The Birthplace Of Democracy : Ancient Greece

During the times of Ancient Greece, two major forms of government existed, democracy and oligarchy. The city-states of Athens and Sparta are the best representatives of democracy and oligarchy, respectively. The focus of the times was directed towards military capabilities, while the Athenians were more interested in comfort and culture. It was the oligarchy in Sparta that put a war-like attitude as its first priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greece. These factors empowered Sparta and led to the development of an authoritative and potent state. Other contrasting issues included women’s rights, social classes, and value of human life.

The Greeks where the first democracy in the world. There government was made up of six thousand members all of witch where male citizens. They voted on problems that needed to be solved and if a law was to pass a majority vote was needed. Now in the United States also has a democracy. Instead of having six thousand people voting and making the decisions all the people vote on a representative that makes the decisions in the country.

The legacy of democracies from Ancient Greece and Rome helped officially establish the United States’ current government. In early Greece, each polis had its own type of government, including monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Democracy, which is a government ruled by the people, started in the polis of Athens. Early Athens established the basis of democracy, where only free male adults were considered citizens and could vote. The United States’ government today has expanded to allow women to vote instead of only men. In both early Athens’ and today’s United States governments, citizens have power, so in order to receive most people’s opinions on a topic, they increased the amount of people voting in the population of the polis.

Boys stayed with their mother until the age of 7, and then went off to military training, which would be a lifelong career. The education system based on creating the best soldiers was called Agoge (Brand, 2010). There boys lived in barracks and had to constantly find way of surviving the most brutal of the conditions, which included, lack of food, sleep hours restrictions, exposition to the elements and only one piece of clothing to wear yearly. Since food did not come easily, they had to find way to get them, which included going on hunts or stealing, the mostly worked in packs, and although stealing was encouraged, punishment would come for those that were caught. Training consisted of fighting each other shields and wooden swords provided by the Master, the one in charge of directing and overseeing the boys (Sutori.com, n.d.). Even though reading writing, dancing and singing were part of the Sparta education between the ages of 7-17 (British Museum, n.d.), it came as secondary for the purpose of communication, and had little to do with expansion of knowledge and creative thinking. During the ages 18-29 their were rigorously trained to be part of the standing army, and only after the age of 30, would they become full citizens and expected to marry. One interesting fact about Sparta boys and men, is that their were allowed, and even encouraged to be intimate with each other, not only because

In ancient Greek life one of their trademarks was the polis, or city state. “The city-states were small, independent communities which were male-dominated and bound together by race.”(Steven Kreis 2000) Membership in the polis was important and was only passed down to someone within the citizen family, being male. In a polis, citizens are part of a selected part of a group that is superior to the rest of society. The members that are not part of the body of citizens are woman, slaves, and peasants. Men held the power in any given polis.

Ancient Greece underwent many political changes and therefore experienced various forms of government including monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy. First, I will be defining each form of government. Then, I will explain how Athens alone was affected by each of these.

On account of Athens, the idea of a democracy, or as it was called then Demokratia, ensued. The idea of a rule of the people/eligible citizens that we now have today, in example America, was originated from this. This idea concocted by this ancient civilization, provides a sound foundation in which the current government called democracy in the world today.

Greece had two major city-states or powers, Athens and Sparta. Athens had the organization of the politics and government in place and were probably the city with the most qualities toward present-day democracies, however, I do believe Sparta should also be recognized for having a prestige military, with the training and power it processed, which is also valuable to the present day government. Both were very useful to Greece, however; they were two very different city-states with different values to offer to Greece. Sparta was known for its powerful military and strong army. The training of the boys/men was so intense that they had a huge advantage with their military, which was very useful for Greece. Athens was known for their democratic

Unlike many other ancient civilizations of the Near East, Greek history has a start like no other. The Greek civilization was based upon city-states, two in particular; Athens and Sparta. These two dominants in Greek history differ from any other near east society because of their historical background, geographical region and the cultural differences they display. The Athenian city-state was an open democratic maritime state, dominating Attica and supporting commercial and cultural expansion. The Spartan city-state had a tightly organized, militaristic, land based state, dominating the peloponnesian peninsula.

Athens and Sparta were both powerful and distinguished city states in ancient Greece. There was a constant fight for supremacy between the 2 city states, due to their desire to be the greatest power in ancient Greece. This rivalry was magnified by the extreme differences in the beliefs of both city states. The political systems and governing bodies in place, varied greatly and displayed different strengths and weaknesses. The rights of the citizen and the criteria of who could be considered a citizen were similar, with only minor differences between Athens and Sparta. The society and lifestyle of both city states demonstrated the greatest contrast. Sparta provided a superior city state model for ancient Greece, in comparison to Athens.

The citizens of ancient Greek were oppressed and suffered under the strict monarchy; they had no input until a new form of government was born---the birth of democracy changed their life entirely. Democracy is defined as a system of government by all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. The concept of democracy is still frequently disputed today, and is tangled with many world affairs. Back in 510 BCE, soon after the notion of democracy was first born, the world witnessed the development and thriving of democracy in ancient Greece. Although it was not direct democracy in the beginning and had a limited number of people voting, it brought prosperity as well as harmony to the society for both citizens and the government.

Ancient Greece was a land made up by a series of city-states. The two most well-known of those city-states were Athens and Sparta. Traditionally, Athens is viewed as a peaceful place where learning and culture were the main activities of its citizens while Sparta was considered an aggressive culture determined to be the military power in the Greek area. Unlike the typical Athenian who spent his days reading and learning the typical Spartan concerned himself with the activities of the state and preparing himself for war or so tradition says.

Everyone has heard of the two Greek cities: Athens and Sparta. Athens is prominent for its architecture, art, and the Acropolis. Sparta is widely known in pop culture and for its military reputation. Together, they could be known for being in the Peloponnesian War. These are two popular cities with different reasons for being known. There are numerous aspects to look at but the main focus will be in its politics, societies, and economies. Athens and Sparta differed in politics, societies, and economies but had very few similarities.

The Democracy of Ancient Greece was used heavily in creating modern American Democracy. From the system of creating new laws to the checks and balances that define the American government. The similarities show that the founders of America based the new democratic government on the Ancient Greek democracy that came two millennia earlier. The American government was mainly based of Greek democracy.

Why would a society from over 2,000 years ago still have a huge effect on the society today? Ancient Greece lasted from 800 B.C. to 500 B.C. The Ancient Greek times have affected our lives in different aspects. Democracy, architecture, philosophy, Olympic games, were all examples of contributions the Ancient Greek society has on the world today.