Sparta Vs Athens :: essays papers

Sparta Vs AthensIn Ancient Greece there were two different major forms of organization,Oligarchy and Democracy. The two city-states that best comprise eachform of government were Sparta (oligarchy) and Athens (democracy). Thedemocratic government in Athens, though de cently equal, fair and fairlyadvanced for its time, did not meet the needs of the Greeks. During atime of many military battles Athens decided to worry more about comfortand culture. It is the oligarchy in Sparta that put a war-like attitudeas its premiere priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greece. The Athenian democratic government, which may have given the citizens inGreece more freedom, was not the best form of government at the time. Thedemocracy in Athens cannot really be called a true democracy since therewere several flaws in the governme nt and the way it worked. Only decennary percent of the total cosmos of Athens actually had voting rights and allof these citizens were upper class men who wer e over thirty years old. Women, no way out what the class or age, were given no freedom at all. They were first owned by their fathers and then were passed from them totheir husbands who then gave them nothing more than the responsibilitiesof managing the household and educating the children. During a meeting ofthe Assembly, a policy could be adopted and formed into a law but once themeeting of the assembly ended, the enforcement of that law was left in thehands of people who may not agree with that specific law. Also, a rule ofthe Assembly said that if a certa in speaker became too powerful, hecould be expelled from the country if given a majority vote by theAssembly. This rule could easily be abused and really infringed on thefreedom of quarrel that most democracies have. The Assembly was made up offive hundred men who were chosen from a list of those who were eligible toserve on the council. Since most of the population was of a lowereconomic class, the time taken away fro m their normal work by serving onthe Assembly lowered their earning potential , do their already poorsituation to worsen. Life may have been sophisticated and graceful inAthens but the Athenians were often mocked by opposing countries and former(a)city-states for having no bravery, patriotism or courage. This was shownby the repeated attacks on Athens. If the Athenians had a more war-like