I read the reading assignment with great interest, answering a question that I have had for a very long time. The question that seemed to have no answer was simply “how did the ancient armies such as those of Athens and Sparta keep their soldiers fighting in war? Paying them doesn’t seem like a logical answer, since they would probably just take the money then run away at the start of war. The reading assignment brought to light Athens and Spartan community, public office, and governmental structures of the 2 city-states.
Discussion
How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community?
In Athens a direct democracy was made up of all free males who were citizens of
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All Spartan males were warriors and part of the popular assembly. The assembly elected Ephors into the executive branch which shared power with 2 kings (Brand, nd).
Who held public office? in Athens was allowed to only those males of wealth and at least 30 years of age, born to Athenian parents. According to Brand (nd) a small group named Thetes combined the 3 top income groups: 500 bushel men, 300 bushel men, and 200 bushel men. This legislative council had 500 members chosen yearly. Free men who fell below the 200 bushel man threshold could serve and vote in the assembly.
While in Sparta, all men recognized as free were members of the popular assembly. Once a man turned 60 he was eligible to be chosen as a Gerousia. The Gerousia was beneath the Euphor in political power. Spartans did not have a right to the higher offices of their assembly, those of the Euphor and Gerousia, they would have to be chosen for an office that had a 1 year term.
What rules governed the selection of public office holders?
In Athens a public office holder had to be 30 years old and male, born to Athenian parents.
Sparta required a male to be 20 years old to be eligible for its lower rank of office, with an age of 60 eligibility to be chosen for a higher
“reach them to endure pain and conquer in battle.” (Document 11). Sparta was especially known for their strong army force. From age seven, all boys were trained not to express their pain and become great soldiers on the battlefield. Unlike Sparta, Athens’ main focus was not on the military. “For we are lovers of beauty, yet with no extravagance and lovers of wisdom, yet without weakness.” (Document 9). Athens was essentially based upon the arts and intelligence. Instead of boys going through years and years of military training, Athenians learned subjects like literature, art, and arithmetic.
To look at this epistemologically, there is an understanding that almost every aspect involved in this culture was derived for the good of the polis. This seemed to be a very proud and arrogant people. A city with no walls, and in almost certainty, only natural born were allowed to earn citizenship. To even be called a Spartan meant years of fighting, service and status. Tyrtaeus states this argument best in the last line of his work. “Thus a man should endeavor to reach this high place of courage with all his heart, and, so trying, never be backward in war.” These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion.
Like most Greek states of the Archaic and Classical Era, the Spartan city-state was a militaristic one. Sparta, however, took the idea to its extreme. In order to become the best soldiers, Spartan citizens had to dedicate their entire lives to the occupation. In fact to be a soldier – a hoplite – was the full infrastructure of Spartan society. While most Greek city-states looked down on labor, physical work, and even working for profit, they still had to work for a living, produce something. “The Spartans a...
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 ...
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
...litary end even the women in Sparta would have been affected by the military ways of life almost as much as the young men. From childhood they were being primed to raise a family, they were taught in the ways of mid wifery, learning the correct manner in teaching the future young men of Sparta and keeping themselves fit to produce fit children.
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
...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.
Probably one of the first things learned from history books or classes on ancient Greece is that the Greeks invented democracy. Athens originally had kings, but gradually, by the 5th century B.C., it developed a system that required active, ongoing participation of the citizens. Rule by the demes or people is a literal translation of the word "democracy". While virtually all citizens were allowed to participate in the democracy, citizens did not include women, children, slaves, or resident aliens, including those from other Greek poleis. This means that the majority were excluded from the democratic process. The democratization of Athens was gradual, but the germ of it, the assembly, was part of the other poleis -- even Sparta.
While Athens had its share of military folks, they also had Aristotle and other great thinkers as well as business minds that made Athens’ regional commerce successful by leveraging their maritime power. Athenian boys were taught a wide range of topics to prepare them for future roles in their society. Meanwhile in Sparta, boys (girls as well) were given a quick eugenic fitness text as infants to weed out the weak. At seven years, it was off to Agoge, Spartan’s military factory machine. Spartan soldiers were expected to live in military barracks until age thirty and dine somewhat exclusively within their Syssitia, a military dining club. Where I see Athenian fathers walking home after a day at the Acropolis, perhaps thinking about their next symposium (drinking party), I also see the Athenian father, far from home, weapon in hand, ready to do battle (Brand, n.d.; Halsall, 1999; The Greeks,
The citizens of Sparta were very different than those of a non-military state. Women in Sparta produced vigorous children and were treated with respect by men. When Spartan women were children, they were required to exercise with the boys and attend frequent athletic competitions to bear healthier children. This was based on the philosophy that if both parents were strong, then a child born to them would be stronger. Spartan women during this time were given more status and freedom than women of other city-states. The women’s husband worked as a professional soldier. Men lived in barracks according to division and company. They slept on pallets which consisted of the tops of reeds which grew on the banks of the river. Only one garment was worn for the entire year and men were not allowed to bathe. They lived in the barracks with occasional overnight leaves for wedding night and conceiving children. The men visited their wives briefly before returning to the barracks to sleep. The boys that the men conceived were under strict discipline. Infants were examined by a committee of inspectors and if they were considered weak or deformed, they were thrown off a cliff. At age seven, they began their training. From age thirteen ...
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.