Solon basically laid the foundations for democracy with his reforms. Tyranny comes from the Greek word “tyrannos” meaning “usurper with supreme power”. A tyrant was a non-heredit... ... middle of paper ... ...poorer citizens would also be able to exercise their democratic rights and not be penalised because they could not take off from earning their livelihood. Sparta had an element of democracy in that citizens were able to vote in the assembly. However, the Gerousia and Ephors were able to veto its decisions and therefore the democratic element of Spartan society was very superficial.
Like Athens, lower class people are at a large disadvantage in these countries. Athens and Sparta have set examples that some countries still follow today. The poleis Sparta and Athens had many different ideas on how to run their societies. They overcame their differences and fought off the Persian invasion to defend their homeland. Without this victory our history would look very different.
The founding of the Academy is said by some to be one of the most important events in Western European history; it is in the Academy where Plato excelled in his dialectic teaching and taught his notable student Aristotle. This middle period is also thought to mark the time frame during which Plato wrote his most important work, the Republic. The Republic The name Republic originates from the Latin version of Plato’s writing entitled Res publica, but the original title comes from the Greek phrase peri< dikai>ou, which is translated, “On the Just Man.” The Republic opens with a discussion between Socrates and his old friend Cephalus concerning the nature of justice. Throughout the work, the issue of justice is analyzed from different perspectives and various characters, each revolving around the central figure Socrates, as it relates to the state and man. As the discussion shifts from the just state to the just man, Plato, through the voice of his teacher, enters into the realm of epistemology and metaphysics.
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.
Athenian democracy was quite limited in the modern sense since its citizenry only included ethnic Athenian males over the age of 20, but it was remarkable in the ancient world for the amount of civic participation it allowed of those that it considered citizens. The Athenians prided themselves on including people of lower economic status into the citizenry, but this trait may be not as positive as Pericles proclaimed (Thucydides pg. 40). In an oligarchic system such as Sparta’s, if the city-state was to win a war, it
Ancient Greece had many poleis, but two widely known were Sparta and Athens. As both civilizations grew, we were introduced to the famous Greek lawgivers of each place named Lycurgus and Solon. Lycurgus, the ruler of Sparta, constructed reforms to create equality throughout the people and to create justice through fair demands and rules. Solon, the ruler of Athens, did not enforce laws, but only acted in means of gestures for the people to learn morally. Based on Plutarch’s “Life of Lycurgus” and Solon’s poetry, both lawgivers have many more diverse aspects than they do similar as we see through the way they conducted justice and equality for their people and through their personal strengths.
The tyrants contributed most in that they eliminated the presence of the aristocracy leaving each citizen to prove their worth by their service of the polis (84). Throughout this period, tyrants ruled their individual city-states, and allied themselves with other allies to prevent war (84). After the end of the dark ages, Polytheism arose as a central religion connecting Greek peoples (85). During this age, the polis was still apparent though differed tremendously between different states (87). Sparta and Athens, though powerful and influential Greek states were among these poleis and though they were perhaps, the most likely of the states to unite Greece both were unfit.
The Ancient Greeks were nothing if not influential. Ever since it 's formation in the 8th century B.C., Greek civilization has impacted many of the world 's greatest thinkers and shaped the landscape of Western Civilization. Aside from their art and philosophy, the Ancient Greeks were particularly interested in politics and, in the case of Athens, a new system of government known as: democracy! Long before the American founding fathers declared their independence from Britain, Athenian citizens governed their own state and voted to solve political turmoil. However, ancient Athens was no perfect twin to American democracy, and being an upstanding Athenian citizen meant more than simply voting and going about one 's business.
The biggest political innovation of the Ancient Greeks was the concept of democracy. The Ancient Greeks invented politics as an art of persuasion as opposed to the force and intimidation associated with despotism (Minogue 2). Ancient Greece sought a government where all citizens
Before democracy, Athens was a city-state no different than any other. A few powerful, aristocratic families controlled all governing power. Most of the population held little or no role in the political life of the city. Athenians changed this, and created a system where participation was encouraged and opinions were valued. While some other Greek cities were also setting up democracies, none were as stable or well documented as that of Athens.