Greece saw two different styles of governance by the Spartan and Athenian groups where one ruled in the manner of a dictator and the other ruled in the manner of a democrat respectively. Comparisons between both will be provided in order to highlight the mindset, style and personalities of the leaders of the day.
How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community?
In Sparta, the privilege of participating in public life and decision making were not afforded to everyone only warriors. There were three classes of people in Sparta. There was the full citizens called Homoioi who had full rights to vote for leaders and laws. Another group were the Helots (slaves) who had no right to participate in the affairs of the country. They were the Peloponnesus neighbors of Sparta. The third group were the Periokoi who were also neighbors and were free non-citizens. They were allowed to work in areas such as craftsmen and tradesmen but were inferior to the Spartans.
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The majority of the citizens experienced economic hardship and as a result found themselves having to sell their families, themselves and their land to slavery in order to satisfy their debt. Fortunately, this changed with the introduction of democracy by men like Solon and then Cleisthenes. Men that were not of the upper class now had a chance to participate in the political arena and also run for public office. The citizens now had a right to vote on issues that concerned