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Oligarchy, Monarchies, And Democracy In Ancient Greece

658 Words3 Pages

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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