Athens Simplicity And Spartan's Power

Athens’s Simplicity & Spartan’s Power

During the ages of 800 and 401 BCE, Athens and Sparta were very different in many ways, but in a couple of ways, they were somewhat similar. They both had wealthy aristocrats who controlled their government and who made decisions on what was “best” for their poleis and its people, and both used a political legislative system. While the Spartans had the elder council, called “Gerousia”, the Ephors and the general assembly, the Athenians had the legislative branch, called “Boule”, and the popular assembly. Whereas the Spartan’s general assembly could make laws and the Gerousia and the Ephors could veto them, the Athenians “Boule” could suggest laws, but the popular assembly was responsible for passing legislation into law or vetoing it. Both the Spartan’s general assembly and the Athenian’s popular assembly were made up of free male citizens in their respective city states.

Sparta had two kings simultaneously, although from different royal families and weak in political power, they were chiefly powerful in the field when leading his
While the poor and middle class were rallying for laws that would benefit them more, the aristocrats wanted more power and began grappling with each other. This eventually led to a swift reformation of their political system by subdividing the land into three areas, but this, too, was futile, until a man by the name of Cleisthenes reformed the political system once again by creating a “Boule”, which is to say a “legislative council.” A Boule was created by selecting 500 councilors from every part of Attica. The councilors were selected by drawing from the ten tribes, although this was done as part of Cleisthenes’ calculated advantage for the