Compare And Contrast Ancient Greece And Spartan Government

Comparing and Contrasting the Political Philosophies of Ancient Greece

The city-states of Ancient Greece gave birth to the many different forms of government that are now known by present-day society. It is through the numerous accounts of ancient historians that modern civilizations have learned the lessons of each governmental structure. This essay will discuss the many forms of government introduced by Ancient Greek city-states. Through analyzing the differences and similarities of each political philosophy, a conclusion will be made as to what forms of government were more effective for Ancient Greece, as well as how they apply to modern day government. The most popular form of government created by the Ancient Greeks is that of democracy.

Spartan government consisted mainly of oligarchy, or the rule of society by a small group of people, which was represented by the Spartan military. Although Sparta did possess a dual monarchy of two kings, these kings were soldiers first. The laws of Spartan civilization were decided upon by its military class, a small class that was outnumbered by the minority slave-class, the helots. In his essay “Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship”, Dr. Peter J. Brand states, “This serf class outnumbered the Spartans many times over, so to keep the helots under control and suppress rebellions, the Spartans organized their entire society along military lines (Brand,

Athenian government was not immune to tyranny either. Through exercising their political influence, popular Athenian statesmen overruled the sovereignty of Athenian citizens, coercing the Athenian government to enact laws in their favor. In Professor Paul Cartledge’s article “The Democratic Experiment”, Cartledge states, “To make it as participatory as possible, most officials and all jurymen were selected by lot. This was thought to be the democratic way, since election favored the rich, famous and powerful over the ordinary citizen (Cartledge, 2014).” It was for this very reason that the Athenian Empire met its demise during the Peloponnesian War, causing the city-states of Ancient Greece to wage war against the tyrannical corruption of Athens.

Truly, the many different forms of Greek government hold both similarities and differences. Aristocracy, for example, is very similar to that of oligarchy, in that they both exercise their political power through an elite upper class. These two political forms are also similar to monarchy and tyranny, since monarchy and tyranny both possess forms of elitist rule. The only difference, however, is that monarchy and tyranny focus more on the rule of a single head of state, rather than a ruling class of