ONE POLIS VERSUS ANOTHER

 At the end of the Dark Age nobles who acquired land had seized power from the kings.  Many farmers borrowed money from nobles that they couldn’t repay and lost their lands.  By 650 B.C. farmers demanded a change in the power structure.  Growing unhappiness led to the rise of tyrants.

 Tyrants overthrew the nobles with the backing of the common people.  Tyrants made themselves popular by building marketplaces, temples, and walls to protect the city.  Although tyrants helped change the power structure of Greece, rule by one person is not what Greek people wanted.

 Once tyrants had fallen out of favor, most city-states in Greece became democracies or an oligarchy.  Sparta became an oligarchy and Athens became a democracy. These were the two most powerful governments in Greece.

 Founded by the Dorians during the Dark Age.  Sparta expanded their territory through vicious conquest.  Spartans enslaved their conquered and called them helots.

 The military was of the utmost importance to Sparta.  At age seven, boys left their families to live in barracks and were harshly treated in order to make them tough.  Sparta males lived in barracks as soldiers until age thirty. Then they were allowed to live at home, but had to remain in the military until age sixty.  Spartan soldiers only ate twice a day and ate a vile dish called black broth which consisted of pork boiled in animal blood and vinegar.

 The government of Sparta was an oligarchy with two kings and a council of elders.  All men over 30 could vote on who would be ephors (enforce laws).  Spartans did not allow outsiders to enter Sparta, banned foreign travel abroad, and discouraged its citizens from study literature and the arts.

 Women in Sparta were trained in sports, running, wrestling and throwing.  Wives lived at home while husbands lived away at Army barracks.  Because their husbands were away, Spartan women were freer than other Greek women and were able to own property.

 Athens was vastly different than Sparta.  Athenian boys went to school to learn how to read, write and arithmetic.  Boys were also able to participate in sports and learn how to play instrument in school.  At age 18, boys graduated from school and became citizens.

 Athenian girls stayed at home and learned how to sew and perform other household duties.  The role of a women in Athens was to learn how to take care of a family and children. Women in Athens could not become citizens.

 Early Athens was ruled by landowning nobles.  Many farmer had sold themselves into debt in order to pay for lands they bought from the nobles.  A noble named Solon negotiated an agreement that freed the farmers from noblemen’s control and this made him very popular among the common people.

 The common people pressed Solon to give away the wealthy noble’s land, but he refused.  A tyrant named Peisistratus seized power from Solon and divided up large estates among the poor, loaned them money and gave them jobs.  Once Peisistratus died, he was replaced by Cleisthenes who reorganized government in Athens.