Greece Dominators; Sparta and Athens
When thinking of Greece during the 5th century BC the city-states that come to peoples mind the most are Athens and Sparta. This is because Athens was well known for its command at sea, whereas Sparta dominated the land controlling neighboring cities, many of which became slaves to the land. They were strong leaders in the greek culture, although they varied in size; Athens was the capital and largest city of Greece with around 140,000 people, whereas Sparta was slightly smaller with around 100,000 people. Another characteristic that define the two city-states are the way they ruled their city. Athens had the first democratic system, and Sparta controlled their city through military oligarchy. Athens and…show more content… The way Athens elected their government was through limited direct democracy, democracy comes from the Greek origins of “demos” which was a word used to reference the people of Greece, and “kratos” which is the greek word for rule/power. Democracy literally means ruled by the people. The people elected the government of Athens annually. The process began with 6000 men, which was then narrowed down to 500. Those 500 were then split into even groups of 50 people, where each group would lead for about a month at a time. This council’s job was to administer the verdicts made by the Assembly. Among those groups 10 generals were elected, mainly based off of how much experience they had. A group of 500 men were chosen through the method of “lot” voting, these men were apart of the Assembly, which was also known as the “ekklesia”. The Assembly job was to pass laws and make policy decisions. They held their meetings on the Hill of the Pnyx, these meetings were open to all citizens, and the citizens could speak up at the meetings if they…show more content… Sparta was ruled by an “Oligarchy”, which was derived from the Greek words “oligos” which means few and “archia” which is the Greek word for rule; thus Oligarchy “means ruled by the few”. Multiple different types of government influenced Spartan oligarchy: monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy. The Spartans had two kings, whi.ch ruled until they died and then their chosen son would continue to rule. The king’s main jobs were to oversee the army, and they were somewhat involved with religion. The ruling of kings was how monarchy government influenced the Spartan Oligarchy. The next government that influenced the Spartans was democracy. Democracy played a role in the Spartan Oligarchy due to the fact that the senate and councils were chosen through elections. There were five overseers, also known as Ephors, elected annually to run every day tasks of Sparta, for example they could veto rulings made by the councils or assemblies. The senate for Sparta was the “Gerousia” . The overseers and Kings attend the general assembly, which was known as the “apella” regularly, this is where they tried to develpp and pass motions and decrees. The apella consisted of 28 councilmen, many of which were over 60 and were elected for life by the citizens. The general assembly was also the place where hey voted on, passed legislation, and made civil decisions. The way they voted during these meetings were through shouting “yes” or “no”.
