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Athens Vs Sparta Essay

741 Words3 Pages

.Introduction
Athens and Sparta were two major city-states in old Greek. We review their governance and compare them for their similarities and differences.

How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders?
In Sparta, native Spartan boys who were healthy by birth survived and became soldiers (Brand, n.d.). The Periokoi who were in Laconia and were dominated by Sparta by 750 BCE were not Spartan citizens nor slaves, but they were inferior to Spartans (Brand, n.d.). The Helots were the largest class of people living in Spartan and became slaves (Brand, n.d.). They were governed by …show more content…

They deprived of the most important possessions and the best agricultural land in the Attic peninsula by power (Brand, n.d.). The poorer and the middle-class citizens agitated for political and economic rights (Brand, n.d.). The aristocrats chose Solon to reform the system in Athens but it fails (Brand, n.d.). Cleisthenes was chosen next and he broke up the factions and created ten tribes (Brand, n.d.). It broke up the powerful influence aristocrats had over the system (Brand, n.d.). Cleisthenes reorganized the Boule or “legislative council” (Brand, n.d.). Chosen 500 councilors came from each tribe in every part of Attica (Brand, n.d.). Cleisthenes had laid the foundation for democracy by allowing every man to vote (Brand, n.d.). In Persian wars, led by Sparta, not only the armies of Athens and Sparta, but also other city-states as Greek allies fought with Persian army many times (Brand, n.d.). Themistocles worried Persians and built a fleet of 200 warships called triremes (Brand, n.d.). Poor majority of Athenian citizens had a chance to get involved in the wars as the war ship trireme 's roars (Brand, n.d.). It opened a door for them to become voters (Brand, n.d.). Democracy in Athens progressed one step further by the wars (Brand,

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