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    HIST 1421 Written Assignment Unit 1

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    The political lives in Athens and Sparta differed greatly due to their different forms of government. In Sparta, only a small group including the kings and members of the Ephors and Gerousia councils had power to make decisions, while regular Spartan citizens could only participate by attending monthly assemblies. Athens allowed more citizen involvement through democratic processes, but only free, male, native Athenians were considered citizens and wealth determined political rights and offices. Both cities excluded women and slaves from citizenship.

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    HIST 1421 Written Assignment Unit 1

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    The political lives in Athens and Sparta differed greatly due to their different forms of government. In Sparta, only a small group including the kings and members of the Ephors and Gerousia councils had power to make decisions, while regular Spartan citizens could only participate by attending monthly assemblies. Athens allowed more citizen involvement through democratic processes, but only free, male, native Athenians were considered citizens and wealth determined political rights and offices. Both cities excluded women and slaves from citizenship.

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    The political lives in Athens and Sparta differed greatly due to their different forms of government. In Sparta, only a small group including the kings and members of the Ephors and Gerousia councils had power to make decisions, while regular Spartan citizens could only participate by attending monthly assemblies. Athens allowed more citizen involvement through democratic processes, but only free, male, native Athenians were considered citizens and wealth determined political rights and offices. Both cities excluded women and slaves from citizenship.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    105 views4 pages

    HIST 1421 Written Assignment Unit 1

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous X
    The political lives in Athens and Sparta differed greatly due to their different forms of government. In Sparta, only a small group including the kings and members of the Ephors and Gerousia councils had power to make decisions, while regular Spartan citizens could only participate by attending monthly assemblies. Athens allowed more citizen involvement through democratic processes, but only free, male, native Athenians were considered citizens and wealth determined political rights and offices. Both cities excluded women and slaves from citizenship.

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    Written Assignment Unit 1: The political life in Athens and Sparta

    University of the People

    HIST 1421: GREEK AND ROMAN CIVILIZATION

    September 9, 2020
    The political life in Athens and Sparta

    Being two very different poleis (City-states) with completely different government structures, the

    ways in which the people of those two poleis participated in public life differs greatly.

    Sparta

    In order to be able to participate in the decision making which affected their community the

    Spartans had to be male, freeborn citizens. (Brand, n.d).

    Being a dictatorship, the regular spartan citizen did not have any direct say in the matters of the

    state, and the only way in which they really participated in the political life was by being part of

    the assembly, which gathered monthly and had the power to elect the higher ranking officials of

    the state (Ephors and Gerousia) as well as discuss whatever matters those higher ranking officials

    deemed to be “suitable” for the assembly to discuss.

    The Spartan government structure was such that no one single person held the public office, so it

    was not a complete monarchy. However, only a small select group of people actually had the

    power to make actual decisions over the important matters of the state. Those were the two

    kings, who were part of the Ephors – a total of 5 people (incl. the kings) elected annually by the

    Assembly, whos’ duties included “judicial affairs, military organization and foreign relations”

    (Brand, n.d, p.10).

    The two kings were also part of the Gerousia – which was a council of 30 members, who were

    part of the council for life. In order to be part of it, the members had to be at least 60 years old

    and of aristocratic status. The Gerousia would decide which matters the general assembly could

    vote on and participate in. The Ephors would also often come for the Gerousia’s advice.
    Athens

    The Athenian democracy allowed for far more involvement of the regular people in everyday

    political matters.

    However, even then in order for their voice to be heard those regular people had to comply with

    certain criteria in order to be considered “citizens” of Athens: They had to be male, they had to

    be free (not slaves) and they had to be native-Athenians (Metics were not considered citizens).

    With the exclusion of these 3 classes, only a ¼ of the residents of Athens were actually allowed

    to participate in public life. (Arzamas.2017)

    Even with democratic rule, the political rights of the Athenians were determined by their wealth.

    (Brand, n.d)

    The richest “could seek the highest political offices, including the 10 annually elected Generals

    who were the primary military and civilian officers.” (Brand, n.d, p.29)

    The power of the classes underneath diminished in accordance with their income and

    possessions, with the poorest not even being eligible to join the actual army but only to row the

    navy ships. (Brand, n.d)

    Conclusion

    Political life in Athens and Sparta could not have looked more different, with Sparta being ruled

    by only a select few, and Athens allowing it’s citizens a far greater public voice.

    However both poleis were similar in the fact neither allowed citizenship rights to either women

    or slaves and with the highest public office positions held by those with the most money. Which
    makes us think that the ancient democracy of Athens was not all that different from the Spartan

    dictatorship. As neither allowed FULL freedom to ALL it’s residents.

    Word count: 551 words

    References:

    Brand, P. J. (n.d.). Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship. Retrieved

    from https://my.uopeople.edu

    Arzamas. (2017, May 30). Ancient Greece in 18 minutes [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved

    from: https://youtu.be/gFRxmi4uCGo

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