ATHENS

SPARTA

• Sparta was located in southern Greece, in the Peloponnesus.

• Sparta was the city, Laconia was the region around Sparta.

• “Spartan” means very plain and simple• “Laconic” means using few words.• Spartans were both “spartan” and “laconic”.

SPARTA-Culture

• Primary focus on the military and being prepared for war.

• Social Groups:– “Spartan Equals” – Half-citizens– Helots

Social Groups

• “Spartan Equals– upper class of Sparta;

warriors and ruling class– About 10,000 of them– “Equal” to each other, but

superior to the other people

– Lived very plain and simple lives

Social classes

• Half citizen (Perioikoi)– Free, not slaves, but not full citizens– Farmers and craftsmen– Paid taxes and sometimes served in the military– Few political rights

SOCIAL CLASSES

• Helots– State-owned slaves of the Spartan Equals– Descendants of the people called the Messenians, who were

originally neighbors of the Spartans; then in the 600sBC, the Spartans conquered them and made them slaves

– Worked on the land of the Spartan Equals; kept a portion of the crop for themselves and gave the rest to the Spartan overlords

– Fear of a helot uprising led to the bizarre military culture of Sparta: “If the helots ever get the chance, they will kill all the Spartans, eat them, and laugh!”

– 10 helots for every Sparta Equal

Life & training of a Spartan Equal (male)

• Birth-Examined by a committee from the Spartan government. Weak babies were “exposed” (put out to die)

• 0-7: Lived at home with their mothers

• Age 7: began the training-the “agoge”– left home and moved into army barracks for

training– Strict physical training– Learned to obey elders without question &

endure hardship; one cloak through the winter

– Intentionally underfed; encouraged to steal food, but punished if caught;

– Developed close friendships with the other boys their age

– They learned and practiced military skills; fighting in a phalanx with one mind and one will

Life of a Spartan Equal

• Krypteia (“secret police”) at 18, the best boys became members of the Krypteia for 2 years; lived out-of-doors; spied on the helots, and were authorized to kill any suspected of disloyalty

Life of a Spartan Equal

• Age 20-30 – they joined the army and became members of one

of the army groups called “messes” – a group that ate, lived & trained together

– Married, but continued to live in the barracks with their mess. They didn’t live with their wives until age 30. Their primary emotional attachment was always to the army and to Sparta

Life of a Spartan Equal

• Age 30-60-still in active military service – were assigned an estate where they lived with

their wives. – However, they continued to train each day and eat

their main meal with their “mess”• Age 60+ – retired from military duty – could become a member of the Council of Elders

(Gerousia)

The Spartan Army

• Best army in Greece, one of the best in the world

• Had shields with a Ʌ (lambda) for Laconia• Story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae

Daily life in Sparta

• Discouraged the arts, literature, philosophy and science

• Very simple food-most famous was black soup made from pig’s blood

• Women had a more important role than in other Greek cities; they carried on everyday life while the men were training for the army.

Spartan Girls

• Raised at home by the mothers• Expected to exercise and take part in

sports, to be strong and healthy and have healthy sons

• Could own property, didn’t have to stay in the house

• Actually had more freedom than women in other Greek poleis

Spartan government• Only the Spartan Equals (upper class) participated in government• 2 Hereditary “Kings”

– didn’t have absolute power. – 1 from each of the 2 most noble families – one stayed at home, and one led the army in the field

• Council of Elders –– 28 Spartan Equals over 60 years of age. – Proposed laws and policies. Served as the Criminal Court

• Assembly – – all Spartan Equal men over 30. – Voted on whether to accept or reject the laws proposed by the Council of Elders

• 5 Ephors –– elected by the assembly for one year term. – Carried out the day to day business of government. Supervised the agoge.

• Athens was located on the “Attic” peninsula

• Region around Athens was called “Attica”

Sparta Athens

• Strength • Duty• Discipline

• Individuality• Creativity• Freedom (for Athenian

men)

• Many Athenians earned their living as fisherman or traders. Some were farmers, but the land is poor, and farming is hard. The only thing that grows well is olive trees.

• The port was called Piraeus. Athens was slightly inland from the sea.

• Athens was built around a high rocky hill. The hill was the acropolis. There was a market around it called the agora.

Athenian Society• 3 main groups

– Citizens-• People born in Athens, of Athenian parents• Included the rich and the poor• Women were considered citizens, but had few rights; only male

citizens had full political rights.

– Metics• Free, non-citizen residents of Athens• Included people born outside Athens, or whose parents were not

citizens. • Usually merchants or artisans; could not own land.

– Slaves• Usually captured in war. • In early times, they could be debt slaves, but Athens changed this.

History of the Government of Athens

• MONARCHY: Before about 800BC, it was a monarchy, with a king

• ARISTOCRACY About 800BC, the monarchy ended (there is no record of how this happened), and Athens became an aristocracy, ruled mostly by the land-owning nobles. Ordinary citizens did have some rights; they could vote, but could not hold office. 9 officials called Archons were elected each year (they had to be land-owning nobles).

LAWS OF DRACO: 621BC

• Before 621BC, the laws of Athens were not written

• Common people complained about this, and demanded that the laws be written. The aristocrats finally agreed.

• In 621BC, an Athenian named Draco was commissioned to write them.

• The law code he wrote was VERY harsh and severe.

• Thus, even today, a very harsh law is called a “Draconian” law.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF GROWING WEALTH 600s-500sBC

• Many people were becoming wealthy from increasing trade.

• However, the poor were getting poorer. Some poor people borrowed from the rich and then couldn’t repay the debt.

• If they couldn’t pay, they were forced to sell their wives & children, and finally themselves to pay the debts. They became “debt slaves”.

• The discontent and anger spread, and the poor were about to take the city by force.

REFORMS OF SOLON. ATHENS BECOMES AN OLIGARCHY

• The citizens, nobles, other rich people, and poor, met. They entrusted a wise man named Solon with the job of reforming the laws.

Economic Reforms of Solon

• Abolished debt slavery for Athenian citizens. No citizen could become a slave because of debt.

• He gave everyone a fresh start by erasing all debts, just once.

Political Reforms of Solon

• Divided citizens into 4 groups, based on wealth (rather than inherited noble status). Men from the two richest groups could hold office, including Archon. In effect, Athens made the transition from aristocracy to oligarchy.

• All male citizens were members of the Assembly, and the Assembly elected the Archons and other officials.

• Even today, a wise statesman is called a “Solon”.

TYRANNY IN ATHENS (546BC-527BC)

• There was a period when a man named Peisistratus got control of the city government and became the “tyrant of Athens.”

• Archons were still elected the same way, its just that he or his men always got elected.

TYRANNY IN ATHENS (546BC-527BC)

• Peisistratus got this power by gaining the strong support of the poor and other common people. – He “bought” their votes by doing favors for them. – He created jobs for them, he is believed to have

confiscated the lands of some of the wealthy (he found a legal excuse), and divided them among the poor.

– In this way he controlled politics for about 20 years. He was a “Tyrant”

TYRANNY IN ATHENS (546BC-527BC)

• The economy of Athens actually improved while he was in power, and the poor came to feel “empowered”.

• After Peisistratus died, his sons Hippias and Hipparchus tried to step into his role, but failed miserably.

• By 507BC, Athens was in complete turmoil. Some aristocrats in Athens even wanted the Spartans to come in and restore order!

• The aristocrats briefly returned to power.

DEMOCRATIC REFORMS of CLEISTHENES

• A man named Cleisthenes rose and “seized power” in this turmoil.

• He was an aristocrat, but very idealistic. • He had a new plan, and the city adopted it.

DEMOCRATIC REFORMS of CLEISTHENES-507BC

• In 507BC, under the reforms of Cleisthenes, Athens became a direct democracy

Government of Athens-Council of 500

• All citizens were divided into 10 groups called “tribes” (not tribes in the usual sense)

• Each tribe chose 50 members, a “committee”, by drawing names (by lot) .

• These 50 member committees from each tribe formed the COUNCIL OF 500• 50 x 10 tribes. • The Council of 500 served for 1 year and no one could serve more than

twice. • The Council proposed laws and policies to submit for a vote to the Assembly.

• Each month a different tribal “committee” presided, and each day of the month, a different member of that tribal committee was chosen by lot, to be the “President for a Day”.

Government of Athens-Assembly & Archons

• ASSEMBLY: • Consisted of all the male citizens over 18• The Assembly had the final say on everything. They voted

directly on all laws and policies.• It met twice a month on the Pnyx Hill. • They debated and discussed. It was a mad-house. It was the

duty of every citizen to attend. If he didn’t, he was painted with red paint.

• The ASSEMBLY also voted for 9 ARCHONS who were magistrates with certain duties, including that of being general.

• Any male citizen, regardless of wealth, could hold any office in Athens

Government of Athens-Juries

• JURIES of citizens decided all criminal cases. • A jury could be 101 men to 1001 men, but the usual

number was 501. • Jurors were chosen by lot (drawing names) from all

the male citizens.

Government of Athens-Ostracism• Every once in a while, there was a

special vote called an “ostracism”.

• Each Assembly member voted for their least favorite person.

• The “winner” was exiled for 10 years.

• The word “ostracism” comes from the Greek word “ostraka”, which was a piece of broken pottery on which the voter wrote the name of the person he wanted ostracized.

Democracy in Athens

• From 507BC-404BC, Athens had a direct democracy• All adult male citizens, rich or poor, participated.

Remember, women, metics and slaves did not participate.

• One of the main differences between democracy in Athens and democracy in America, is that we don’t vote directly on most laws and policies. We vote for representatives who vote on laws and policies. We have a “representative democracy”, also called a republic.

Pericles

• Pericles was the greatest Athenian statesman of the period 461BC-429BC, the “Golden Age”.

• Pericles proposed, and the Assembly passed legislation that made democratic Athens even more truly democratic.

• Although all male citizens belonged to the Assembly & could hold any office, often poor men didn’t want to attend Assembly meetings or run for office, because they couldn’t afford the time away from their jobs or farms.

• So, to make it more possible for poor men to participate in government, he proposed a law that PAID citizens the average wage of an Athenian workman for time spent on government.

• This made it truly possibly for poor citizens to participate fully.

Pericles’ Funeral Oration

• Pericles made a famous speech at the funeral of men who died in the Peloponnesian War (which we will learn about in the next section). It eloquently describes what made Athens worth dying for, and what democracy was all about

Pericles’ Funeral Oration

• “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves

• It’s administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy.

• If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in the private differences; if we look to social standing, advancement in public life depends on ability; class considerations are not allowed to interfere with merit.

Pericles’ Funeral Oration

• “The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life.

• There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance (secret observation) over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes.

• But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws.” – Pericles