Ancient Greek Social Structure Essay

This paragraph will concern the social structure of ancient Greece society. In ancient Greece society, only native-born men were granted citizenship and entitled to full protection of the law in a city-state (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece). In the majority of city-states, social prominence did not include special rights. In some situations, families controlled public functions, but this did not exactly grant extra power for the government. In the state of Athens, the population was divided into four social classes which was based on wealth. A persons amount of income was able to determine of they were eligible to change classes. In Sparta, male citizens received the title of equal if they completed their education requirements. With this being

said, slaves were given no power or any status. Although they had no political power, they were able to have a family of their own and even own property but under their masters conditions. During the 5th century BCE, slaves made up about one-third of the total population in some of the city-states (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece). Slaves were sometimes promised freedom in order to make them work harder. Slaves owned by city-states had a measurable amount of more independence than slaves that were owned by families. Sparta owned special slaves that were referred to as Helots. Helots were Messenians that were enslaved during the Messenian wars. Helots performed household duties and prepared food so that the women could focus on raising healthy children while the men were able to spend their time training as hoplites. Often treated harshly, helots would sometimes start slave rebellions (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece).

For a significant amount of Greek history, education was considered a private matter (not including Sparta).

Many subjects were taught to young boys which included grammatistes, kitharistes, and paedotribae (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece). Older youths studied other subjects including the sciences. Since its beginnings in the Homeric and aristocratic customs, Greek education was immeasurably "democratized" during the firth century BCE. Plato, Isocrates, and the Sophists were an influence. During the Hellenistic period, gymnasium education was viewed as essential for participation and involvement in Greek culture. Education was an essential part of an individual in ancient Greece. The kind of education an individual received was ultimately based on social class. In ancient Greece, formal education was not granted to slaves (wikipedia.org/Education in ancient Greece). For example, In some poleis, laws were created and passed to prohibit the possibility of education for slaves. I will now conclude this paragraph by giving a brief summary concerning economics of ancient Greece society. During the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, ancient Greece was the most prestigious economy in the world. It is said to have also been one of the most prestigious pre-industrial economies (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece) . The patterns of the Archaic period in Greece proceeded into the Classical period, around 500-400 BC, with both exchange and battling enormous benefactors to the

economy of Greece. Greek mercenary soldiers battled for the Egyptians, who were attempting to escape the Persians, and they likewise fought for the other side, which was the Persians. The money these soldiers helped increase the wealth of Greece. During the Peloponnesian War, which began in 441 BC, the Greeks were battling one another and as a result, the economy suffered. The silver mines at Laurion started to deliver less, as well. Numbers of individuals went hungry, and all Greeks turned out to be much poorer than they had ever been.

To conclude my essay on the society of ancient Greece, it appears to be worthy of mention that the civilization of ancient Greece and all of its history has been influential on the politics, the languages, the philosophy, and on the sciences and the arts of modern civilization. The Greek city-state of Athens was the first to introduce the idea of a democracy. Philosophical, scientific, and even technological advancements can be traced back to the success of the wisdom that came before, which is that of ancient Greece. With this being said, it seems appropriate to conclude that much of modern society owes its accomplishments to the achievements of the society of ancient Greece.