The Five Form Of Government During The Ancient Greek Era

The most distinctive feature of Greek political culture lay in the extent of popular participation in political life that occurred within the city-states. This participation was based on the unique ideas of “citizenship,” of free people running the affairs of state, and of equality for all citizens before the law. Political participation in Greek city-states was much wider than in Persia, but it varied considerably between city-states and over time. Early in Greek history, only the wealthy and wellborn had the rights of full citizenship, but middle- and lower-class men gradually obtained these rights in some city-states.

In book VIII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates begins to discuss with Glaucon the four stages of government. Socrates identifies four basic governments and speaks of them in order of what he observes to be common occurrence. He begins with Timocracy, a government driven by the brave warriors and war heros of the day. Timocracy closely resembles how a powerful army is governed. It runs like a well oiled machine by the most powerful men. The second, an oligarchy, men of power not of strength, but of goods and riches. These men lavish their wealth on their passions and care little for anything but that which they can buy with money. The third, democracy. Democracy is made up of many men desiring freedom. Those who would rather die than be chained to the rich. The fourth and final form of government Socrates discusses is tyranny. The tyrant is a government driven by one man, who with no concern for his people, rules most unlawfully. Socrates says that the tyrannical government is the most regrettable form of government, ruled by the worst kind of man. Socrates says these are the inevitable stages in which every government will downfall.

The paper will describe the four-ancient government by comparing and contrasting the forms of Ancient Greek city- states namely aristocracy, monarch, democracy and oligarchy. However, considering the fact that Greece had a number of poleis and such popular poleis include Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Megara and Argos just to name a few. The reading literature has so far said lot about Athens and Sparta, but not much has been mentioned about the other poleis. Much more reference about government structures will refer to Athens and Sparta in this paper, in particular answering the questions which of the city states was either monarchy, oligarch, aristocracy and democracy, and also how were they similar? Aristocratic cities like Sparta, were oligarchies

The economic, military and civil grievances were essential in drafting the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration is one of the most admired and eloquent proclamations in American history. The document’s goal was to announce the independence of the original thirteen colonies by listing grievances concerning the tyranny of King George III of Great Britain. These original colonies were the first to come together to form the United States. It was adopted in its final form on July 4, 1776. The prominent author of the Declaration was Thomas Jefferson. He was one of the colonial Founding Fathers in Virginia. In 1769, Thomas Jefferson began his political career when he was elected to the House of Burgesses. A renowned author of prose, he was appointed to the Second Continental Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence. This notorious archive was vital to the sustainability of the colonies through economic, military and civil wellbeing.

Introduction This assignment describes the character of the four ancient governments in order to compare and contrast the five government forms in the Ancient Greek city-states. They are monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

The Athenian democracy went as far as being a government by the people within the narrow confines of the polis.# The citizens could pursue their private interests. They were also allowed to seek the seek the highest goals by placing their interests at the service of the city.#Pericles stated during the Funeral Oration at Samos that Athens was a “free state, both in politics and in social life.”# People might say it wasn’t fair because Pericles made Athenian citizenship limited to adult males who had an Athenian mother and father.# Citizens who wanted to, could try to achieve their private goals and manage their private affairs. They could have their interests at the service of the city to help them seek what they desire. “Pericles believed that man’s capacities and desires could be fulfilled at the highest possible level only through government participation.”# The government that allowed you the most active participation in government was a direct democracy, so Pericles chose that form of government for Athens.

Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.

"38 Who Saw Murder and Didn't Call the Police," is a true report about a woman named Kitty Genovese,who was stabbed multiple times by a man named . The strange thing about this murder is the fact that multiple people saw it happen, yet failed to call the police. The predetor was scared off multiple times by people's lights in their windows, and voices, but he came back each time to finish off the murder.

In the beginning there were kings, one leader, who ruled over Athens and the Athenian government. Athens started as a monarchy, meaning they had one ruler, or multiple kings, for each area of Athens, who ruled that area. They were small-time kings

Sparta had a mixed government consisting of elements of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy. The monarchy, although not a true monarchy, consisted of two kings from separate royal tribes. These kings were subject to the will of the Gerousia and the Ephors and

It is when the power changes to another by force instead of inheritance. It wasn’t really uncommon in many places in Greece to have tyrants who were even praised and loved by their own people, because not tyrants were bad as we imagine them today. According to Mark Cartwright “Pesisistratos in Athens (from c. 560 BCE) - a typical benevolent tyrant who actually paved the way for democracy” were not a typical form of tyranny which we come to think of today. Come to think of it, it there is a ruler in a city who has made things worse for its subjugates and an able ruler throws him off and takes care of its city and population would be

In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means “the power of the people.” The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that “Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

I was standing on the street corner in downtown Great Falls, Montana, waiting for the annual Big Sky Pride Parade to begin. All sorts of rainbow-clad people roamed up and down the street, happily enjoying the sunshine and positive atmosphere of the day.

“Polis is a term that is used to describe a tight knit small community of Ancient Greek citizens who agreed on certain rules and customs. Usually a polis was centered on a small town and the countryside the surrounded it” (Deering). The polis defined a public and communal space, the Agora, for the purpose of leading public affairs. The affairs of men and affairs were included as these had essentials parts to the entire community’s affairs. The Ancient Greek poleis are among the first recorded democratic governments in the world. The term polis has been translated into city-state as there was typically only one city and because an individual polis was independent from other poleis in terms of political, judicial, legal, religious and social