What Is The Difference Between Athens And Today
I. Greetings fellow members of the Assembly, I am for Athens in the Athens vs Sparta debate. I’m for Athens as Athens was far superior and powerful than Sparta that influences today’s modern western culture. Athens brought the political idea of democracy that is still used today. Democracy gave equality to all of Athens’ citizens as well as many freedoms compared to other governments like an aristocracy which Sparta used or an oligarchy. Some freedoms such as freedom of speech brought many great thinkers and minds that greatly influence to modern science, philosophy, and mathematics. Also citizen can hold office and vote creating greater equality in Athens. Athens is better the city state compared to Sparta and today I will tell you why!
II. The …show more content…
Athenian government during its golden age was a democracy which one of the best and revolutionary government of Ancient Greece. Democracy helped create a much more equal society and government. Everyone had a say in the government.
A. Athens is well known for creating Democracy which came in the form of an Assembly, a group of citizens who govern Athens for a certain amount of years.
1. The Assembly members were Athenian citizens who were over twenty years old who haven’t served two terms and were picked from a lottery. This was a much more equal and fair than other forms of voting or choosing officials. Greenblatt, Miriam and Peter S. Lemmo. Human Heritage A World History. New York: McGraw Hill. 2004. Print. “There were two reasons why Athenians preferred choosing council members by lot rather than voting. First, they believed that in an election, people who had money or who could speak well would have an unfair advantage. Second, the Athenians believed that every citizen was smart enough to hold public office.”(p171)
This proves my argument that a democracy is fairer as it tells that the lot stopped people from getting an advantage by being a good speaker or being extremely rich. It gave those who are good thinkers, but don’t have great public speaking skills or money get the chance to speak and represent the Athens’ people. In other forms of choosing officials, the rich and eloquent people only get the chance which is very unfair. By having a fairer way of choosing officials, all citizens get to be in the government which gives all citizens the right to be in their government. This rights helps guide Athens to the citizens’ goal not some random person’s or a group of people’s goal.
2.
This creates the opportunity for citizens to be chosen. No one gets a higher chance of being chosen as the lot is completely random. This help create Athens to become very powerful.
B. With this democratic assembly, citizens get to contribute in Athens’ political world. They are able to contribute their ideas and opinions in order to help Athens to become a better place. They are able to say anything without restrictions due to the freedom of speech. This opens a world of new ideas and concepts that drives Athens into a much more intellectual and strong polis.
1. Since all citizens were granted free speech, citizens who weren’t in the Assembly were able to suggest to the Assembly what they should change. In other forms of government, it was impossible to even suggest anything to the government if you weren’t associated with any other the political leaders. This citizens who weren’t in office, to still make a big impact in their government.
2. Citizens also had the right to vote for new laws or bills from the Assembly. All of their votes had the power and each citizen had only one vote. This gave all citizens their say in the government by either voting for laws and bills or being in the Assembly. All citizens helped contribute to Athens’ rise to …show more content…
power.
Cartwright, Mark.”Athenian Democracy” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited. 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. “Further, not only did citizens participate in a direct democracy whereby they themselves made the decisions by which they lived, but they also actively served in the institutions that governed them, and so they directly controlled all parts of the political process.”
Since Athenian citizens controlled the whole government a said in the text, this made it so all citizens can do something in the government without doing it in a corrupt or wrong fashion such as bribing. This amount of control made it so that the citizens control how Athens should instead of Athens being controlled by someone who does not follow what the citizens. The right to vote and free speech help create many modern human basic rights as Athens was the first to do it.
C. This argument about Athens’ invention of democracy is very important. Without
Athens, many rights we take for granted would not be here. Instead having some people we elected to run our government would be instead some rich and very corrupt ruling over us if it weren’t for democracy. The equality in our society would be gone without democracy. We would not have a lot of things if democracy didn’t exist.
III. Sparta’s most well known characteristic is that it has the most powerful army of Ancient Greece. What did Sparta do in order to obtain this power? Well they did some very dark things including child abuse and forced labour among other horrible things. They did this without any thought on how the citizens would feel about this treatment. They abused everyone who was in their polis.
A. In order to get an army of blood-thirsty, killer soldiers, they made a brutal process to obtain them. This was heavy abusement to boys and men of Sparta. Even from birth, they been in this torturous until they are useless, then they become leaders or something else. 1. Newborns were inspected for their health and physical characteristics. If they were deemed unhealthy or seem weak, they were left to die on a hill without a thought. Whether they were boy or girl, they would be tested for the same things. 2. When boys became 7, they were put into harsh military camps. They were treated horribly. For example some had to scavenge or steal food and if they were caught, they would receive punishments similar to ones for a slave. They were literally treating them like slaves.
Greenblatt, Miriam and Peter S. Lemmo. Human Heritage A World History. New York: McGraw Hill. 2004. Print. “The boys received only small amounts of food. They had to go barefoot and were given only one cloak to wear. They walked in silence, with their eyes to the ground, and spoke only when necessary. they slept outdoors without cover.” p167 These were even more examples how they treated them. They were so stricted that these boys slowly their loss personality and became bots being told what to do. They fed so little food, that most would die because they didn’t have enough energy to keep training or didn’t have enough nutrition. Fighting was the only thing they could do so they kept doing it and came with that was their desire to kill. These camps were turning innocent boys into insane, psychopathic bots.
In today's world, this would count as child abuse which is absolutely horrible.
3.
After these boys turn into men and get into the army, it doesn’t get much better. They never see their wives or household. They are forced to live in military barracks and have to share expenses with other soldiers. The government is not even helping them. They are allowed to retire at sixty which ridiculous. Your body starts to break down in your fifties, but probably younger as they have a lot of stress. The government is actually working them to the bone.
B. In order to keep Sparta economically stable and to get materials for the army, they mostly used enslaved people or known as Helots and merchants or known as Perioeci. These people had no rights nor citizenship. They were oppressed and They keep Sparta falling apart. 1. Aristocrats or the citizens of Sparta controlled land where Helots farmed on it and had to give half of their crops to the aristocrats. They also had no rights and had to follow what their owners say. 2. Perioeci are very important to Sparta as this is how they obtain resources they can’t get from their lands. These people are not citizens nor slaves, but if these people are very important to them and they don’t get citizenship nor rights then why trade with
them? 3. This leads me to this, when the population of Helots and Perioeci was greater than the population of the citizens, they oppressed them harshly and forcing them to work. Sparta was basically running on almost pure forced labour.
C. Even though Sparta’s army was an incredible feat, what took to get it made this achievement very horrible. Forcing children to become the best soldiers in world using abuse is a crime against humanity and running a whole polis using forced labour is just as bad as well. The crimes they committed are far more important than the outcome of it.
IV. Athens was a far more superior polis than Sparta. Athens had an incredible democracy for its government. It gave citizens many more freedoms and rights compared to many other city-states. Democracy also treated all of its citizens equally and fairly. The legacy of democracy is still present today. On the other hand, Sparta treated all of their people like puppets to become powerful. They created monsters using military camps and treated those who lived in Sparta as if they were in a sweat shop.So who do you want to vote for, a polis that is inhumane and has no morals or a polis with human rights?
II. The …show more content…
Athenian government during its golden age was a democracy which one of the best and revolutionary government of Ancient Greece. Democracy helped create a much more equal society and government. Everyone had a say in the government.
A. Athens is well known for creating Democracy which came in the form of an Assembly, a group of citizens who govern Athens for a certain amount of years.
1. The Assembly members were Athenian citizens who were over twenty years old who haven’t served two terms and were picked from a lottery. This was a much more equal and fair than other forms of voting or choosing officials. Greenblatt, Miriam and Peter S. Lemmo. Human Heritage A World History. New York: McGraw Hill. 2004. Print. “There were two reasons why Athenians preferred choosing council members by lot rather than voting. First, they believed that in an election, people who had money or who could speak well would have an unfair advantage. Second, the Athenians believed that every citizen was smart enough to hold public office.”(p171)
This proves my argument that a democracy is fairer as it tells that the lot stopped people from getting an advantage by being a good speaker or being extremely rich. It gave those who are good thinkers, but don’t have great public speaking skills or money get the chance to speak and represent the Athens’ people. In other forms of choosing officials, the rich and eloquent people only get the chance which is very unfair. By having a fairer way of choosing officials, all citizens get to be in the government which gives all citizens the right to be in their government. This rights helps guide Athens to the citizens’ goal not some random person’s or a group of people’s goal.
2.
This creates the opportunity for citizens to be chosen. No one gets a higher chance of being chosen as the lot is completely random. This help create Athens to become very powerful.
B. With this democratic assembly, citizens get to contribute in Athens’ political world. They are able to contribute their ideas and opinions in order to help Athens to become a better place. They are able to say anything without restrictions due to the freedom of speech. This opens a world of new ideas and concepts that drives Athens into a much more intellectual and strong polis.
1. Since all citizens were granted free speech, citizens who weren’t in the Assembly were able to suggest to the Assembly what they should change. In other forms of government, it was impossible to even suggest anything to the government if you weren’t associated with any other the political leaders. This citizens who weren’t in office, to still make a big impact in their government.
2. Citizens also had the right to vote for new laws or bills from the Assembly. All of their votes had the power and each citizen had only one vote. This gave all citizens their say in the government by either voting for laws and bills or being in the Assembly. All citizens helped contribute to Athens’ rise to …show more content…
power.
Cartwright, Mark.”Athenian Democracy” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited. 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. “Further, not only did citizens participate in a direct democracy whereby they themselves made the decisions by which they lived, but they also actively served in the institutions that governed them, and so they directly controlled all parts of the political process.”
Since Athenian citizens controlled the whole government a said in the text, this made it so all citizens can do something in the government without doing it in a corrupt or wrong fashion such as bribing. This amount of control made it so that the citizens control how Athens should instead of Athens being controlled by someone who does not follow what the citizens. The right to vote and free speech help create many modern human basic rights as Athens was the first to do it.
C. This argument about Athens’ invention of democracy is very important. Without
Athens, many rights we take for granted would not be here. Instead having some people we elected to run our government would be instead some rich and very corrupt ruling over us if it weren’t for democracy. The equality in our society would be gone without democracy. We would not have a lot of things if democracy didn’t exist.
III. Sparta’s most well known characteristic is that it has the most powerful army of Ancient Greece. What did Sparta do in order to obtain this power? Well they did some very dark things including child abuse and forced labour among other horrible things. They did this without any thought on how the citizens would feel about this treatment. They abused everyone who was in their polis.
A. In order to get an army of blood-thirsty, killer soldiers, they made a brutal process to obtain them. This was heavy abusement to boys and men of Sparta. Even from birth, they been in this torturous until they are useless, then they become leaders or something else. 1. Newborns were inspected for their health and physical characteristics. If they were deemed unhealthy or seem weak, they were left to die on a hill without a thought. Whether they were boy or girl, they would be tested for the same things. 2. When boys became 7, they were put into harsh military camps. They were treated horribly. For example some had to scavenge or steal food and if they were caught, they would receive punishments similar to ones for a slave. They were literally treating them like slaves.
Greenblatt, Miriam and Peter S. Lemmo. Human Heritage A World History. New York: McGraw Hill. 2004. Print. “The boys received only small amounts of food. They had to go barefoot and were given only one cloak to wear. They walked in silence, with their eyes to the ground, and spoke only when necessary. they slept outdoors without cover.” p167 These were even more examples how they treated them. They were so stricted that these boys slowly their loss personality and became bots being told what to do. They fed so little food, that most would die because they didn’t have enough energy to keep training or didn’t have enough nutrition. Fighting was the only thing they could do so they kept doing it and came with that was their desire to kill. These camps were turning innocent boys into insane, psychopathic bots.
In today's world, this would count as child abuse which is absolutely horrible.
3.
After these boys turn into men and get into the army, it doesn’t get much better. They never see their wives or household. They are forced to live in military barracks and have to share expenses with other soldiers. The government is not even helping them. They are allowed to retire at sixty which ridiculous. Your body starts to break down in your fifties, but probably younger as they have a lot of stress. The government is actually working them to the bone.
B. In order to keep Sparta economically stable and to get materials for the army, they mostly used enslaved people or known as Helots and merchants or known as Perioeci. These people had no rights nor citizenship. They were oppressed and They keep Sparta falling apart. 1. Aristocrats or the citizens of Sparta controlled land where Helots farmed on it and had to give half of their crops to the aristocrats. They also had no rights and had to follow what their owners say. 2. Perioeci are very important to Sparta as this is how they obtain resources they can’t get from their lands. These people are not citizens nor slaves, but if these people are very important to them and they don’t get citizenship nor rights then why trade with
them? 3. This leads me to this, when the population of Helots and Perioeci was greater than the population of the citizens, they oppressed them harshly and forcing them to work. Sparta was basically running on almost pure forced labour.
C. Even though Sparta’s army was an incredible feat, what took to get it made this achievement very horrible. Forcing children to become the best soldiers in world using abuse is a crime against humanity and running a whole polis using forced labour is just as bad as well. The crimes they committed are far more important than the outcome of it.
IV. Athens was a far more superior polis than Sparta. Athens had an incredible democracy for its government. It gave citizens many more freedoms and rights compared to many other city-states. Democracy also treated all of its citizens equally and fairly. The legacy of democracy is still present today. On the other hand, Sparta treated all of their people like puppets to become powerful. They created monsters using military camps and treated those who lived in Sparta as if they were in a sweat shop.So who do you want to vote for, a polis that is inhumane and has no morals or a polis with human rights?