Sparta and Athens A look at the Greek

Sparta and Athens: A look at the Greek polis

asty + chora = polis • Asty means city proper, downtown, or urban core • Chora means the agricultural outskirts outside the city walls The polis of Atlanta is what we think of as the “greater metropolitan” area.

Every polis had certain features • An agora, or public marketplace • A major temple to the city’s main deity • An institutional center, a building or open-air space formal matters • Entertainment facilities • An acropolis

Agora An agora was a public market place where products were exchanged, people bought and sold things, but also where people encountered each other, where they hung out and talked and gossiped. In a sense, the life the city, or polis, really was played out informally, in many ways, in the agora.

The temple An artist’s rendition of the temple atop the acropolis in Athens What the inside of the temple probably looked like.

Institutional center: Where democracy took place Pericles giving a speech to the citizens of Athens at the Assembly.

The Greeks invented two forms of entertainment still enjoyed today. Every polis contained these facilities Ruins of an ancient Greek theatre A modern-day replica of an ancient Greek stadium

Fortifications Some poleis also had natural fortifications. These could involve walls around the city, but often there was some sort of high point. Cities started off and were built around, or even on, a high point. The greatest example of this is the Acropolis in Athens. This is a stone butte that sticks up right in the middle of the city, several hundred feet above the level of most of the urban core down below it, so that people would go there in ritual procession. But it was also a place to which people could retreat if the city were ever attacked by any of its neighbors.

Civic virtue in Athenian democracy: politics • Aristotle believed that humans lived “naturally” together in poleis • “politics” comes from the Greek word polis; • There is not an English word for the original meaning of “politics” (i. e. the way of living in a polis) • Aristotle conducted studies of almost 200 poleis

The birth of Sparta • Shrouded in legend • Story of Lycurgus, a mythical law-giver, on command from the gods, gave Sparta a constitution all at once in 750 BCE • Fact: Spartan system emerged slowly after their conquest of the Messenians in 725 BCE

Social hierarchy in the Spartan system • The homoioi (the “equals”) enjoyed total political liberty • The periokoi (the “dwellars about”) were resident aliens who enjoyed protection, but not participation • The helots (the “state slaves”) were the conquered Messenians

The Spartan system of government • Designed to be conservative • Two kings; one at home and one away with the army • Two legislative bodies; one had all the “equals” as member and proposed legislation, the other was made up of the two kings, five ephors, and all “equals” over the age of 60 and had total veto power. • Ephors (the “overseers”) made sure all laws and decisions were in accord with tradition • Krepteia were the secet police who kept everyone in line

The Spartan system depended on agoge • Agoge means “training”, or “upbrining” • Babies were “inspected” and at age 7 went into formal military training until 18 • All adult males were in the mililary until age 60

The Spartan system (continued) • Marriage was not companionate; only purpose was to create more “equals” • Spartan system was designed to create military excellence, discipline, and loyalty • Spartan life was austere and simple • Book-learning was discuoraged • Extreme wealth was seen as unattractive

The Peloponnesian League • Created by the Spartans to control neighboring citystates on the Peloponnesian peninsula • It sought to curtail their democratic urges and mitigate their foreign policy

The end of Sparta • Conquered by the Romans in the 2 nd century BC • Sparta was very much admired by contemporaries for its strength, simplicity, and stability

Athens: The most interesting and most important Greek polis

Democracy in Athens • A long process of power shifting from eupatrids (“wellfathered ones”) to the demos (“people”) • Evolution of Athenian democracy was the result of response to political crisis over a 200 year period

First steps toward democracy • Draco codifies Athenian laws in 621 BCE • Although harsh, the laws were a concession to those who opposed arbitrary rule of the eupatrids • Eupatrids could no longer do whatever they wanted

Writing down the laws does not solve Athens’ political problems • Ordinary farmers still lived on the brink of poverty • Wealthy land-owning eupatrids still ruled alone • Wealthy merchants are excluded from the system

In 594 BCE, Solon, a eupatrid who made a fortune as a merchant, was given wide authority to reform the Athenian political system • Solon was a moderate with no personal ambition for power • He abolished debt slavery • He changed public office qualifications from birth rank to wealth • He created the Council of 400 which set the agenda for all citizens to vote on

The reforms of Peisistratus • He respected all of Solon’s reforms • Redistributed land • Inaugurated festivals and public building projects • After 40 years Peisistratus and his sons were overthrown by the eupatrids • Cleisthenes, a blueblood, was given power to make reforms Peisistratus rode into Athens, accompanied by a tall and beautiful woman dressed as the warrior goddess Athene. The citizens were convinced that it was the goddess herself bringing him back to rule over them.

From about 510 BCE to about 450 the Athenian democracy became as fully democratic as it would ever become. • • Cleisthenes Themistocles Ephialtes Pericles

Cleisthenes • Created a new Council of 500 • Gerrymandered voting blocs to unite people across social class and occupations • Allowed virtually all men to vote and hold office • Created ostracism

Themistocles • Popular leader during the Persian Wars (490 – 478 BCE) • Worked to secure political rights for sailors in the Athenian navy

Ephialtes and Pericles removed the last vestiges of aristocratic privlege • They stripped the eupatrid Aeropagus of its power of judicial review • Instituted pay for holding a public office Statue of Pericles.

How did the Athenian system actually work? • A very weak executive office, with a powerful role for the assembly (i. e. the demos, or people) • Characterized by vigorous debate in the assembly, which encouraged demagogues and lack of continuity in policy

Who enjoyed the rights of Athenian citizenship? • Adult males with two Athenian parents, approximately 10% of all 400, 000 in Athens • Not women, resident aliens, or slaves Women as plunder of war: Ajax the Lesser taking Cassandra, tondo of a red-figure kylix by the Kodros Painter, ca. 440 -430 BC,

How did the Athens system finance itself? • By tribute paid from the Athenian Empire • Slave labor became increasingly important

Athens greatest defender and advocate: Pericles • His Funeral Oration explained how and why Athens was special and the envy of the Greek world

The critics of Athens • Democracy does not bring forth the best and the brightest rulers • Democracy fosters a disrespect for important people • Too changeable and subject to demagoguery; seemed unstable

What is the verdict? Athens demonstrated what a democracy might be. Was it perfect? Far from it. But Athenians showed the world what one version of democracy might look like, and has inspired others for over 2000 years. It remains for others, and is an ongoing project, to show for whom a democracy might work….