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” or
“Spartiates”
– 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
• Strength
• Duty
• Discipline
Athens
• 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.
• 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
Thucydides
• Athenian historian during the “golden age”.
• He recorded events during this period,
including the famous speech of Pericles.
• He tried to be unbiased. He tells us when he
directly observed what he records, or when he
got his information 2nd hand.