The Greek City State

Greek History & Civilization By

MD. MAHBUBUR RAHMAN Lecturer, CGED, NUB

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The Greek City State: Introduction • One of the hallmarks of GREEK CIVILIZATION

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was the city-states. The city-states were small, independent communities which were maledominated and bound together by race. The nature & criteria of citizens : What this meant is that membership in the city states was hereditary and could not be passed on to someone outside the citizen family.

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The Greek City State: Introduction • The citizens of any given city states were

an elite group of people – slaves, peasants, women and resident aliens were not part of the body of citizens. • Originally the city states referred to a defensible area to which farmers, slaves of a particular area could attack in the event of an attack. The Acropolis in Athens is one such example. 3

Development of the City State: • The growth of these towns were

unplanned, there were not enough place for commercial convenience near rivers or seas. • In fact, the city states were situated well inland to avoid raided by sea. With time the agora or marketplace began to appear within the city states. 4

Development of the City State • The scale of the city states were indeed

small. When the philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) came to discuss the origins of the polis in his book ‘POLITICS’ in the early 4th century B.C. • He suggested that "it is necessary for the citizens to be of such a number that they knew… 5

Development of the City State • each other's personal qualities and thus

can elect their officials and judge their fellows in a court of law sensibly." • Before Aristotle, Plato fixed the number of citizens in an ideal state should be 5040 adult males in number.

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Development of the City State • For Plato (c.427-c.347 B.C.), as it was for

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Aristotle, the one true criteria of the size of the polis (city states) was that all the citizens know one another. The issue at stake (vulnerability, problems) here is between public and private worlds. The ancient Greeks did not really see two distinct worlds in the lives of the citizenry.

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Development of the City State • Instead the public world was to be joined

with the private world. Thus there were no distinction between public and the private world. • The citizens in any given polis were related to one another by blood and so family ties were very strong. • As boys they grew up together in schools, and as men they served side by side 8

Development of the City State • They debated one another in public assemblies .

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They elected one another as magistrates – they collected their votes for or against their fellow citizens. In such a society – the society of the polis – all citizens were intimately and directly involved in politics, justice, military service, religious ceremonies, intellectual discussion, athletics and artistic pursuits.

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Development of the City State • The struggle between the various city states for

supremacy in Greece was more devastating .The conflict between Athens and Sparta was not only a contest for the supremacy of Greece , but also struggle between two ideals of culture : the one supporting traditional and the rights of the privileged few championed by the Sparta ;the other advocating progress and the rights of the people, championed by Athens

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The Greek City State : Sparta • Sparta was essentially a militaristic state. The

able bodied citizens were all soldiers and devoted their time to military training. The government was in the hands of a few retired soldiers and their domination over the people was complete. The ideals of the Spartans were based upon militarism, and they lacked the imagination and initiative of the Athenians.

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The Greek City State: Sparta • Hence Sparta was admired by its

efficiency, but its cultural contribution , compared with those of the Athens, was insignificant. • Boys left home at the age of seven. They were organized into troops and played competitive games until their 18th years, when they underwent ten years of military training. From the ages of 18 to 28 they lived together in barracks. 12

The Greek City State: Sparta • At the age of 30, they became citizens in

their own right. Amongst themselves they were called "Equals" – in the eyes of everyone else, they were Spartans. • There was state education for girls who lived at home but who were also organized into troops.

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The Greek City State: Sparta • Boys and girls met together to learn basic

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studies as well as to dance, sing and play musical instruments. Relations between the sexes was much more free than anywhere else in the Greek world. However, after marriage (usually at 30 for men, 16 for women), the husband ate at the men's club until the age of 60 while his wife remained at home. 14

The Greek City State: Sparta • The Spartan state arranged for a basic equality

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in land holding and provided the citizens with laborers, called helots (conquered people such as the Mecinians who became Spartan serfs). In other words, the economy was based on the idea that slaves would labor to supply the Spartan armies with food, drink and clothing.

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The Greek City State: Sparta • The Spartan constitution allowed for two

kings and was therefore a dual monarchy. • As the highest magistrates in the citystate, these kings decided issues of war and peace, and the other issues, development in all sectors dealt by the another kings. • Although we may find the Spartan world to be repressive or indeed oppressive, this16

The Greek City State: Athens • Athens was similar to other city-states of

the period of the Greek Renaissance with two important differences: • (1) it was larger both geographically and in terms of its population • (2) those people it conquered were not reduced to servitude – this was the rule at Sparta. 17

The Greek City State: Athens • So, Athens never faced the problem of trying to

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control a large population of angry and sometimes violent subjects. This also explains why Sparta had to remain an intensely militaristic state. They visualized a great future for their city state felt the urge to dominate the civilized world.

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The Greek City State: Athens • Around 460 B.C., Pericles, a famous king

in Athens (c.490-429 B.C.) used the power of the people in the law courts and the Assembly to break up the Council of Five Hundreds. • Under Pericles, Athenian Democracy came to mean the equality of justice and the equality of opportunity. 19

The Greek City State: Athens • The equality of justice was secured by the jury

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system, which ensured that slaves and resident aliens were represented through their patrons. The equality of opportunity did not mean that every man has the right to everything. What it did mean is that the criteria for choosing citizens for office was merit and efficiency and not wealth.

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The Greek City State: Athens • But they also discussed what we could only call

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democratic theory that is known as participatory democracy– they constantly debated questions like what is the form of good life? and what is the best form of government? But perhaps the most important of all were discussions and debates over the issues of war and also issues of peace.

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Pattern of questions: • 1. Critically evaluate the origin and development

processes of Greek city states. • 2. What were the characteristics of Greek city states and the essential requirements of Greek citizenship ? • 3. “Athens never faced the problem of trying to control a large population of angry and sometimes violent subjects”- critically evaluate the characteristics of Athens on the basis of the statement. • “Sparta was an essentially a militaristic state .; The able bodied citizens were all soldiers and devoted their time to military training “- analytically discuss the features of Sparta according to the statement.

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