The Polis and Ancient Greek Life To the Ancient Greeks, the Polis was the center of their way of life. From socializing to conducting business to even deciding whether to go to war, the Polis was a very important aspect of the Greek’s lives. In the essay, the functions of the Polis will be discussed along with how the Polis managed to bring about the formation of Democracy, with the Polis of the city of Athens being the main example. The importance of the Polis will be explored through this essay because without the Polis, Democracy as we know it may not have ever formed. In ancient Greece, the Polis was the center of everything, consisting of the main town, but also farms and villages surrounding the polis. The polis began to form during …show more content…
in the more advanced areas of Greece, economically and socially speaking” (“Greek Administration”, 1988). The polis was a way of the Greeks finding a way to organize themselves into a society, becoming more civilized. According to Greek Administration, “In its fundamental essence it was never conceived as an extent of territory, although its boundaries could be drawn on a map, but rather as a group of citizens feeling themselves bound together under the rule of law” (“Greek Administration, 1988). In terms that are more familiar to the way we teach history today in our society, the polis is what we would call a city-state, each individual polis being its own city-state, acting almost like a small country. According to Nardo, “Although all Greeks, the residents of the various poleis developed differing local governments and customs as well as different forms of currency” (Nardo, 2007). Viewing each polis as a separate country from the others would eventually lead to conflict, seeing as some poleis were bound to eventually begin to view themselves as superior to the other poleis. According to Nardo, “Indeed, they thought of …show more content…
Each Polis had a patron deity and was named after their patron deity, Athens’s deity being the Goddess of Wisdom and of War, Athena. Athens was one of the largest city-states in Greece, the city-state that came second to Athens being Sparta, but it is one of the most well-known city-states due to having features of its own that were not seen in any other city-states and one other feature that it gave us that is still present today, known as Democracy. An example of one of these distinctive features, according to Polis, was introduced during the classical period, “In about 508-507 B.C., Cleisthenes prevented Athenian aristocrats from controlling the assembly by limiting citizenship” (“Polis”, 1998). By doing this, citizenship was no longer controlled by the rich, making it easier to become a part of Athenian society. But Cleisthenes did not stop there, proposing even more reforms, as according to Polis, “He also instituted the Council of 500, whose members were chosen by lot from male citizens 30 years of age or older” (“Polis”, 1998). By doing this, Cleisthenes introduced electing officials, which would become a core part of Democracy, and even made the officials take an oath swearing to act in accordance to the laws and to also act in the best interests of the Polis. According to Polis, “They also swore not to imprison any citizen except those charged with treason, revolution, or breaking their tax contracts”
Consequently, the Old Order was challenged and new nations were born, through a domino effect from nationalism, to revolutions, to new
Understanding Athenian and Spartan Governmental Structures Introduction Though both powerful and influential, the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta had very different governmental institutions. The purpose of this document is to investigate the differences between Athens and Sparta in terms of how people obtained the right to participate in public life, the composition of public office holders, the rules governing their selection, and the similarities and differences in their overall governmental structures. Obtaining the Right to Participate in Public Life and Make Decisions: Athens: The right to participate in public life was extended to adult male citizens of Athenian descent in Athens. Women, slaves, and foreign residents
The geography of Greece influenced the development of ancient Greek government and politics. When describing ancient Greece, “mountainous land” is the phrase one would use because Greece is made up of many mountains. Because of the mountains, it was difficult to commute from place to place. As a result of that, instead of Greece being ruled by one government, it formed many different poleis, which each had their own government Polis is the Greek word for independent city-states. Greeks had a strong connection with their polis, and they strongly identified with them.
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.
Evaluation: This source was written by Aristotle in 350 BCE as he was present at the time that democracy was developed it makes this source a primary source making it more reliable. The source provided a detailed explanation of the ancient Greeks democratic processes and development as the source was highly detailed it provides for a more reliable source. The source is translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon he is a palaeographer and a biblical and classical scholar this means that the source has been translated by a qualified professionally, thus meaning it is more reliable. This source is useful as it provides insight into the laws and rules of ancient Greece at the time this helped in the understanding of the ancient Greek society and what
In mid-6th c. BCE Athens, just five years after the government of Solon (594), the Athenians found themselves encompassed by dissension and internal disorder. Athens created the first democracy-based government, although their government became more of a republic with democratic attributes. They, the electors, were unable to elect an Archon for five years due to their dissent with the former principles ran by the State. All people within Athens viewed these principles with contempt, those in the elite[upper] class were ‘estranged because of the abolition of debts,’ while the poor people wanted the distribution of all land and property. Both parties were unhappy with the changes made by Solon’s reforms and so many refused to vote for any new
Today, many of the world’s government structures were based on the principle of one of Greece’s city-states. Greece became a country advancing well before its time, strong in both military and brain power. This country was able to produce two city-states that became foundations to advancing the rest of the world. The first city-state, Athens, is thought to be the first to implement a democratic government while Sparta became known for their military power. While Athens and Sparta provide the world with advancements they differ in the ways of government structures, social motivations, and cultural differences.
What is a good person, and how does one achieve the good life? These were the questions asked by the ancient Greeks. Arete, or excellence, was what the Greeks strove for in everything. In a quest for excellence, the Greeks experimented with new types of politics. Greece was divided into individual city-states that each had their own form of government.
The Greeks displayed their humanistic values through government by they utilizing an effective system of self governing. This system was a direct democracy, defined as “government by the people” or “rule of the majority.” In the Athenian Democracy, the Assembly was the regular
Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote.
Great number of polises encircled culture and political life of a state. However, this fact is also often called as one of the main factors which led to decline of Ancient Greece. The thing is that there was no centralized state which could be able to resist some invaders. The whole history of ancient Greece can be takes as the chain of wars for dominance in the region. Polis, which managed to conquer the rest of cities in the area, became the main power which determined further development of a state,
Sparta vs. Athens To begin with, Athens and Sparta were both famous in antiquity for their legend, cultures and the character of the people. On the one hand, the two poleis share certain obvious affinities, such as language, geographical scope, a common Greek ancestry etc. On the other hand, they were polar opposites in many aspects, from social spheres, political structures, to military might, which I believe there are some hidden depths in these city-states. Hence, let’s look at how did their people obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community, and who held public office first.
Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.
Greece and India had belief systems that shared some common aspects. However, the two systems had many basic differences. Greece and India were more different, because Greece’s system was based in Humanism, while India’s was based in spiritualism. The Greeks emphasized the physical world, concentrating on what was right in front of them, things they could see and touch. The Indians believed in something beyond the physical world.
the idea of representative government began to take root in some city states, specifically Athens. Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, rule by the people. In Athens citizens participated directly in political decision making. However there were limitations on citizenship to ensure that only the most rational people were able to vote. Through the construction of democracy in Athens, equality of all citizens became greater, and the city would become the top democracy of all the democracies.