A Comparison Of Democracy In Athens And Sparta

Democracy feels like ts a newer concept than it is. Nevertheless, more than 2500 years ago, an ancient civilization founded democracy. The year was 507 B.C., and the Athenian leader

Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or "rule by the people" (from demos, "the people," and Kratos, or "power"). It was the first known democracy in the world. (saymedia.com, n.d.). The Athenians in Athens and Sparta were the two city-states that held the most power in ancient Greece. The two city-states had similarities in how the government was set up but differed in how they ran two. According to Brand (n.d.), Sparta and

Athens dominated all of Greece's poleis in terms of politics, military, and culture. Depending on

They had many commonalities that made the

Greeks strong, yet their difference in political views ended up being their demise.

Athens and Sparta were two poleis, Greek city-states that shared the same culture and civilization. The Greek poleis, although independent, were linked by a common identity.

This identity was founded on language, religious beliefs, ritual traditions (gods, myths, oracles, the Olympics), and politics. In particular, as Brand (n.d.) stated, in Athens and Sparta, only male free citizens could participate in politics in Athens and Sparta. The right to participate in public life for Athens and Sparta was through birthright. You need to be a citizen of these towns or have parents who are citizens. Second, you must be rich or have wealth and influence in both towns to participate in the governance system. At the same time, enslaved and foreign people had no decisional power.

Additionally, slavery was tolerated by both regimes, but in very different ways. Another similarity was that both cities were constantly at war with their citizens and foreign

Athens, on the other hand, created a democracy (from demos,

"people," and kràtos, "power") based on the significant extension of adult male citizens and the participation of all social classes in political life (women, children, and enslaved people excluded). Sparta's government was the model of an aristocracy, which meant they were constantly war-ready with a rigorous oligarchic constitution. The governance of Sparta was organized to have two kings, an Assembly, the Council of Elders, and magistrates to handle the judicial affairs.

The Kings came from 2 royal families. The Assembly consisted of all Male Citizens, and the council of elders had 60 men called the Geourosia. Judiary consisted of 5 Magistrates, also referred to as the Ephors. Furthermore, in all this arrangement, the true power lay in the hands of the Geourosia and the Ephors. In contrast, Athens became the beacon of ancient classical civilization in the fifth century B.C. For a long time, Sparta followed Lycurgus' rules, which created a political structure centered on two kings, a council of twenty-eight elders, and the apella, or Spartiate assembly (Gaur, 2021).

In Athens, however, more written laws were created, leading to a somewhat