In this paper I will discuss the way in which people living in the two greatest cities of Ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, obtained the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting their communities, who held public office in those days, what rules governed the selection of public office holders, how the two city-states were similar in their governmental structures, and how they differed.
People in Athens participated in public life through a process of decision making for the community using a system of direct democracy, although this only included free males who were citizens of the city. These males were known as Thetes and they had the right to join in debates and participate in law making in a People’s
Assembly known …show more content…
Lower levels of military and political service eligibility were determined by wealth, 10 generals being chosen from the wealthiest group and lower level political positions being filled by people in lower wealth brackets (Brand, n.d.).
One similarity in the government structures of the two cities was that neither of them allowed women, slaves or foreigners to have any say at all. A difference was that Athens was more of a democracy and Sparta was an oligarchy, which means only a few powerful people that control of the government, although, even in Athens, it was a small percentage of the total population that had actual power, 35 people in Sparta, as the two kings were automatically part of the 30 Gerousia, and just the native male citizens in Athens, with a lot of aristocrats having the real power in the early years.
(Brand, n.d.).
In conclusion, life was tough for the majority of citizens of both city-states and only a small percentage of the people had any real power in either case. The upper class, rich, aristocrats controlled much of what went on and many of the people in both city-states were either slaves or treated like slaves. The women in Sparta seem to have been treated with more respect than the women in
People in Athens participated in public life through a process of decision making for the community using a system of direct democracy, although this only included free males who were citizens of the city. These males were known as Thetes and they had the right to join in debates and participate in law making in a People’s
Assembly known …show more content…
Lower levels of military and political service eligibility were determined by wealth, 10 generals being chosen from the wealthiest group and lower level political positions being filled by people in lower wealth brackets (Brand, n.d.).
One similarity in the government structures of the two cities was that neither of them allowed women, slaves or foreigners to have any say at all. A difference was that Athens was more of a democracy and Sparta was an oligarchy, which means only a few powerful people that control of the government, although, even in Athens, it was a small percentage of the total population that had actual power, 35 people in Sparta, as the two kings were automatically part of the 30 Gerousia, and just the native male citizens in Athens, with a lot of aristocrats having the real power in the early years.
(Brand, n.d.).
In conclusion, life was tough for the majority of citizens of both city-states and only a small percentage of the people had any real power in either case. The upper class, rich, aristocrats controlled much of what went on and many of the people in both city-states were either slaves or treated like slaves. The women in Sparta seem to have been treated with more respect than the women in