In Ancient Greece, there was diversity not only of the people, but of government structures and styles. The following paragraphs will follow some of that diversity, specifically between the city states of Athens and Sparta regarding their governmental structure. First, some people in Athens and Sparta obtained the right to participate in public life and made decision that would affect their community. Some held public office, and some did not. The question remains how did these events come about for each community and who could participate or hold public office? In Sparta, there was only a select group of people that had the right to participate in public life. The Periokoi, for instance, could not participate in public life in terms of Sparta itself, nor hold public office. They did have some independence for decisions within their community, but it was limited to what Sparta allowed. Another group, the …show more content…
Eventually, Athens became a true democracy. All could participate in government if they were a free Athens male citizen. Slaves, women, and foreigners were exempt from participating. The city was divided into different groups that made up the different voting blocs. Aristocrats still had plenty of power, due to being able to sway voters one way or another, but they were also not the only ones with power anymore. In order to serve in a public office position, the person had to have a certain amount of wealth and depending on how much wealth they had, they could pursue higher positions within the government. But, the majority of free Athens male citizens could at the very least vote in the assembly on laws and other matters, as well as serve on juries. This was the extent of their power. There were also ten generals elected every year, as well as other lower officials that were voted on, but the aristocratic class was very good at convincing the rest to vote for the aristocrats preferred candidate (Brand, pgs.