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Main Idea: Sparta and Athens developed very different
societies and systems of Government.
Describe the types of government that developed in the
Greek city-states.
Kings- overthrown by the aristocrats.
Aristocrats- lost power due to the hoplites which in turn
they were overthrown by the Tyrants.
Tyrants-who were overthrown by citizens who set up
popular governments know as democracy.
Democracy- city-states governed by the people or a
representative of the people. Council of citizens now
limited the individual ruler’s power.
Sparta was located in a valley, not on an acropolis. It was
not surrounded by walls for defense. The
Peloponnesus was isolated and mountainous; this
explains why Sparta developed very differently from
Athens. Sparta becomes a rigid and highly militarized
society. The people who the Spartans conquered were
know as Helots.
Equals:
•They descended from
the invaders.
•Land was divided
equally, along with the
land went the helots.
•Political power
Half Citizens:
•They were free
•Paid Taxes
•Served in the army
•Had no political power
•Farmed or worked in
the city
•Worked in trade and
industry
•Some half citizens
became very wealthy
Helots:
Slaves and the Spartans
decided how they
should live and work.
Used force to control
them because they
outnumbered the
Spartans.
Terrorized Helots to
stop the thought of
rebellion. Hated the
Spartans
 Equals/Half-Citizens/ Helots:
 Kings: Two Kings were at the head of the Gov’t. One king
led the army, one king took care of the matters at home.
 Council of Elders: was made up of 28 male citizens over the
age of 60 who were wealthy aristocratic men. Proposed
laws and served as a criminal court.
 The Assembly: Voted to accept or reject laws proposed by
the Council of Elders. The Assembly also elected five
Ephors for one year terms to make sure the kings stayed
within the law. They also had complete control over the
education of young Spartans.
 Sparta controlled the lives of its citizens from birth to
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death.
The goal was to make every adult male citizen part of the
military machine.
They worked to control the helots.
Sparta was above all a militarist state, and emphasis on
military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after birth,
the mother of the child bathed it in wine to see whether
the child was strong.
If the child survived it was brought before the Gerousia by
the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether it
was to be reared or not. If they considered it "puny and
deformed", the baby was thrown into a chasm on Mount
Taygetos.
 Age seven young males were left home and moved to the
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barracks.
Military training formed the basis of their education.
Reading and writing was taught but just enough to perform
civic duties. Dance and music were also part of their
education.
18-20 they trained for war.
Age 20 they began military service. They could marry but
couldn’t live at home until age 30.
They could not engage in trade or business for the feared
money would interfere with military discipline.
Age 60 they were expected to work for the public good
rather than focus on their private lives.
 Spartan girls had to be strong and healthy.
 They received strict physical training and were taught to be
devoted to the city-state of Sparta.
 Spartan women enjoyed a status, power, and respect that
was unknown in the rest of the classical world.
 They controlled their own properties, as well as the
properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It
is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least
35% of all land and property in Sparta.
 When asked by a woman from Attica, “Why Spartan
women were the only women in the world who could rule
men?” She replied "Because we are the only women who are
mothers of men."
 Spartan men were required to marry at age 30, after completing the
Krypteia. (Secret police)
 Spartan wedding night:
 The custom was to capture women for marriage(...) The so-called
'bridesmaid' took charge of the captured girl. She first shaved her head
to the scalp, then dressed her in a man's cloak and sandals, and laid her
down alone on a mattress in the dark. The bridegroom—who was not
drunk and thus not impotent, but was sober as always—first had
dinner in the messes, then would slip in, undo her belt, lift her and
carry her off.
 The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after
the marriage. These customs, unique to the Spartans, have been
interpreted in various ways. The "abduction" may have served to ward
off the evil eye evil, and the cutting of the wife's hair was perhaps part
of a rite of passage that signaled her entrance into a new life.
“The Spartans bathed their infants in wine
rather than water to test and toughen their
bodies. Children were subject to strict
discipline from the start, and were taught
not to be afraid in the dark, not to be finicky
about food, and not to be peevish(moody)
and tearful.” Lycurgus
Write a paragraph describing how most Americans
today would react to such treatment of children.
Choose one of the following of Sparta’s inhabitants: half
citizen, helots, equals, ephors, boy soldiers, Spartan
girls. Write a journal entry in the role of your
character, describing daily life (one paragraph), Sparta
(one paragraph), your role in Spartan society( one
paragraph), and what the character thinks about this
role (one paragraph).
How did democracy develop in Athens?
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Athens turned to the sea for trading.
Coined money stimulated trade.
City was built inland to be protected from pirates
and built a protected Piraeus a special port. Athens
was a typical polis built around the rocky hill of the
Acropolis.
 Citizens formed a top group in Athenians society.
 Aristocrats or poor farmers.
 Only Athenian-born men have full political rights,
female citizens could not vote or hold office.
 A Metic is a non-citizen because they were born outside of
Athens.
 Metics worked as merchants or artisans. They were free and
paid taxes as citizens, they couldn’t own land or take part in
politics.
 Slaves were at the bottom of Athens society. Slaves were
seen as natural and necessary. Slaves were people captured
in war. Owned by masters and treated as property. Slaves
could be released and became metics.
 After the Athenian monarchy ended, it had an
aristocratic gov’t. Only citizens who owned land held
office. All adult males met in an assembly.
 Archons-there were 9 elected and were rulers who
served one-year terms.
 Draco created the first written law code around 600
BC. His laws were harsh and severe. Today we call a
harsh law a Draconian law.
 As time passed people more so farmers were sold into
slavery in order to pay there debt. Anger spread among
the poor.
 Solon: was an archon who settled the disputes between
creditors and debtors by erasing the debts of the poor
and outlawing slavery for debt. He freed those who
had become slaves to pay their debt.
 He made changes in the Gov't by dividing all citizens
into fours groups based on wealth. The top two could
hold public office; however, all citizens could sit in the
assembly that elected those officials. He also set up a
court made up of citizen jurors.
 Peisistratus ruled over Athens as a tyrant. He did
improve the economy but clashes with the nobles.
 Athenian Democracy:
Cleisthenes: turned Athens into a democracy.
 Cleisthenes divided Athens's citizen into ten tribes. Each
tribe choose 50 men. They formed the Council of Five
Hundred. Members served for one year and could not be
chosen more than twice. They purposed laws to the
assembly, but the assembly had final authority.
 Courts became democratic as well, jurors were citizens
chosen by lot. Each man could plead his own case to the
jury, and the jury voted each case by a secret ballot.
 Athens under Cleisthenes is a form of direct democracy. All
citizens participated directly in the decision making
process. As compared to a Representative democracy where
the citizens elect representatives to govern for them.
Descriptions
Identifications
1. Developed a form of direct
government.
2. Improved Athens’s economy but
clashed with the nobles
3. Created Athens’s first written law
code.
4. Set up a court system citizen jurors
Cleisthenes
Peisistratus
Draco
Solon