Sparta And Athens
...city-states that best represent each
form of government were Sparta (oligarchy) and Athens (democracy). The
democratic government in Athens, though de cently equal, fair and fairly
advanced for its time, did not meet the needs of the Greeks. During a
time of many military battles Athens decided to worry more about comfort
and culture. It is the oligarchy in Sparta that put a war-like attitude
as it's first priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greece.
The Athenian democratic government, which may have given the citizens in
Greece more freedom, was not the best form of government at the time. The
democracy in Athens cannot really be called a true democracy since there
were several flaws in the governme nt and the way it worked. Only ten per
cent of the total population of Athens actually had voting rights and all
of these citizens were upper class men who were over thirty years old.
Women, no matter what the class or age, were given no freedom at all.
They were first owned by their fathers and then were passed from them to
their husbands who then gave them nothing more than the responsibilities
of managing the household and educating the children. During a meeting of
the Assembly, a policy could be adopted and formed into a law but once the
meeting of the assembly ended, the enforcement of that law was left in the
hands of people who may not agree with that specific law. Also, a rule of
the Assembly said that if a certa! in speaker became too powerful, he
could be expelled from the country if given a majority vote by the
Assembly. This rule could easily be abused and really infringed on the
freedom of speech that most democracies have. The Assembly was made up of
five
hundred men who were chosen from a list of those who were eligible to
serve on the council. Since most of the population was of a lower
economic class, the time...
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