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Summary: The Greek City Governmental Systems

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The Greek City States Governmental Systems
Throughout the history of Ancient Greece, many governments rose and fell. Of particular importance is the rise of Democracy in Athens, a system where the people had rule. Throughout all the years, oligarchies, tyrannies, and monarchies also had their place. Most of the recordings we have today are of Athens and Sparta, the two biggest city-states. We will focus mainly on these. [Note: Aristocracy is not a type of government, but a class of people within a system. This class of people were wealthy and were important in the eyes of the common folk].
Democracy
I will start with democracy, because it is the prevalent system of government used in the world today. Athens is the best example of a democratic government. Circa 500 BC, a
aristocratic …show more content…

Most important, an Assembly was born, where every free Athenian male had a vote in matters. The system developed as time went on, but things got ugly. Several times throughout Athen’s history, democracy was overthrown and replaced with oligarchies and dictatorships. Other city-states that had democracies include
Syracuse, Rhodes, and Erythrai. (Cartwright, 2013)
Monarchy
One example of a monarchy is Sparta. Sparta had a system of checks and balances in their government, but during war time the country was ruled by two kings. These kings were from the two prevalent royal families, and during peace-time were checked by another branch of government. There weren’t many monarchies to be found in Ancient Greece; some tyrannous
GREEK GOVERNMENTS 3 rulers that actually ruled in favor of the people and were liked and accepted were sometimes considered a monarch. (Cartwright, 2013)
Tyranny
Tyrannies were a bit more common. Often, someone would rise up and forcibly take power from the existing power. A ruler was tyrannous only if they took power forcibly, and didn’t inherit the city-state. Some examples include Pesisistratus (Athens, 560 BC)

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