Classical Athens

The necessary evil committed by the human condition during the Peloponnesian war was unnecessary, at the growth of greed and power through the expansion of Athens Empire was heavily affected by the conflict in 431-404 BCE. The war between Sparta and Athens had begun with the escalated greed for control and power over the Greek world. Athens control over the Greek world seized to exist after the embellishment of their power, which the Spartans had done in their great effort to overthrow the great…

Athens was famous for being the purest, most extreme form of democracy in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The constitution of Athens progressed in time moving from harsh laws, as written by Draco, to more lenient once. However, the Athenian Constitution was not written down on a piece of paper; according to Roderick T. Long it was ‘to speak of the way the Athenian policy was constituted, i.e., what the structure of the political system was.’ Yet despite this, The Athenian constitution has…

Athenian Principles The Classical Age of Ancient Greece otherwise known as the Golden Age (ca. 480-430 B.C.E.), became the most creative period in the history of the world. A play called Antigone by Sophocles’, reflects the cultural values and characteristics of the Golden Age. The Golden Age of Greece featured civic pride in the society, a firm belief of realism and idealism, and a strong, tenacious patriarchal system and these qualities are shown in Antigone. Initially, with the victorious…

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…

A Day in the Life in Athens and Sparta in the Classical Periods My impression of what life would be as a male Spartan in my 20’s would be quite different than being an Athenian. First of all, being a male citizen of Athens allowed me to vote and participate in all the city states political systems. The Athenian system of a true democracy comparing to the Spartan intent, but not really being a democracy. I would control my wealth which would include land, slaves and any business owned that I…

written form is found in Homer’s poems (Odyssey and Iliad) meaning [a parcel of] land. Indeed, this was the original meaning of the word «δῆμος» in ancient Athens—a subdivision of land (Brand); though, after Cleisthenes’s reforms, it also came to mean country-district, like the boroughs in New York and the wards in Tōkyō. Though, in Athens a δῆμος was the smallest political administrative subdivision of the city, where males upon becoming 18, had to present themselves to the officials of their…

civilization based on the political institution and philosophical resolution (Mathisen 2012, 167). Two of the most powerful city states in Greece during the time of the Classical Age (500-387 BCE) were Spartans and Athenians, conflicting with one another during their highest point in their own civilizations. Neither Sparta nor Athens were considered the ideal polis because both city states had their own characteristics that made their political structures completely different from each other.…

understanding of the ideas surrounding the establishment and maintenance of the Polis during the dark and classical ages in Greek history. For instance, prior to the development of democracy in Greek city-states, the poleis went through periods of oligarchical and tyrannical governmental regimes whose policies served the aristocracy and detriment of the poorer classes. Of the two prominent poleis Athens is the primary city-state that embodies the qualities of the polis outlined by Aristotle. Due…

Ancient Greece during the archaic and the classical period consisted mainly of small towns that were called “Polis”. The majority of these “Polis” or towns controlled small regions of land and were populated by some hundreds of citizens. However, the two largest “Polis” known as Athens and Sparta were much more powerful and influential than the rest. In a nutshell, Athens was a democratic and trade focused government while on the other hand Sparta was a military focused society with an oligarchy…

famous City-States of Ancient Greece, Sparta and Athens, have more differences than similarities with each other. These differences were more evident in the educational and political systems. While both cities used popular vote to elect at least part of its representatives, some organizational differences can be easily identified. Basically, the overall priority of these two City-States were different; Sparta was focused in producing warriors, while Athens was a cultural and economic center.…