Ancient Greece City States

The word politics comes from the Greek work for city states called poleis. We know that ancient Greece did not have a centralised government or authority. Greece was not a single country, but a collection of numerous city states. After the Dark Age in Greece, villages started to band together which gradually became independent city states. Although the Greek were one people who practiced the same culture and religion, each city state had its own government, laws and customs.

The city states united to fight against a common enemy. During the second Persian invasion of Greece, the unity of these city states was largely visible. But this unity was of a temporary nature because they often fought among themselves. Each city state had its own system of government. Some states were monarchical in form whereas in some other states business was conducted in democratic lines. Between 2000 and 1200 BC, almost all city states had monarchical form of government.

Although ancient Greece consisted of hundreds of city states, the most important among them were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Megara and Argos.

Athens is renowned for its contribution of the idea of democracy to the world. It created the worlds first democratic government. It was the birth place not only of democracy, but of great philosophers like Plato. Athens, as an independent city state grew rapidly after the Greek dark ages. Athena was the patron goddess for the Athenians.

By 753 BC, Athens fell from hereditary magistracy to elected archonship and later under tyranny. It was after this tyranny that Athenians experimented with the democratic system of government. Moreover, it was a direct democracy characterised by the men meeting to discuss problems and reach solutions.

Although citizens had political rights in Athens, slaves and foreigners did not have any such rights. The concept of citizenship was important in ancient Greece. Education was also important to the Athenians although differentiation between males and females was clearly visible in all areas.

The city state of Sparta had an oligarchic system of government. The state was ruled by small group of warriors. Sparta was famous for its military strength. Spartans were brave, capable warriors. It was not a centre of art and philosophy unlike Athens. The most important feature of Sparta is the importance given to warfare and military training. Boys were given training from the age of 7. Children were whipped and small fights were encouraged in order to make them capable warriors. Even the women were warriors. Spartan women were comparatively more independent.

Corinth was characterized by the monarchical of government. It was a cultural and trade centre. The city state of Corinth undertook public works programs, built large aqueducts and created its own coinage.

Megara was a coastal city state. They had fine schools and a well developed education system. Megara had beautiful temples, gorgeous statues, and open-air theatres. They also established new towns. Argos, a monarchy was the centre of trade and commerce. They also had great sculptures.
Information on: City states in ancient Greek

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