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Sparta & Athens. Main Idea: Sparta and Athens developed very different societies and systems of Government. Question?. Describe the types of government that developed in the Greek city-states. Kings - overthrown by the aristocrats.
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Sparta & Athens Main Idea: Sparta and Athens developed very different societies and systems of Government.
Question? Describe the types of government that developed in the Greek city-states. Kings- overthrown by the aristocrats. Aristocrats- lost power due to the hoplites which in turn they were overthrown by the Tyrants. Tyrants-who were overthrown by citizens who set up popular governments known as democracy. Democracy- city-states governed by the people or a representative of the people. Council of citizens now limited the individual ruler’s power.
Sparta- the military ideal Sparta was located in a valley, not on an acropolis. It was not surrounded by walls for defense. The Peloponnesus was isolated and mountainous; this explains why Sparta developed very differently from Athens. Sparta becomes a rigid and highly militarized society. The people who the Spartans conquered were know as Helots.
Spartan Society Sparta’s Three Social Groups
3 Societies • Equals/Half-Citizens/ Helots:
Gov’t in Sparta • Kings: Two Kings were at the head of the Gov’t. One king led the army, one king took care of the matters at home. • Council of Elders: was made up of 28 male citizens over the age of 60 who were wealthy aristocratic men. Proposed laws and served as a criminal court. • The Assembly: Voted to accept or reject laws proposed by the Council of Elders. The Assembly also elected five Ephors for one year terms to make sure the kings stayed within the law. They also had complete control over the education of young Spartans.
Life in Sparta Military Society • Sparta controlled the lives of its citizens from birth to death. • The goal was to make every adult male citizen part of the military machine. • They worked to control the helots. • Sparta was above all a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after birth, the mother of the child bathed it in wine to see whether the child was strong. • If the child survived it was brought before the Gerousia by the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether it was to be reared or not. If they considered it "puny and deformed", the baby was thrown into a chasm on Mount Taygetos.
Life in Sparta Military Society • Age seven young males were left home and moved to the barracks. • Military training formed the basis of their education. Reading and writing was taught but just enough to perform civic duties. Dance and music were also part of their education. • 18-20 they trained for war. • Age 20 they began military service. They could marry but couldn’t live at home until age 30. • They could not engage in trade or business for the feared money would interfere with military discipline. • Age 60 they were expected to work for the public good rather than focus on their private lives.
Life in Sparta Military Society as a Woman. • Spartan girls had to be strong and healthy. • They received strict physical training and were taught to be devoted to the city-state of Sparta. • Spartan women enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. • They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35% of all land and property in Sparta. • When asked by a woman from Attica, “Why Spartan women were the only women in the world who could rule men?” She replied "Because we are the only women who are mothers of men."
Marriage ritual in Sparta • Spartan men were required to marry at age 30,after completing the Krypteia. (Secret police) • Spartan wedding night: • The custom was to capture women for marriage(...) The so-called 'bridesmaid' took charge of the captured girl. She first shaved her head to the scalp, then dressed her in a man's cloak and sandals, and laid her down alone on a mattress in the dark. The bridegroom—who was not drunk and thus not impotent, but was sober as always—first had dinner in the messes, then would slip in, undo her belt, lift her and carry her off. • The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after the marriage. These customs, unique to the Spartans, have been interpreted in various ways. The "abduction" may have served to ward off the evil eye evil, and the cutting of the wife's hair was perhaps part of a rite of passage that signaled her entrance into a new life.
Opinion “The Spartans bathed their infants in wine rather than water to test and toughen their bodies. Children were subject to strict discipline from the start, and were taught not to be afraid in the dark, not to be finicky about food, and not to be peevish(moody) and tearful.” Lycurgus Write a paragraph describing how most Americans today would react to such treatment of children.
Writing Assignment Choose one of the following of Sparta’s inhabitants: half citizen, helots, equals, ephors, boy soldiers, Spartan girls. Write a journal entry in the role of your character, describing daily life (one paragraph), your role in Spartan society( one paragraph), and what the character thinks about this role (one paragraph).
Athens: Birth Place of Democracy How did democracy develop in Athens?
Athens • Athens turned to the sea for trading. • Coined money stimulated trade. • City was built inland to be protected from pirates and built a protected Piraeus a special port. Athens was a typical polis built around the rocky hill of the Acropolis.
Athens Society • Citizens formed a top group in Athenians society. • Aristocrats or poor farmers. • Only Athenian-born men have full political rights, female citizens could not vote or hold office.
Metics and Slaves • A Meticis a non-citizen because they were born outside of Athens. • Metics worked as merchants or artisans. They were free and paid taxes as citizens, they couldn’t own land or take part in politics. • Slaves were at the bottom of Athens society. Slaves were seen as natural and necessary. Slaves were people captured in war. Owned by masters and treated as property. Slaves could be released and became metics.
Early Gov’t • After the Athenian monarchy ended, it had an aristocratic gov’t. Only citizens who owned land held office. All adult males met in an assembly. • Archons-there were 9 elected and were rulers who served one-year terms. • Draco created the first written law code around 600 BC. His laws were harsh and severe. Today we call a harsh law a Draconian law. • As time passed people more so farmers were sold into slavery in order to pay their debt. Anger spread among the poor.
Early Gov’t • Solon: was an archon who settled the disputes between creditors and debtors by erasing the debts of the poor and outlawing slavery for debt. He freed those who had become slaves to pay their debt. • He made changes in the Gov't by dividing all citizens into fours groups based on wealth. The top two could hold public office; however, all citizens could sit in the assembly that elected those officials. He also set up a court made up of citizen jurors.
Early Gov’t • Peisistratus ruled over Athens as a tyrant. He did improve the economy but clashes with the nobles. • Athenian Democracy: Cleisthenes: turned Athens into a democracy.
Democracy • Cleisthenes divided Athens's citizen into ten tribes. Each tribe choose 50 men. They formed the Council of Five Hundred. Members served for one year and could not be chosen more than twice. They purposed laws to the assembly, but the assembly had final authority. • Courts became democratic as well, jurors were citizens chosen by lot. Each man could plead his own case to the jury, and the jury voted each case by a secret ballot. • Athens under Cleisthenes is a form of direct democracy. All citizens participated directly in the decision making process. As compared to a Representative democracy where the citizens elect representatives to govern for them.
