Greek Colonies Between 750 and 550 B.C. many Greeks moved to distant lands. The growth of trade and the need for good farmland were two reasons that people moved. Each colony that formed became a new polis. Colonization spread the Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.

Tyranny in the City-States The creation of a wealthy class led to the rise of tyrants. They were not necessarily oppressive rulers. They seized power by force from the ruling aristocrats and kept power by using hired soldiers. Because the aristocrats oppressed them, the peasants supported the tyrants. They built new walls and temples, which glorified their cities and made them popular. Tyrants fell out of favor because their rule contradicted the rule of law that was a Greek ideal.

Tyrants ended the rule of aristocrats in many city-states. This allowed many new people to be involved in government. Some city-states became democracies, or ruled by the many. Other became oligarchies, meaning ruled by the few. Athens and Sparta show the differences between these two kinds of government.

Sparta Sparta needed more land. It gained more land by conquering Laconia and Messenia. The people from the conquered area were called helots meaning, “capture.” Sparta created a military state to maintain power over the helots. Spartans were rigidly controlled and disciplined. Men entered the army at 20, and lived in the barracks until 30. Spartans could marry at 20 and vote in the assembly at 30. They were allowed to live at home at the age of 30 but were part of the army until the age of 60.

Sparta was an oligarchy headed by two kings. Five men known as ephors were responsible for the education of the youth and the conduct of the citizens. A council of two kings and 28 men over 60 years of age decided on the issues the assembly would vote on. The assembly did not debate, but only voted. Sparta closed itself off from the outside world. Travelers and travel were discouraged, except for military reasons. Spartans were not allowed to study any forms of art except the art of war.

Athens A king ruled early Athens. By the 17th century it was ruled by an oligarchy of aristocrats who owned the best land and controlled political life. Athens encountered a serious economic and political problem. Many Athenian farmers were sold into slavery for nonpayment of their debts to aristocrats. Cries arose to cancel the debts and give land to the poor.

Reforms to Athens The reformist aristocrat Solon was appointed leader in 594 B.C. to handle the problem. He canceled the debts but did not give land to the poor. Because the poor could not obtain land, internal strife continued. Pisistratus seized power in 560 B.C. He helped the merchants and gave the poor land. Athenian appointed the reformer Cleisthenes leader in 508 B.C.

He created a new council of five hundred to propose laws and supervise the treasury and foreign affairs. The assembly of all male citizens had final authority to pass laws after free and open debate. Cleisthenes’ reforms laid the foundation for Athenian democracy.

Classical Greece In 490 B.C., the Persians landed on the plain of Marathon (in Greece), 26 miles from Athens. There, an outnumbered Athenian army attacked and defeated the Persians decisively. The Persian king, Xerxes, vowed revenge and planned to invade Greece. Early in 479 B.C. the Greeks formed the largest Greek army up to that time and defeated the Persian army at Plataea. According to legend, an Athenian runner named Pheidippides brought news of Persia’s defeat by racing 26 miles from Marathon to Athens.

In the winter of B.C. the Athenians formed a defensive alliance against the Persians called the Delian League. Under the rule of the dominant figure Pericles, Athens will rebuild and expand its new empire abroad. This period saw the height of Athenian power and brilliance. Athens will become the leaders of Greek world after defeat of Persia: Athenian empire. Democracy will flourish and become the center of Greek culture. Pericles will call Athens, the school of Greece.

In Athens, every male citizen participated in the governing assembly and voted on all major issues. Meetings of the assembly were held every 10 days on a hillside east of the Acropolis. By paying office holders and making lower class citizens eligible for public office, Pericles made it possible for poor citizens to take part in public affairs. A person named as undesirable by at least 6,000 members of the assembly could be banned or ostracized, from the city for 10 years. Athens also suffered from plague.

Disputes between Sparta and Athens led to the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War in 431 B.C. This struggle lasted for 27 years until 405 B.C. when the Athenian fleet was destroyed at Aegospotami on the Hellespont. In the continuing their petty years, the Greeks ignored the growing power of Macedonia to their north.