This written assignment will address these questions about Athens and Sparta: How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How …show more content…
They also had to join Syssitia or a clear form the system of military/social dining. By joining military and a Syssitia, a male Spartan could participate in political life. Spartan men were allowed to join a Syssitia by the age of 20. In a Syssitia there were 15 men each who would then eat all their meals exclusively with each other and no others. New men were essentially elected to a group in a competitive process. Failure to join a group would result loss of citizenship and loss of all political rights. All men in a Syssitia had to provide food. Failure to provide sufficient food to his Syssitia group could result in loss of citizenship status and loss of political rights. Thus, in Sparta, people obtained their political rights if they were adult Spartan males, soldiers/ warriors, and a member of …show more content…
Then after 507 BCE, all free men can be selected for public office holders. To be selected for public office holders someone must be selected by Athenian people, must be a male resident of Athens (women, foreigners and slaves, were excluded from the political system), and must be 20 years old or older.
To join Athenian Popular Assembly, someone must be an adult male citizen of 20 years and older. He had to meet the Assembly two or three times per month and vote there if he showed up that day. They were paid to attend the assembly.
If an Athenian citizens wanted to participate in their government by serving as public officers or as jurors in court cases, they must be selected. Jurors were chosen by lottery and were paid for their service.
To serve as public officers, a citizen had to be 30 years old or older and he had to have the level of wealth required to work for the office.
To be the top executive posts in the Athenian system, such as the ten annually elected generals, someone must be from the wealthy Athenians or aristocrats. Men of the lower financial classes were allowed to serve as a minor officials, and as many as 900 men were selected on a yearly basis for addition to hundreds of men who served in jury pools. Minor officials and jurors were chosen randomly by