Greek+Politics+and+City+States

=Politics and City States = toc By James Parsons

The City States of Greece
There were many Greek [|city states]in ancient Greece. However, the main city states were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes. These Greek city states were similar because they all spoke Greek, had the same Greek religion, and wrote in Greek. City states also had great differences, such as culture and traditions. Sparta is the city state with the greatest military strength and best preserved Greek values. 

Life of a Spartan Man
Sparta had a remarkable social system that completely revolved around their military. Young boys were taken from the age of 7 from their families and put into military and education training. These boys recieved very little food, and were taught to survive on what they could find. They were taught to steal, but were punished when caught. The youth of Sparta was also forced to endure the hardships of the cold, fatigue, thirst, pain, and lack of sleep. Twelve years of this training was called [|Agoge]. Once completed, Spartan men were married and enlisted in the army. A big event for Spartans was the Greek Olympics.    

Life of a Spartan Woman
Spartan girls lived with their mothers during their youth. They were taught how to be good mothers and were well educated. Many Spartan women were taught how to read and write. Spartan women were also trained in running, wresting and javilin throwing. they continued to live with their mother until marriage and their first pregnancy. Marriages were arranged, but the bride and groom usually knew each other. Spartan men lived in barracks and had little contact with their wives to increase sexual desire. This was believed to produce more healthy children. For more information about the differences between life for Men & Woman, and Sparta & Athens look here.

==Spartan Leadership == "The Lacedaemonian [Spartan] constitution is defective in another point; I mean the Ephoralty. This magistracy has authority in the highest matters, but the Ephors are chosen from the whole people, and so the office is apt to fall into the hands of very poor men, who, being badly off, are open to bribes." - From Aristotle The Politics: On the Lacedaemonian Constitution

To help understand this peice more you should know the meaning of some of these words. An Ephor is one of a body of five elected magistrates exercising a supervisory power over the kings of Sparta. There is three main components in the Spartan government; Monarchial, Oligarchic, and Democratic. The quote from Aristotle is explaining how there government worked, the components of Spartan government were determained and made clear by Aristotles teachings.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">﻿Monarchial
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Monarchial is two kings,hereditary monarchs, one from each of the Agiad and Eurypontid families, they had priest like obligations and the power to declare war. The family dynasties are listed on this page for reference [|here.]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Oligarchic
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Oligarchic is the kings that were members of the [|Gerousia] automatically. The 28 elders council for life along with the two kings had the main power shared with the five ephors.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Democratic
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The last component was made up of all [|Spartiates] over 18.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Aristotle believed that poor people weren't suited to run the government because they would be easily susceptible to bribes and not fitted to be leaders. Aristotle divided Greek governments into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies, and democracies.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Athens Leadership
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In Athens and man could make the most important decisions. They had meetings about once a month on a hill in Athens called the Pnyx. They called the meetings Ekklesia. The meetings were private not allowing people out of the council. Five hundered men were chosen for a seperate council called Boule that met more often and actually make laws and took care of topics important to Athenian people. The was also nine men called archons chosen by a lottery that took care of religious things mostly. Another branch of their government was called strategoi, a word meaning "generals", there were ten of them elected. They commanded the Athenian army and navy through the wars. The most famous of the strategos were Perciles, Themistocles, and Alcibiades. The last part of this democratic government was the judges and courts. There was about 6,000 every year serving as jury members. There was no appeal, if you were convicted of a crime you were sentenced and that was it. The jury members also voted on bills being turned into laws or not. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The large differences in leadership led to several wars, to learn about those wars look here.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">References:
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] [] []