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Camille Sicat #26 3/16/16 Writing/Social Studies Power of the People: Athens vs. Rome Essential Question: Citizenship in Athens and Rome: Which Was the Better System? Prior to the idea of people being “citizens” of a nation, people were subjects, with no rights and forced to serve under the iron fist of their ruler. The idea of people having rights and responsibilities to their country originated in Athens, Greece circa 500 B.C. (Background Essay). Rome, however, far surpassed the Greeks in their social contract theory of citizenship (Background Essay) for the following reasons: 1) More people were considered citizens i.e. females and sons of freed slaves; 2)
The Athenians had a direct democracy which allowed the citizens to directly decide and vote for who they wanted to rule their country. In Athens there were three bodies of the government. The Assembly is the first branch which included all citizens that showed up to cast their vote. The Assembly decided what new laws would be and they made important decisions regarding war, laws, etc.
Education in Sparta: Did the Strengths Outweigh the Weaknesses? By: Korbyn Tietjen Would you want to be abandoned or be left outside to die because you ⚔ weren't strong enough?Or get pulled away from your family when your 7 years old or get whipped when you got caught stealing cause you were stealing terribly?Well this was the fate of a Spartan child. Sparta was located on a large in Southern Greece
Based on information provided in Document E all of Athens citizens were eligible to attend The Assembly. Athenians chose their officials and had an executive committee that oversaw the Assembly in contrast to the Roman Senate that passed down through heredity of the oldest Roman families. Athenians had opportunities to speak out and voice their opinion for a better way of life however the Romans did not. In addition, Document C states that in the Roman Republic not all citizens received the same rights or political participation, whereas in Athens all citizens had full rights and political participation. In Rome, citizenship was given out freely but was unfair and in measured amounts.
This group of people only included white male citizens, meaning that slaves, foreign born residents, women and some men who hadn’t obtained citizenship couldn’t vote (Doc D). This completely contradicts the all-inclusive concept of direct democracy that the Athenian government preached so frequently. To have a powerful and lasting empire with great prosperity you must have a series of strong leaders. The period of prosperity in Athens was so short lived because they only had one strong leader, Pericles. After Pericles died Athens could not defeat Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and also couldn’t hold the truce that was signed in 421 BC which allowed Sparta to gain overall victory in the
The education of Sparta varied in strengths and in weaknesses. The Sparta’s were first located in southern Greece called the Peloponnese. In this colony, the Sparta’s only vision was bloodthirsty war and violence. At the age of seven, a young boy is removed from his family and is expected, from his 8th to his 21st year, become educated to a brutal military-like discipline. Therefore, regarding the education in Sparta, the weaknesses outweighed the strength because the Spartan’s didn’t value family morals, the basics of reading and writing were taught, and the upbringing of Spartan boys was cruel and painful.
The city-state wanted to better themselves, so they developed the code of behavior of non-retaliation. They provided three social groups the citizens or free adult males, non-citizens who were women or foreigners, and slaves. Sparta, on the other hand, carried military values they provided the military with whatever needs necessary. This city-state emphasized on expanding power and gaining control over other kingdoms. Sparta contained three social group as well, the citizens or landowners, the non-citizens, and the Helots who were forced to work for the citizens.
From the Mesopotamians to Aztecs, writing and books (or scrolls in some cases) have been the influencing factor in the societies. I agree with this statement because it defines books as the higher power in creating and developing governments, communities, and even religions. In examples from Introduction to Book History, the writers of the books have the ability to shape a way that a person looks at a civilization and even define its existence. Books are able to transverse centuries, falling in and out of favor in societies. That is the most wonderful thing about books because it allows the reader to go back in time, to expand their knowledge, and form opinions based on the information gained.
In this essay, I would like to answer and discuss the following questions: How did the people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How were two city-states similar in their governmental structures and how did they differ with each other? For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta.
The ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta are often regarded as the quintessential examples of two distinct forms of governance in the classical world. Athens is celebrated for its early democratic system, while Sparta is known for its militaristic and oligarchic society. This paper aims to explore the similarities and differences in the governmental structures of these two influential city-states, with a particular focus on political participation, public office holding, and the rules governing the selection of public officials. How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community?
These were all older men who had great wealth. In his Republic, Plato also criticizes oligarchy, saying of Sparta’s government, “A government resting on a valuation of property, in which the rich have power and the poor man is deprived of it… And then one, seeing another grow rich, seeks to rival him, and thus the great mass of the citizens become lovers of money.” In order to keep control of their economy while maintaining a strong military, the Spartans relied heavily on slaves. These slaves had no rights, and even the poor had very little say in their lives.
In their democracy, every male was required to participate regardless of his social standing. In the Athenian government, “no one, so long as he has it in him to be of service to the state is kept in political obscurity because of poverty.” This represents the Athenians belief that the people should have a role in politics and not just officials. The Athenians wanted to ensure equality and respect throughout the polis. Like the Athenians, the Spartans supported the idea that wealth should not limit a person.
There were many cases of bribery in the government that wasn't taken seriously by the court. In Sparta power was given to citizens through the assembly which consisted of all male citizens in Sparta, but in theory anyone could participate. The government had an elaborate system of checks and balances to make sure that no branch had more power than another. Also contrary to popular belief the Spartans treated there slaves bette than the Athenians. The slaves in Sparta were actually known as helots who were lower class citizens.
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.
In Athens democracy only adult male citizens could vote, however women and slaves did not have political rights. The adult male citizens had an assembly were they met and discussed and debated different legislative issues and decisions on foreign policy, final decisions and proclamations were carved in stone and erected in prominent places like Agora(gathering place/market place),democracy in Athens was direct democracy. The assembly met four times a month but according to the ancient Greek calendar 40 times a year. Ostracism was also something done in ancient Greek democracy, the members of assembly wrote name of the person whom they want to be banished on a piece of pottery and the one with moat voted would be exiled for 10 years ,this was really helpful because it kept those people with lofty aspirations from being aggressive.
