The difference between Classical Athens and Han China
Vanessa Garcia-Jimenéz
Mr. Behnke
AP World History, 3rd period
19/September/2013
Classical Athens and Han China: How Great Were the Differences?
As the young Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “Oh East is East, And West is West, And never the twain shall meet”. Right you are, good sir. In this case, our east is the great Han China with Athens being our west. Winter and summer, black and white, the differences of the hilariously outweigh the similarities. While both were grand societies, (specifically) they were quite different politically, artistically, socially and in terms of class distinction.
So, Han China and classical Athens were different in terms of politics mainly by their types of government. Classical Athens had a democracy, stated in document four. As Pericles put it, “its administration is in the hands, not of a few, but of the whole peoples [Doc. 4]”. Any citizen of Athens was allowed into the Athenian Assembly, in which members may speak of anything they wish (provided they could handle and control a crowd). But, when they say ‘citizens’, they mean free men at least 18 years of age whose parents were also citizens [Doc. 8]. These citizens made up a sixth of the Athenian population, well around 50,000 people (who were mainly landowning farmers) [Doc. 2]. I digress. Back to the subject of public assemblies, said-assemblies were held in a natural amphitheater called The Pynx. In the Pynx, members would discuss what they wish, but still followed an agenda prepared by a council of 500 other men, all of them over the age of 30. Within this council was an inner council of 50 men called the Prytany who met every day. To prevent a possible tyranny, the chief executive position was changed every day so that no one could be in power too long [Doc 5]. This obviously showed that the people of classical Athens were able to participate in political
Mr. Behnke
AP World History, 3rd period
19/September/2013
Classical Athens and Han China: How Great Were the Differences?
As the young Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “Oh East is East, And West is West, And never the twain shall meet”. Right you are, good sir. In this case, our east is the great Han China with Athens being our west. Winter and summer, black and white, the differences of the hilariously outweigh the similarities. While both were grand societies, (specifically) they were quite different politically, artistically, socially and in terms of class distinction.
So, Han China and classical Athens were different in terms of politics mainly by their types of government. Classical Athens had a democracy, stated in document four. As Pericles put it, “its administration is in the hands, not of a few, but of the whole peoples [Doc. 4]”. Any citizen of Athens was allowed into the Athenian Assembly, in which members may speak of anything they wish (provided they could handle and control a crowd). But, when they say ‘citizens’, they mean free men at least 18 years of age whose parents were also citizens [Doc. 8]. These citizens made up a sixth of the Athenian population, well around 50,000 people (who were mainly landowning farmers) [Doc. 2]. I digress. Back to the subject of public assemblies, said-assemblies were held in a natural amphitheater called The Pynx. In the Pynx, members would discuss what they wish, but still followed an agenda prepared by a council of 500 other men, all of them over the age of 30. Within this council was an inner council of 50 men called the Prytany who met every day. To prevent a possible tyranny, the chief executive position was changed every day so that no one could be in power too long [Doc 5]. This obviously showed that the people of classical Athens were able to participate in political