This essay will outline and discuss the major similarities and differences in the governmental format and participation between the Athenian and Spartan societies in ancient Greece. While these two city states both used a similarly designed system of government, their implementation of these systems, and the relative effectiveness of their various parts were vastly different. Athens and Sparta shared a common design in who could participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community. In both cases this access was limited to male citizens of the city state (Brand, n.d). While neither permitted women to participate in any civic duties, Sparta permitted and seemed to encourage a level of autonomy to its women that Athens did not. Spartan women could not participate in government, but they were allowed to
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Out of the general assembly 500 men were selected at random to serve as a sort of upper council (the “Boule”), and even this random selection was meted out across the various tribes of Athens to ensure that no one faction had more power (Cartwright, 2014). Another 6000 men were chosen at random to serve on the “Heliaea” which was the judicial arm of Athens. The final superbody of the government was the Magistrates, also chosen by lot (Cartwright, 2014).
By looking at an organizational chart one might rightly think that Athens and Sparta shared many traits regarding their forms of government, this was far from true. In Sparta power, influence and control all lied with the aristocratic class of warrior citizen causing the nation to operate like a military dictatorship. Athens surely knew a measure of influence from the wealthy or well-connected, but it operated as a true democracy. The selection processes were impartial and the percentage of “the people” that carried a meaningful voice was much
Out of the general assembly 500 men were selected at random to serve as a sort of upper council (the “Boule”), and even this random selection was meted out across the various tribes of Athens to ensure that no one faction had more power (Cartwright, 2014). Another 6000 men were chosen at random to serve on the “Heliaea” which was the judicial arm of Athens. The final superbody of the government was the Magistrates, also chosen by lot (Cartwright, 2014).
By looking at an organizational chart one might rightly think that Athens and Sparta shared many traits regarding their forms of government, this was far from true. In Sparta power, influence and control all lied with the aristocratic class of warrior citizen causing the nation to operate like a military dictatorship. Athens surely knew a measure of influence from the wealthy or well-connected, but it operated as a true democracy. The selection processes were impartial and the percentage of “the people” that carried a meaningful voice was much