Ancient city-states
The term city-state is a political system that consists of a city which is independent and serves as the central point as well as the leader of economic, cultural as well as political life. The origin of the term is traced back in the late 19th century in England; however, there are a lot of disagreements concerning where city-states originated. These cities- states in comparison to national systems differed in many ways, including size and patriotism. Greece is one of the countries that has known city-states (polis), which was the structure of the community. City-states in Greece developed after the Dark Ages of Greece. The features of a city-state included outer walls meant for protection, government buildings, and places of worship, in this case, a temple. All the city-states worshipped a similar God using similar methods.
In most cases, the places of worship and government structures were found on a hill. Other features include formal roads connecting different city-states that did not exist, and traveling was mainly by sea. One unique and exciting thing about the city-states is that they fought each other but teamed up in case of a common enemy. Among the many city-states, the focus is on two city-states, that is Athens and Sparta. Like any other city-state, each state ruled its self-government, and there was no central government. Some city-states were governed by kings and others by councils.
The political system of Athens
Among the many city-states, Athens is considered as the powerful and developed city-state. They had a democratic political system. In fact, the first democracy was practiced in Athens, and their democracy was a direct democracy, and they did not have a constitution. The political system of Athens consisted of three main institutions. These institutions are the Assembly (Ekklesia), the council (Boule), and the popular courts (Dikasteria). The Assembly was the primary governing, and the central body of Athens was only composed of males, and they met forty times in a year. Although women were considered to be citizens of Athens, they had no political rights. This means the male citizens determined the government of the city because they were the only ones allowed to vote. The Assembly discussed religion and financial matters. Besides, the Assembly listened as well as voted on the issues affecting the citizens, and also it was responsible for treaties with other city-states. Besides, the Assembly, organized the food supplies of the state and debating on matters related to the military. Each member of the Assembly was free to speak his mind with no fear, and this freedom was very fundamental for the functioning of the Assembly. However, speaking was procedural; men aged fifty years and above would speak first, then younger men could speak. About five thousand male citizens attended each Ekklesia, and the rest had responsibilities in the army and others at other duties.
The boule the second key institution after the Assembly, and it constituted five hundred members, and all were men. A maximum of fifty men represented each of the ten tribes, and they served in the boule for one year. Unlike the Assembly, which met t forty times a year, the council met every day. The primary function of the council was to plan and prepare the agendas for the next Assembly meeting. Also, all the citizens of Athens met the council to discuss different matters. Before the newly elected (by lot) councilors took their offices, they underwent vetting to determine their capability of serving in the council. Among the fifty men representing each tribe, the individual who served as the president of the tribe was elected randomly. The presidents of the different tribes organized meetings and also came up with the agenda of the sessions. Further, for any citizen to serve as councilor, he was supposed to have attained at least thirty years. Other duties of the council included supervising government workers and also meeting with representatives from the neighboring city-states.
The legislation was the third institution of the Athens political system, and the primary function was passing laws. The process of legislation was trial like, where one group of advocates defend the existing laws and the other against the existing laws. Any citizen was free to give a proposal or suggest changes change of a particular law. However, this was accompanied by an alternative to that particular law. From a pool of men aged above thirty years, five hundred jurors were chosen. In Athens, police never existed, and court cases were brought about by demonstrations, and the judgment was based on the rule of the majority. Along with the jurors, the Dikasteria also composed of chief magistrates (archai) who were chosen every year.
The political system of Sparta
The political system of Sparta combined different forms of governance, but the dominant one was oligarchy (Gerousia). They were ruled by two kings where one king would stay at the city-states and govern as the most powerful, and the other king would be the leader of the army, and the kings were succeeded by his firstborn sons. Oligarchy was the most powerful authority in Sparta, and it consisted of the two Kings and approximately twenty-eight elders. In other words, the Gerousia was the council of elders. The elders in the council were elected by the Assembly, and they were sixty years and above. The Gerousia, functions include supervised different government projects, legislative as well as advisory functions. Also, in the case of criminal issues, they made decisions on the punishment.
National Assembly, which was known as the Apella, and constituted of the only males above thirty years or those male citizens who had attained the age of serving in the military. The Assembly met once in every month, and at first, it presided over by kings, but later it was presided by five elected ephors. Also, the Assembly was responsible for the election process of Sparta’s kings.
The ephors composed of five members, and they elected annually from the five tribes. Any Spartan citizen was eligible for this position. This was considered as the most powerful arm of the government because it performed financial, executive as well as judicial and legislative responsibilities. The legislative powers allowed them to accuse even kings, and they were in control of the private lives of the kings. Moreover, they also had the authority to limit the powers of the kings. Thus they can be considered as the present-day supreme court.
To what extent can the two city-states be considered democratic in the modern-day.
Democracy means the ruling is based on the majority. In comparison to the modern-day world democracy, freedom of expression and speech, including political as well as personal freedom, was highly prized. In both political systems, elected members were free to speak their minds. Also, when the council met in the case of Athens and National Assembly in Sparta, citizens were allowed to speak their mind and even replace the existing laws which they felt not fit for the society. The city-states also show democracy, whereby the elected leader had timelines regulating their time in power. In the case of Spartan, the legislative body had the power to impeach the king, which was the highest position by then, and in present-day democracy has given the power to the legislative body of impeaching the president.
However, their democracy differs from the modern-day democracy, where only male citizens were allowed to vote, for example, in Athens, and only male citizens were eligible for the political positions. Unlike in the modern-day world, where every person has the right to vote despite their gender. Also, women in the present day are allowed to vie for political positions. In the political systems of the city states the one was considered as an adult at the age of thirty years, which much too far from the current eighteen years. Furthermore, the democracy of then did not allow freedom of worship, and people worshipped similar God, and in the present-day world, every person has the freedom of worship. Besides, in Athens, the presidents of different tribes were elected randomly; this indicates that democracy was not embraced. In the modern-day world, leaders are elected in by the citizens and at random.
Conclusion
Similar to the present world, whereby each state has its independent political system, the ancient city-states also had its political system. Greece has the most famous city-states, which were independent. Athens and Sparta were among the strong and powerful city-states, and each had its political system of governance. Athens had a democratic system, while Spartan had a combination of at least three, including monarch and democracy. The democracy of the city-states differs as well as similarities with that of the present. One of the most and critical democratic rights present in modern and the time back then was freedom of expression. However, democratic rights such as voting were only meant for the male citizens, and women were denied political rights.