Ancient+Greek+Government

By:Corin
 * Ancient Greek Government**

Ancient Greece. Yup I know what you are thinking, BORING! But no, not at all, Ancient Greeks have made a big impact in our society, changed our world and made our societies more innovated. They studied a lot and did a numerous things to help change Greek culture. For example, without the Greek government and the Greek people, we would be without the arts, dramas and acting. So this is to show you the great impact that the Greek people have made. In 800 B.C., Greece was divided into two groups, the Sparta and the Athens. Each side had their own type of government and their own type of rulings. Though a man of the Spartans named Lycurgus changed the way of the Greek government. He read the adventures that Homer went through and saw how he wanted the government to be run. It strongly influenced his opinion and so he changed the government to the way that he wanted it to be. So that is how the government started. It consisted of five kings, five ephors/executives and elders who helped to make the decisions for the people.

There were four parts of the Greek government: Monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies, and democracies. They were all a different part in the ancient Greek city states and made a big impact in each. In 1200 B.C., the Greek government was made up of the monarchies. To begin with, the monarchies were ruled by the kings of the government and ruled the inside cities. One example of the monarchies is Homers Iliad. After the Dark Age, the government still had their kings because they had Spartans. These people would only go out to fight wars and to stay close to the king. Next, are the democracies which started in 510 B.C. When this happened; it gave the people of lower status less power and no say in anything. They had no part for the government to join and were left out of everything.

The main leaders of ancient Greece were the Chieftains, and the monarchs. These people were there to take care of the cities of Greece and took care of organizing them. Monarchs. These were people who were allowed to make decisions though there powers were limited. The monarchs were only allowed to make decisions for settled arguments between people of different households (oikoi). Though, as I said in the first paragraph, when the Dark Age ended, the population of the towns government changed and increased depending on how many people were living in that town. Later, there were kings that ruled those parts, though they did not do a lot of work and relied on the wealthy people to make the decisions. Though as time went on, the advisors created a class for the people called basilees. This was a group based on the nobility of the people. The leaders of that group were called the Aristoi (the beast). These people looked down on the people and were rulers for the poor.

Next, in the Ancient Greek Government there were problems that dealt with the people and how there rulings were made. For example, when the Ancient Greek Government became an Oligarchy, there were many problems with the people and how they ruled. The government at that time ruled all of the people in Greece, even all of the wealthy farmers and such. Also, since their government was not ruled well, the actions that were made resulted them to become very much in debt. It left people as slaves or losing their family. Also, some decisions that they made were not very good. For example, in 594 B.C., the ancient Greek Government left all of their rulings to a Tyrant named Solon. The people of Athens made this decision because Solon wanted to reform their government and change the way that it ruled. Since this happened, Solon was able to divide the Greek people into different groups based on their wealth. If you were one of the wealthier people living in Ancient Greece in that time, you were able to help decide on what was happening at that time and some rules that were made. If you were in the middle classes, you were able to serve in an elected council. Though, if you were one of the poorest people living in Greece, you were able to sit in the meetings that they made, and listen in on what was going on. Though because of this, many of the people living in Greece did not like the way that they were ruled and how people had no equal rights.

To start off, their Greek government was a part of the major change in Greece. Ancient Greece changed the way of thinking for the world and helped the arts to grow in side of the country. They helped with the creation of philosophy, drama, pottery and the arts. Greek philosophy is the question of what the world was made of. In ancient Greece, many of them changed the way people lived and thought. Also, in Ancient Greece the government helped to make the decisions for the Greeks. Drama started by the people of Athens. These people help to spread the word and help to spread the world of acting.. Finally are pottery and the arts. The arts of Greece first started in the Dark Age when the society did not allow it at that time. There was a war that broke out called the Trojan War. This war, put Ancient Greece into depopulation, and made their culture isolated.

The people of Ancient Greece had a very complicated society and government that helped the people to change their ways of living to more modern living that some of us live in today. They helped to teach us about learning, the way an actual government should be run and how the people of the towns and cities should be treated.

"Ancient Greek Government - History for Kids!" //Kidipede - History and Science for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School//. Dr. Karen Carr. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. .

//Http://chalk.richmond.edu/education/projects/webunits/greecerome/index.html//. Apr. 1998. Web. .