In the ancient Greek city-states, the monarchy was rare as a form of government. Sparta did have a form of monarchy in that there were 2 kings, but there were elements of different forms of government within Sparta, including oligarchy, democracy, and aristocracy. The Spartan monarchy kings were from two different families. However, Sparta also had a council of elders called the Gerousia to contribute to its oligarchy; there was also a bit of democracy in that there was an assembly of people. (Gill, 2008). As in Athens, a male still had to be over the age of 30 to have any voting rights at all (in order to elect the elders of the council).
In Athens, however, that city-state reflected more of a true democracy, for a while anyway. As long as you were a male citizen, you could participate in decisions that affected the entire polis. This could be thought of as the origin of the democratic system; however, our reading
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Prior to the beginning of Greek democracy, the aristocrats were running the show. In an oligarchy, these were still the richest citizens for the most part, but this was a smaller select group and not just all the rich folks “rule by the few.” (Gill, 2008)
The tyrants in Greece were noted in one article to be like “bosses.” (Wells, n.d.) In a way they were different from bosses in that they were “recognized as a monarch” but had no heredity rights here to rule. Usually this was someone who seized the power to rule, but sometimes they could inherit the rule as well. The Spartans tried to keep tyrants away as best they could, and in Athens, tyrannical rule was eschewed as well, but there were a few, including “Pesisistratos in Athens (from c. 560 BCE) - a typical benevolent tyrant who actually paved the way for democracy,” (Cartwright, 2013)
The origin of the Athenian democracy of the fifth and for centuries can be traced back to Solon. Solon was a poet and a wise statesmen but not a Democrat. His constitutional reform package laid the basis on which an aristocrat called Cleisthenes could pioneer democracy. Cleisthenes championed a radical political reform movement which in 508 -507 ushered in the Athenian democratic constitution. Under this political system Athens successfully resisted the Persian onslaughts that victory in turn encourage the poorest Athenian's to demand a greater say in the ruling of their city. In the late 460's a radicalization of power shifted the balance decisively to the poorest sections of society. This was the democratic Athens that laid the foundations of Western rational and critical thought.
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
It is sometimes thought that tyrants were evil, this was not always the case, they just looked after their own interests. For Athenians tyranny was the exact opposite to democracy. Syracuse in Sicily had a run of famous tyrants, for example, Dionysios from 405 BCE and his son Dionysios II, who took over in 367 BCE. Tyrants took power by force and usually had support from the poor and because power was taken by force, it was not inherited unlike a monarchy. Many states were ruled by tyranny in the 6th century BC.
Sparta was a key city state which was located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in southern Greek, which today is referred to as Laconia. Sparta is historically known for their strong military training, warfare tactics, and numerous victories. This city state included full citizens known as the Spartans, the helots, and the Perioeci. The men of Sparta had a main obligation to become strong warriors, fight with their brothers, and protect against any invasions or attacks. The helots where owned by city state of Sparta. They came from Messenia and were forced into slavery after being invaded by the Spartans in c.735. The helot’s responsibilities included farming, being of help if needed during battles, used as nurses, and for any other task that need to be accomplished. Unlike many traditional slaves, the Messenia’s were given certain leeway. They had
Some might argue that, under the rule of Pericles, democracy thrived in Athens. Pericles stood for democracy and dedicated his career to creating an Athens which was not only a beacon to the world but also a shining light of democracy during a Monarchist age. While Pericles was in office, all remnants of the previous oligarchic system were replaced with a democratic system in which all social and economic classes had influence. Pericles praised Athens system of government in his famous funeral oration:
Four rulers, Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, and Cleithenes, greatly influenced the political development of Athens. However, Athenian democracy cannot really be called a true democracy since there were several flaws in the government and the way in which it functioned. Upper class male citizens over the age of thirty were the only Athenians who held any right to vote. The democracy in Athens consisted of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. Together, nine anchors, a Council of five hundred, an Assembly, and a court chosen by lot governed the city-state with limited power. The Assembly was made up of five hundred men who were chosen from a list of those who were eligible to serve on the council. All branches of the government were capable of vetoing one another. It was also customary to expel from the country any speaker who became too powerful. This rule could easily be abused and often infringed on the freedom of speech that most democracies have. However, as stated in the Athenian Constitution, male citizens were equal and the government’s focu...
In fact, they choose to isolate themselves completely from the rest of Greece in fear that dangerous ideas would come into their city. Leaders of Sparta even discouraged the idea of travel and banned trade with anyone outside of Spartan territory, resulting in Sparta’s first and perhaps most crucial mistake due to their political choice of isolation. The Spartan Constitution called for a government to preserve the old system of the Dark Ages. Although instead of having just one king, they had two, both from predominant families. Spartan kings enjoyed little of the power handed to them, and were commonly just military and priestly figureheads.
Sparta contained a four branch government system that was considered among the most unique in all of Greece. Unlike the democracy of Athens, Sparta was based on an oligarchy structure. The diarchy, which consisted of two kings, was the first division of this government. These figures held little influence over the state and served more as a symbol of royal heritage (Kennell 83). The second branch was the Gerousia council which acted as an advising body and hel...
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
Sparta and Athens both had Oligarchies between the 7th century B.C and 5th century B.C. Until Cleisthenes reformed Athens and installed a new council of 500, that proposed laws that the assembly would vote on. Spartan oligarchy had a council of elders that consisted of two kings and 28 men over the age of 60 who had served in the Spartan military. This differed from a democracy because the assembly did not make laws, but just passed them. There was also no open debate or discussion. These governments and political institutions although we're both expressions of hellenic culture, manifested because of the virtues and cultures of Athens and Sparta as well as their history. Athens became a democracy because of its openness to new ideas and great education, as well as the enslavement of the Athenian farmers via debt. In the Age of Pericles, Athens flourished culturally and politically. They had a direct democracy and had seen the growth of the arts and intellect divisions. When the
Plato had divided different variations of ruling into four corrupt souls. Timarchic men want to have honor and victory but end up getting caught up striving for wealth. An oligarchic man just uses wealth and power to over see the city using all means necessary to continue his happiness. The democratic man see's everything as equal and is ok with living with equal desires. Democracy, a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives." Finally the tyrannical man who uses his in just lifestyle to crash and burn the city he's ruling into the ground. These are all the men discussed through out the Republic written by Plato (Plato, ppt7).
...very day citizens. This is drastically different from the means currently used in the United States. Lastly, the fact that only male citizens were allowed to participate in government throughout the duration of the democratic existence in Athens.
Good afternoon, I’ve been asked to speak with you about the historical accuracy of recent popular culture incarnations of both Spartan and Persian ideology and in particular I’ve chosen to evaluate Zack Snyder’s 2007, movie 300 in order to demonstrate to you it’s compatibility between ancient sourced depictions of both Spartan and Persian philosophy.
However Athenian democracy formed the basic structure of many western societies today and has influenced them significantly. A continuity when comparing modern society’s and Ancient Greeks form of democracy is that the Ancient Greeks had a judicial system much like today people were chosen to sit on juries (What did democracy really mean?, 2015).However there wasn’t a cross examination and imprisonment was not used as a punishment, instead if someone was found guilty they either had to pay a fine or was put to death (ABC, 2003). A major difference is between Athenian democracy and modern day democracy is eligibility in Ancient Greece as only male adults were allowed to vote and had to adhere to strict birth criteria (Cartledge, 2011) this meant only 10-20% of the overall population were allowed to vote (What did democracy really mean?, 2015). Today the voting age varies however there is no discrimination between sexes in modern democratic governments. Another key difference is that Ancient Greece was a direct democracy whereas modern society is a representative democracy. This means that in Athens the whole citizen body would go to assembly and vote on every decision. Today we vote people to represent everyone and to make decisions on behalf of the whole body of
govern as long as he had the support of the aristocrats. Some have considered Sparta to have had a type of monarchy.