Oligarchy Vs Athenian Democracy

Ancient Greece was a land of many States, called poleis. Each polis had its own government, laws, rulers and customs. There were two different major forms of government, Oligarchy and Democracy. The two city-states that best represented each form of government were Sparta (Oligarchy) and Athens (Democracy). Athens democratic government was decently equal, fair to its citizens and advanced for it time. It was not something the Greeks liked. Athens mostly worried about comfort and culture during a time of military battles. It was Oligarchy in Sparta that put war-like attitude as its first priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greeks.

The Athenian government gave its citizens in Greece a lot of freedom, but it was still not the best form

Only ten percent of the total population of Athens actually had the right to vote and all these citizens were upper class men’s. Women on the other hand, no matter what class or age, were given no freedom at all. Women’s were first owned by their fathers and then were passed on from them to their husbands. And after marriage their whole life was all about responsibilities of household and educating their children’s. During a meeting of the Assembly, a policy could be adopted and formed into law but after the assembly ended, the enforcement of that law was left in the hands of people who may not agree with the specific law. Another rule of the Assembly said that if a certain speaker becomes too powerful, he could be expelled from the country if given majority vote by the Assembly. The Assembly was of 500 men chosen from the list of the

Ephors was the group of five men who controlled everything in the government. It doesn’t seem like a fair government since only those five men’s had the say for whole city but it was at that time it was a better government. Spartans sacrificed their comfort and culture for a more disciplined military approach to control the rebelling Messenians which eventually turned them into a deadly war machine. Spartan’s military were so brutal and ruthless in war that other city-states were always afraid to attack Sparta. Even though Sparta army was no more than eight thousand men’s, everyone was afraid of them. Spartans started to train their heirs for military at the age of seven so that when they grow up they would be tough and self-sufficient. Every man from Sparta always fought for Sparta with great passion for their country. Life of Sparta was rough but still Sparta was envied by Greek for their simplicity, straight forwardness and their dedication. Sparta had a law that banned all foreign trades and travelling. It kept out all foreign ideas and allowed them to have the element of surprise when it came to attacks. This law did not affect their economy since they were already self-sufficient. Women’s or Sparta had freedom, unlike Athenian women’s. Spartan women’s had equal rights except for voting rights. Since men were in military, the women had full authority over their