (Blackwell, 2003). Democracy also contributed to a stronger army and navy” it was evident that the Athenian army and navy were more powerful because their men believed they were fighting for their own democracy and for their own freedom” ( Augustana university, n.d.). Athens this evidence clearly establishes that democracy gave many Athenian citizens employment and it also lead to victory in the wars. This system of government was a revolutionary idea, overall it provided a just government and formed a system were the whole citizen body can actively participate in the political system. This lead to the economic and political success of the democratic system in Athens that has since developed
Women in the ancient world had few rights, they differed from country to country or, in the case of the women of Athens and Sparta, from city-state to the city-state. The women of the city-states of Athens and Sparta had profound differences in their roles in the political and the daily lives of their families and their cities. When it came to the difference in levels of power and the rights of women, Sparta was a leader in its time. At the same time, their rights as citizens were almost the same. While they did not take an active part in politics, they had opinions and ideas like women all over the world. Their thoughts, deeds, and opinions rarely recorded or if they were, the male historians or philosophers of the time recorded them. What were roles did the women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Were they citizens, did they have personal freedoms? On the other hand, did they in a time when the beginnings of democracy were happening were they less than a second-class citizen? The misogyny and patriarchal societies continued throughout the ancient and classical periods only beginning to change in the Hellenistic era.
Ancient Greece was made up of individual city states, known as a Polis, which relied heavily on citizen participation in politics. The idea of self-rule was an entirely new way of governing. Citizenship was unheard of at the time. Although still considered citizens not everybody was allowed to participate. In Athens only adult males who had military training were allowed to vote. The majority of the population, namely slaves, children, metics (free noncitizens) and women were excluded from participation in politics. “[Metics] and women were not citizens and did not enjoy any of the privileges of citizenship.”(Sayre, 137) Athenian citizens had to be descended from citizens, excluding the children of Athenian men and foreign women. Individuals could be granted citizenship in to Athens by the assembly this was usually as a reward for some service to the state. Ancient Greece paved the way for the representative democratic style of government that is practiced by many countries today. Much like how voting rights started out in America, originally only the wealthy land owners were allowed to vote and call themselves citizens, but soon all men were allowed to have a vote and a voice in their states politics. Essentially the Greeks were the first to introduce citizen rights and freedom similar to what’s seen today.