What Did Greece Think About Athens?

Decent Essays
Historians suggest that the Greeks faced immense weather and climate challenges and that they had to rely a lot on importing staples. The Greeks are thought of as the ones who carried out a revolution in political organizations. They formed two political organizations: Ethos and Polis. Spartans are thought of the ones with a military government whereas the Athens had a democracy. The Athenian Empire is usually presented as being economic, judicial, religious and political union that was held together by military might. Generally Greeks are thought of as having good democratic and philosophical and educational ideals. Some Greek authors created documents in which they reveal a variety of ways of thinking about Athens from the fact that they

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    From tyrannical to democratic institutions, the manner in which a particular polis maintained order was very dynamic, and adaptations were frequently implemented in response to a changing social environment, often due to imbalance of power or matters of war. Also, each city state had a constitution specific to their geographic jurisdiction; unlike the United States’ use of federalism, Greek poleis were not united under a conventional set of guidelines, but were rather united through similar language and religious practices. The natural susceptibility of Greek government allowed for modifications to be made; either in a controlled manner of popular vote, or through the revolt of tyrannicides such as Hipparchus and Hippias. Typically, an oligarchy, aristocracy, or monarchy proved to be the most efficient practice and often led to massive productivity through construction of temples and other civic edifices, improvements in water supply and distribution, and other advancements which wholistically benefitted the polis. However, these systems tended to favor the wealthy while silencing the voice of average citizens, putting them in an economic disadvantage, and deteriorating their political efficacy; traditionally, tyranny would subsequently follow.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Dbq Ancient Greece

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The ancient Greek civilization had two memorable and influential achievements, one of which was architectural and the other political. As seen in the Parthenon, the Greeks were unbelievable architects, and one of the most important inventions, if not the most important invention, was the column (document 2). The column can be seen on many Greek structures including manors, government buildings and other buildings. Columns augmented the Greeks capability of building structures. Another achievement of the ancient Greeks was the ideology of a democracy.…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Athenians prove to be “a model to others” (62). In many ways, firstly they are for the people, unlike sparta which “was as close as the ancient greeks came to a modern totalitarian society”(62), they are a democratic government and followed only their written laws. “We are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in public affairs we keep to the law”(63). Athens was not ruled by a single king, but a council of high ranking officials and scholars. The Athenians also shared their goods with other powers instead of having others share with them.…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Athens Dbq

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We can't go and ask them so we depend on historians to tell us more about them. The historians are the ones who can make a difference. Historians need to realize that ancient Athens was not truly democratic because of the percent of the population that could vote, the fact that if someone did not do what the higher people wanted they could be punished, and the different levels of government. In a true democracy everyone has a say in everything but in Ancient Athens that was not the case.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If Sparta could have changed anything, what do you think they would have changed? Become more educated and wise like a philosopher? Or, what would Athens have changed? Increased their military training? Polybuis, a Greek historian, once said, “Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.”…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Greeks were a group of people from vast backgrounds and factions. Many groups of Greek people were very powerful, and wanted to create an ideal society in many different ways. Ideal is “The imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality”. Key elements of humanism, an ideal societies are free will, freedom of choice, and society vs. individualism.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How can you determine one great polis more important from another? In the late fourth century, Athenian philosophers began to immerge bringing with them the idea of educating “the whole person. Sparta, on the other hand, still only focused on education for the military. Along with Sparta only concern being the military, they also do not have a steady economy. Athens, however, was very steady regarding economics.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In classical Greece, the different Greek city-states had different forms of government. The city-state of Sparta had an authoritarian government in which it enforced military participation for all males and only the elite class could gain power in the government. Athens on the other hand had a democratic government that allowed everyone to be able to participate in its government despite class standing and did not put their focus on defending the city. The totalitarian government that Sparta had caused life for the people living there to be unpleasant and difficult while the democratic government in Athens gave much more freedom to its citizens and resulted in the people their having a much more pleasant life. Sparta, during the…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Classical Rome was dominated by their ideas and institutions of law. The beliefs in God’s law or church law started out as an idea and ended up as an institution. The Judean section of the Roman Empire formulated God’s law. They accepted a “covenant, or pact between Yahweh, their God, and his people to obey the law, called the ten commandments.” These commandments were written in the Torah, the 5 Books of Moses.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    GOVERNMENT The Spartan political system had two hereditary mighty monarch kings from two separate families (Agiad and Eurypontid). They were priests of Zeus. The duties of the kings were religious, judicial, and military.…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ancient Greek Government

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During our modern times, people walk on the grounds of a government that Ancient Greeks first influenced. The Greeks gave us politics, policy, science, mathematics and the concept of economy. Greece was the start of all types of governments. Monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny and democracy were the four main types of systems. Starting back in 2000 BC and ending in 2100 BC, in Late Bronze Age, also known as the Mycenaean Period, most were ran by monarchies.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Greeks are, for the most part, appropriately admired. Although ancient Greek civilization has negative qualities, the advancements they contributed should not be disregarded. Many positive aspects of Greek life, including politics, art, rationalism, and scientific thought, continue to resonate throughout modern society. The negative components in Greek society were mainly issues regarding equality. There were great divides between genders and between socioeconomic classes.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Greece and Persia had extremely contrasting political systems. They had different types of government, region division, and gender roles. Democracy was founded in Greece, allowing all male citizens to vote about changes and decisions in the…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Olympias In Ancient Greece

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Olympias sat watching from the clouds at the little specks of color wandering around. She loved watching humans go about their everyday actions, buying things from the market, children playing, adults talking, Olympias loved it all. The people of Athens brought joy to Olympias heart. People at the time never seemed to rush or worry about whether they would be late for work or how much time they had left to play. Everyone was always joyful and happy, no one knew about time.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Athenian Democracy Essay

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The development of Athenian democracy was influenced by complex social, economic, and military issues, not to mention the obvious political aspect. However, even among these complex set of factors, one aspect in the development of Athenian democracy that stands out and affects all three sets of issues is warfare. Warfare was a constant in ancient Greece, and indeed most of the ancient world. City-states constantly fought, mostly against each other, though they would often band together against outside threats such as the Persians. The Greek style of warfare also tended to be fairly homogenous throughout the city-states as well, with an infantry formed from hoplites, and in the fifth century and later, a navy.…

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays