Government inAncient Greece

1. Democracy in Athens

2. The oligarchs in Sparta

• Remember that before the conquests by Phillip II of Macedonia, Ancient Greece wascomprised of several city-states

• The city-states included Athens, Sparta, Syracuse, Corinth, and others

• Each city-state had its own system of government

• Today we will look at the governments of two city-states: Athens and Sparta

1. Democracy in Athens• Before the 6th century BCE, Athens was

ruled over by the rich and powerful elite

• In 506 BCE, Clisthenes established the foundations of Athenian democracy

• The word “democracy” comes from two Greek terms

• “demos” = the people

• “kratos” = power

• “democracy” = power to the people!

How would you describe “democracy?”

• The Athenians created an assembly of citizens called the Ecclesia

• The Ecclesia was made up of 550 men who voted on important laws concerningwar, taxes, sanitation, policing, etc.

• Each year, names were drawn for new members of the ecclesia

• Any male citizen over the age of 30 couldbe eligible for the draw

• At least once per month, any male citizenover the age of 18 was given the chance to present their opinions to the ecclesia

• Now that’s democracy, right?

• Not for everybody, it wasn’t!

• Women, slaves, and foreigners couldneither speak before nor serve on the ecclesia, and they also could not vote

What are some of the advantages and

disadvantages of this form of government?

• Discuss in groups of 3 or 4 for 5 minutes

2. The oligarchs in Sparta• The system of government in Sparta was

called an oligarchy

• “oli” = small, or few in number

• “arkho” = to rule

• In Sparta there were 2 kings and 5 ephors(leaders) who oversaw all aspects of public life

• Sparta was a militaristic society

• In an army, soldiers don’t vote on eachdecision

• Why?

• Sparta was a militaristic society

• In an army, soldiers don’t vote on eachdecision

• Why? Because the needs of the group must come before the needs of the individual

• The Spartans believed that the needs of the group must come before the needs of the individual in a society as well

Rights of the individual vs. Needs of the collective

• In Sparta, the citizens were not given the chance to give their opinions to the kingsor ephors

• Punishments for those who did not obeythe will of the kings or ephors were verysevere (in most cases it was death)

What are some of the advantages and

disadvantages of this form of government?

• Discuss in groups of 3 or 4 for 5 minutes

Time for your Athenian Fun Fact of the Day

• Where does our idea of “ostracism” come from?

• Ostrakon were pieces of broken pottery used in another system of “democracy” that Cleisthenes created in Athens

• Every year, a special vote was heldwherein voting males could write on theirostrakon the name of any one personwhom they felt the state could do awaywith for a while

• As long as a minimum 6,000 votes werecast, the person whose name appearedmost frequently, would be banished fromAthens for 10 years!