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Oligarchy, Monarchies, And Democracy In Ancient Greece

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There were various types of governments practiced throughout ancient Greece. These included monarchies, tyrannies, oligarchies, aristocracies, and democracy. Sometimes one form of government was overthrown for another, often by force and a single polis could go through several different forms of governance during its history. What form of government a polis had depended largely on who had last invaded the given polis.

Monarchies. A monarchy is when a territory, whether that be a city-state or a nation, is ruled by an inherited succession (Cartledge, 2011) of kings, emperors, or possibly even queens (“Monarch”, 2016). In ancient Greece, having a ruling queen would not have even been considered, since a woman’s job was to run the home and have …show more content…

An oligarchy is when a small group of people have all the power of governance in a nation or city-state (“Oligarchy”, 2016). This is perhaps a more accurate description of the government of Sparta (Brand, n.d.). Sparta had a small group of elders, the Gerousia, that had far more power than the kings of Sparta had when the kings were not in battle. They, quite literally, decided who lived and who died on a case by case basis. They went to see every infant born in Sparta and if there were any sign of weakness, the child was to die of exposure. This is quite a lot of power for any group of thirty people to have. Athens could also technically be an oligarchy, since the ability to participate in the politics of the polis was limited to a minority of the population, namely adult male Athenians with Athenian …show more content…

An aristocracy is when the power of government rests with the nobility of a given city-state (“Aristocracy”, 2016). Both Athens and Sparta had shades of this in their government (Brand, n.d.). In Sparta, to be part of Gerousia one had to be an aristocrat. Aristocrats in Sparta where the descendants of the veterans of the Messenian wars, because they were given the lifetime service of the Messenian people, or Helots, in perpetuity as a reward. In Athens, the wealthier you were, based on how much your land could produce, determined your social class in society. The upper echelons were essentially nobility and could hold high government and military offices, which granted them significant power, especially since Athens did not use the concept of legal precedence in court

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Unlike the Athenian democratic system the Spartans believed in Oligarchy, meaning ruling by a few. Sparta came to reach the height of it power after defeating rival City Sate, Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) (Bailey). The oligarchy was a governmental system composed by a limited number of elite citizens such as: Ephors, five magistrates with executive and judicial privileges, elected by assembly; two kings, army leaders and chief priests; gerousia, council of thirty elders comprise of men at least sixty tears old, twenty-eight of which were elected by assembly and includes two kings; assembly of citizens, men over thirty years old, they do not vote, but shout acclamations supporting the decisions of the oligarchy above (Bailey). The Spartan governing system led to a military based society where male children from the age of seven would start going to a special educational institution, which was military based. This led to Spartans being warrior like people unlike the Athenians.

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Athens used a form of government called a Democracy, ruled by the people. Since the people of Athens may have different opinions, leading to arguments fights and making family go against family in their own homeland. Yet, Sparta was ruled by few people so the Spartans could avoid all the tension. Therefore, oligarchy was the best form of government for the Spartans. Furthermore, Sparta was focused on their military.

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Athens was known for its democratic system, allowing its citizens to participate directly in the political process. The Athenian democracy was characterized by institutions such as the Ecclesia (Assembly), where citizens voted on laws and policies, and the Boule (Council), which set the agenda for the Ecclesia (Kelepouri, n.d.). In contrast, Sparta had an oligarchic system with power concentrated among a few. The Spartan government included two hereditary kings, a Gerousia (Council of Elders), and the Ephors, who were elected officials with significant power. The Spartan Assembly had less influence than its Athenian counterpart and was primarily involved in electing the Gerousia and Ephors (Kelepouri, n.d.).

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The Spartan government put into place an oligarchy which at the time was known as the “Reign of the Thirty Tyrants.” (Kreis, 2009). In revisiting Athen’s various changes in government the aristocracy is similar to an oligarchy since a group of individuals of the upper social class compared to other groups holds power or influence. The difference between an aristocracy and an oligarchy is that it an aristocracy is dependent on the social class of the group versus an oligarchy could either be through an electorate or a many group's small groups of individuals control. Aristocracy runs opposite of the idea of a democracy where

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The Government of Athens wasn’t known to be the best one. Compared to Oligarchy, the Athenian democracy is a poor form of government. Athenian democracy is considered weak and is run by weak-minded people. Mostly lethargic and incompetent people are brought to the power saying that they all have equal rights. It becomes an issue in democracy when we need someone strong willed to lead the rest of the people in the society.

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El Líder, the leader of the Cuban Revolution once said, “A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.” He is saying that a revolution is an event that changes the future and leaves the past behind. Similar to El Líder, George Washington was an extremely influential leader of the American Revolution. This quote relates directly to understanding why the Cuban and American Revolution occurred, and what its role is from Dreaming in Cuban. Although taking place in different time periods, similarities and differences exist between the leaders of the American and the Cuban Revolution; likewise, similarities and differences present themselves between the cause and conclusion of both revolutions.

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The most popular form of government throughout Greece was an oligarchy; a limited group of wealthy aristocrats. This form of government gave nobles most of the say in government while lower classes had no rights. Consequently, tensions rose between upper and lower classes. An increase in trade led to increased wealth for other classes below nobles. As they established more power, these lower classes decided to take over the oligarchies and create a new form of government.

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The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.) defines an oligarchy, in its primary definition of the word, as a "government by the few," and, in its secondary definition of the word, as "a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes." Aristocracy. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.) defines an aristocracy, in its primary definition of the word, as a "government by the best individuals or by a small privileged class," and, in its tertiary definition of the word, as "a governing body or upper class usually made up of a hereditary

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(Brand, n.d) Instead, Sparta would be considered an oligarchy because it had a select few people who made all the decisions in government. Sparta had a general assembly where all free males could participate in government. However, matters brought before the Assembly were subject to the will of the Gerousia and the Ephors and they could also veto the Assembly’s vote. These factors are what made Sparta’s government an

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Aristocracy An aristocracy is a government ruled by a special class of noble people. They are usually connected by blood to royal families. An aristocracy is seen as a refined version of an oligarchy. This is not as popular as an oligarchy.

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The Spartan Empire Spartan Government: An oligarchy system was adopted in Sparta. In the oligarchy system, few people has the power to rule. Sparta also had an assembly just like Athens, but the main decisions were taken by the “Council of Elders” with two kings and twenty-eight other men as its members. The two kings where born within the royal family while the twenty-eight man where elected by the assembly. For men to be elected to the Council of Elders, they had to be at least 60 years old and approaching from a noble family.

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In the expected way, government in the ancient Greek world used diverse forms and, across dissimilar city-states and over many centuries, political power could rest in the hands of a single individual: for example, monarchies, tyrants, the oligarchies and

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Introduction Monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all forms of government found at different times and in different city-states in Ancient Greece. Elements of more than one of these forms also co-existed, however, and the modern connotations of labels such as these are not necessarily the same as those that prevailed in Ancient Greece. In this paper I firstly describe these various forms of government and provide examples of their use in Ancient Greece. I then compare and contrast the models.

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In Athenian society there was a sort of democracy, the first in recorded history, but political rights and the power to vote was held by a relatively small group. Only free adult males with Athenian parents were eligible. While this also seems like an oligarchy today, it gave voice to a much larger portion of society than any of its contemporaries.(Brand,

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Reading speeches vs hearing speeches When listening to a speech, one may wonder if they would get the same information from reading it instead. When reading a speech, one cannot hear the voice of the speaker or how the audience reacts but when listening or watching, one can clearly see and hear the speaker and the audience when watching. When John F Kennedy gave his inaugural address, one could see the audience and hear the emotion in his voice but if one was to read it, he would not be able to hear this. His speech is a great example to see how reading a speech and listening to a speech are different and give different amounts of information.

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