In Athens, the write to participate in public life meant that you had to be a free adult male citizen that was born to Athenian parents. Woman had no rights to participate in public life. The Boule in Athens had a structure which was determined by how wealthy a citizen was in accordance to how high of a public office that was held. There were three main categories, 500 Bushel men, 300 Bushel men and 200 Bushel men.
In Sparta on the other hand political rights was somewhat opposite. Firstly, only Spartan warriors were allowed political rights. The majority of them made up the general assembly which was relatively weak in political power. Although they could vote on matters such as going to war, it was in actuality down to the will of the elder council which makes up the Gerousia. The Ephors that were selected by the popular
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How were the two city-states similar in their governmental structures?
They are similar in the sense that only males were allowed to be a part of politics and that they both had a hierarchy in place that separated the political powers of each group. In both structures the wealthier aristocrats had the most influence in decision making.
How did they differ?
One major difference is that the Spartan government had two kings that came from separate royal families which tied back to their legendary founders (Agiads and Eurypontids). The government of Athens had no king. It is also worth noting that all Spartan male citizens were soldiers and equally shared right of fighting for Sparta unlike in Athens were there were male citizens who were land owners among other non-military wealthy Athenians. The also differ in that Athens was a very democratic society which also produced a lot of philosophers unlike Sparta that produced well trained soldiers and ruled by military dictatorship as opposed to the popular myth of Spartans being equal (socially and