The Ancient Greek City-State - Research Paper Example

 The Ancient Greek City-State When people think of ancient Greece and the ancient Greeks, the attention is usually focused towards the 5th century, which is regarded as the age when Greeks embraced their experiment in direct democracy. The ancient Greece was not made of one large empire but a collection of many small city states (Rhodes, 1986: p.54). These city states were known as the Polis by the Greeks since they were bigger than a city but smaller than a state. Some of these city states were sea-sports while others were inland, and were spread all over the Mediterranean area. Examples included Sparta (the urban center of Southwestern Peloponnese), Athens (the urban center of Attica), Thebes (the urban center of Boeotia), Delphi, and Corinth (Cartledge, 1993: p26). All the occupants of the Polis were Greek, who originated from a common origin although they had different beliefs, as well as culture. The size of a polis varied from a few square miles to hundred square miles depending on the place. The larger ones were as a result of consolidation of the smaller ones. For instance, Athens is a large polis which resulted from the consolidation of 12 small poleis. According to (Hansen, 1996: p.67), a polis in the ancient Greek could be used to refer to an urban center or a town, as well as a political center of a polis in the sense of a state. Therefore, the polis refers to the ancient Greek city state, which was the central urban area that controlled the surrounding countryside. Hansen (1996: p.72) argues that most poleis (city states), had only one settlement that was called the Polis. The Polis served as a central point where the citizens of the city states (poleis) could assemble for political, religious and social activities. However, according to Kitto (1951: p.45), the Polis was so much more than a form of political organization. It was a living community, based on kinship, real or assumed- a kind of extended family'. This paper will discuss how the Polis was more than a political organisation and other factors that surround the Greek Polis. Although the polis was much more than just a political organisation, the term politics comes from the Greek term polis. Sealey (1976: p.102) argues that the polis was a community of citizens where all political, social, economic, religious and cultural activities were focused. In addition, the polis consisted of citizens with political rights who included the men only, citizens with no political rights who included both women and children, and the non-citizens who included slaves and outsider (resident aliens). Thus, all citizens in the polis had fundamental rights, which matched their responsibilities. However, according to Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, every citizen belonged to the state and not to himself. According to Jones (1987: p.27), the Greek polis was argued to be the greatest political system ever created in the history of Greece. The Greeks built this system in order to foster the most elusive human desires such as freedom and equality, and this influenced the western thinking in the middle ages since the Hellenic culture. However, the polis was much more than a political or governmental system. It was a culture that was built around the expansion of the human intellect via physiology, drama, architecture and mathematics as argued by (Whibley, 1896: p.86). Moreover, it fueled these accomplishments through valuing and encouraging their development and advancement. The story of the Polis can be traced back to the Paleolithic period when man started to expand his capability to live in groups. Over the centuries, the groups continued to grow, which resulted in a need to have complex political systems. These bands expanded over time into about a hundred people that resulted in the formation of the city state where men culminated his ability to create a culture of mutual interests. This was followed by the Neolithic period that led to the development of agriculture. Kitto (1951: p.50) argues that agriculture saw the establishment of a larger organization of people into tribes, which had no identifiable leader although they had charismatic leaders. The Bronze Age followed the Neolithic period in which the tribes had the most complex human organization and highly sophisticated. Trading became widespread and metalworking grew, and the Minoan Civilization emerged in Crete that was followed by Mycenae of Greece, which was the greatest Bronze Age Civilization. However, Mycenae was overrun by the Dorian’s leading to the Dark Age period in which for almost three hundred years, Greece did not advance in terms of culture, and the large groups retrogressed to small ones. Nevertheless, according to Tritle (1997: p.204), the Dark Age set the stage for the establishment of the Polis. After the Dark Age, the Archaic Period began in Greece. It was a period of recovery for the Greeks, as well as steady development. As stated by Zaidman and Pantel (1992: p.33), the archaic period was a time that produced the creation of the Polis and colonization of the Mediterranean that expressed the desire of the Greeks to expand trade to the outside world. The Polis (city state) proved to be quite significant to the Greeks, as well as the western man as a whole. During this period, the Greeks struggled to create a cultural model that people from the tribe and clan-based existence that affected their ability to advance. In 750, BC, the Aristocratic class came to power, which was the most powerful and aggressive segment of the Greek community. The aristocrats were able to attain their independence as they acquired enough wealth that could sustain them. In addition, they created social distinctions that separated them from the rest of the people and attained a cultural life that was well refined compared to the previous one. According to Rhodes (1986: p.48), the term aristocratic is often used negatively to mean ignorance or abuse of wealth among others, but in this case, it is used in a structural sense. An aristocratic class arises from a logical step in the process of building the human community in which the society grows leading to segmentation of people by intelligence or skill. In addition, it is made up of people who are able to use their intelligence to acquire wealth and power that can be used to control the lower classes. However, in Greece, power belonged to the small farmers who acted as a counterweight through sheer numbers. The Greeks experienced significant growth to the point they had surplus that drove migration, mobility, as well as the freedom their way of life. As a result, the geographical balance enabled the protection between the classes; hence, Greece had the freedom to incubate its Polis in a pure form without interference from the outside forces that would affect the balance (Jones, 1987: p.42). According to Austin and Vidal-Naquet (1977: p.63), there were other factors that led to the development of the Polis such as the decline of personal leadership. Personal leadership failed to survive in Greek due to lack of dominant, central leaders similar to those of the early Roman Republic, as well as its Etruscan kings. Additionally, the authoritarian model that the Dorian left was a tribal chieftain who was a military leader rather than a king. However, they later disappeared due to lack of power to become kings, which was prevented by factors such as the inability to gain wealth through taxation, the stubborn refusal of the aristocracy to give power to an individual. Also, the lack of foreign threats to create pressure for one leader and the union of land owners against personal leadership prevented their advancement. Poverty is considered a disadvantage in many parts of the world, but in ancient Greek, it promoted the growth of culture and political system. Since there were no distinctions between the rich and the poor, kings and priests could not engage in power and prominence; hence, the Greek people were forced to develop different and more democratic systems of government than the previous one. Kitto (1951: p.32) states that the poor soil in Greece forced people to migrate to islands such as Aegean and the shore of the Asia Minor in which they came together and formed small closely-knit communities. Hence, their settlement among foreigners created the preconditions for the growth of the polis (the city state). The point at which the Polis became a political system is not well known. Rhodes (1986: p.50) argues that the Phalanx could be the tipping point that saw the establishment of the critical balance between the classes; hence, leading to the development of the Polis. This is because he claims that the Hesiod’s words were considered pre-Polis because they refer to an age of the kings while the Phalanx was created in 700 B.C., which coincides with its beginning. Basically, the Polis evolved into a defined geographical unit, with boundaries that were known by its citizens and located in the urban centers. Powell (1988: p.101) claims that, before the Polis evolved, the tribes had different rallying points for religious, military and political functions. However, its emergence led to concentration of these functions in one place. For instance, the courts became centrally located, while the religious functions, which were geographically separated, were brought together in the state god’s temple. As a political center, the polis accommodated the central political institutions, as well as the buildings where they lived. In both the classical and archaic periods, the political buildings were quite small, undistinguished, and the monumental political architecture started in the 4th century (Price, 1999: p.24). In addition, as a public cult center, the polis accommodated a number of sanctuaries, with some having monumental buildings like theatres and temples. All the main public sanctuaries were built within the walls of the polis, and the temples were erected on the acropolis. The polis was more than a sharing of military duties and the political powers by a large number of citizens or a certain high status group that operated according to the law or custom. Also, it included the sharing of culture in a certain way that people can find intensely hard to understand in the current world because of the strong trends of pluralism, individualism, extensive personal choice, as well as the distinctions between the high and the low art. Murray and Price (1991: p.27) argue that culture of the polis involves a wide range of philosophies and arts and the penetration of these developments through the civic body. Moreover, this involved a large number of people in the public activities and in developed democracies that ranged from defending the state to rational office holding and sitting of the assembly, to the jury service, and finally, to attending the mass activity. Murray and Price (1991) argue that, between 525 and 325 B.C, there was a remarkable increase in civilization in the main centers of Greece. Playwrights, historians, architects of buildings, sculptors and philosophers all flourished during this period and contributed to the civilization of Greeks. Additionally, during this period, the philosophical study of politics was invented, as well as the democratic theory in which its laws were laid down. Moreover, in Athens civic life involved voting and sitting in democratic juries, as well as getting involved in religious and artistic functions, in the polis. Others activities included sharing the meat during the festival of the little Panathenaia, taking part in ceremonial activities that took place through the city, viewing Pan-Hellenic games, which were played every four years in the Panathenaia, and starting and ending a temple complex like the Acropolis, among others. In the polis, the yearly cycles were mainly structured some of these religious events and festivals that interrupted and articulated the everyday life of the Greeks. Thus, their calendar was quite similar to the sequence of festivals that took place in the polis. In addition, invited guest, women, children, as well as slaves participated in these events. They were not segregated on the basis of class or education because the poor and the rich, as well as the non-educated and the educated, attended the events together. Morgan (2003: p.234) argues that the festival were significant to the people of Athens because, in the 4th century, funds were put aside so as to help the poor who could not attend theatre due to lack of funds. The Greek theatre was part of the integrated social activity, which helped to maintain unity in the polis in spite of the high tensions and divisions that had started to enter the polis in the 5th century. The comedy and tragedy helped to inform the emotions and minds of audiences and portrayed an excellent way of solving political and social issues in the polis. For instance, Archanians of Aristophanes reflected the causes of the Peloponnesian war, called for peace and pointed certain prominent political leaders thought to have been war-mongers. Also, the theater aimed at positioning human societies according to values and aspirations. For example, the tragedy highlighted the necessities, which defined man’s place in the world although they were often horrible. Michel (1940: p.56) states that the tragedies focused mainly on the actions of the heroes and kings, but the results were often shared by the society in which the actions took place. The Greek civilization was a significant starting point of western civilization, which is the culture that influenced not only the West, but also the other parts of the world, as well. Thus, it is admired for its ability to bring significance in the political, social and economic aspects. According to Aristotle, man is a creature who lives in a polis (Kitto, 1951: p.67). He shows that the polis is the only framework in which a person can achieve his spiritual, intellectual and moral capacities. Kitto (1951: p.69) argues that the polis was a living community that turned most of life into family life and had bitter family quarrels just like in a real or assumed extended family. Thus, this explains what the polis, as well as the Greeks, used to do and thought that was essentially social. Politically, the Greek polis was self-governing without any form of leadership by a central power. It is argued that by the 4th century B.C during Aristotle’s period, there were many Greek Democracies although none of the democratic poleis were as stable, powerful, or organized as that of the Athens. Among the many poleis in Greece, Athens and Sparta were the most and powerful. However, since Sparta was a champion of oligarchy, its political system was not different from that of the other civilizations, while the democracy of Athens was totally new at that time. The political system in Athens went through a number of stages which included Monarchy, oligarchy, and finally Democracy. The democracy of Athens originated during the time of Solon who was a strong, wise man in ancient Greece. However, Solon did not believe in people-power, but the laws he established formed the basis of democracy in Athens. He arranged the political system in which only the aristocrats were able to hold position by making wealth their key qualification for holding any office. In addition, he constituted the policy of shaking-off of Burdens in Greece that cancelled all is debts. This policy enabled to rectify serfdom and slavery which were wide spread in Athens. However, Solon was not the founder of democracy, but he paved the way of democracy by preventing aristocrat-centered political system and freed people, and made them citizens of Greece. According to Rhodes (1986: p.44), classical democracy means people-power also known as democratika in Greek, which was based on active involvement of the citizens. In this case, decision making was left entirely to citizens in an assembly that was open to all citizens. Therefore, Athenian democracy could be regarded as direct since the citizens participated directly. In addition, the democratic government of the Athens was based on three institutions: the Assembly of Demos, the People’s court, and the Council of 500 (Hodkinson and Brock, 2002: p.203). The Assembly gave the citizens a chance to speak their opinion and vote for matters of the government of the polis. The People’s court consisted of a jury that would help in solving cases from the citizens and make punishments for individuals found guilty. Moreover, the Council of 500 citizens, which consisted of 50 people from each of the ten tribes, aimed at issuing decrees regarding certain matters in the state although its key function was to prepare agenda for the assembly meeting. Moreover, the expansion of democracy for the free native Athenians, people were able to receive their wages for the performance of civic duties for the first time. However, further restriction came up on the requirements of citizenship. Initially, only the father was allowed to be a citizen for a free person to earn citizenship, but later both parents were required to be citizens. This shows that there was no relation between citizenship and democracy. Also, the two categories are politically contested; thus, determined the balance between exclusion and inclusion in terms of power and wealth (McGregor, 1987: p.16). This democracy proved its superiority during the Persian war in which it was able to assist Athens to resist the Persian onslaughts. Moreover, the victory of Athens encouraged the poorest people to demand a higher pay than the before in running the city. However, although the classical Athenian democracy was different from the democracy of today because it limited citizenship to adult man only in Athens, it is still significant because it formed the basis of the origin of democracy, which is the most preferred political system all over the world today (McGregor, 1987: p. 78). The Persian wars introduced the Greeks to the new world of trade and different military tactics. They adapted to the new challenges and relied on trade, to protect its empire, as well as foreign grain and money economy. According to McGregor (1987: p.86), the fear of Athens and the Peloponnesian war forced other poleis to adapt in order to compete with Athens. For instance, Sparta built a navy, and after the war, it relied highly on mercenaries to establish its power. Moreover, the Greek armies got a lot of flexibility from the lightly armed troops, which were known as peltasts. For this reason, many Greek people were attracted by the riches that they would make as mercenaries and traders; hence, they moved from the countryside to the urban center. In addition, compared to the small family farms that had been the contributors to the economy of the polis, trade, as well as money economy became significant in the polis. Also, warfare advanced into a more professional, sophisticated, expensive and chronic warfare than the previous one, which was cheap and cause minimal destruction (Hansen, 1998: p.40). The polis provided a wide range of participation for its citizens in the state. However, not all citizens were allowed to participate in all events. For instance, women did not have political representation except they were part of the extended family or citizen household which they called oikia. Moreover, foreigners and aliens residents did not have full rights in the polis although they were protected by the law in certain areas such as in the treaty agreements between the home and the polis, or citizen patron would act for them. Additionally, slaves in the polis were said to be inferior to full human being mainly because they did not participate in the political issues as free people. McGregor (1987: p.100) argues that same view applied to non-Greeks because they were submissive to the rulers and kings in a servile way; thus, freedom in the polis could only be defined by the attitude of being a true Greek. However, the Greeks did not support the idea of using the term slave to refer to the Greeks; instead, they confined it to the barbarians. Therefore, according to Hansen (1996: p.42), this was an admission that some people were slaves under certain circumstances while others were slaves under no circumstance at all. However, according to Fisher (2000: p.105), the decline of the polis resulted from the same features that were also the basis of its strength and vitality. For instance, the spread of Greek civilization affected the polis in that many people outside Greece assumed a veneer of Greek culture and built Greek states that were similar to those of Greeks in terms of their organisation, culture and military institutions. Thus, the spread of Greek civilization especially to Macedon contributed to the decline of the polis. Also, economic changes contributed to the downfall of the polis. For example, the growth in economy resulted in the rise of taxes in order to support the new style of warfare, which had become expensive, chronic and sophisticated, placed a burden on the farmers. As a result, the large estates, which were worked by tenants and slaves, replaced the small family farms that were worked by independent farmers. Thus, ones these farmers who were the backbone of the polis started to decrease, the downfall of the polis began, as well. Moreover, the Peloponnesian war also contributed to the decline of the polis. The war was triggered by three factors that included the fear of the dominant Greek state, which was Athens at that time, by other poleis, the hostility between individual poleis, and a fatal flaw that infected the Greek diplomacy. These factors led to the war that eventually destroyed the polis. The poleis ganged up against each the Athens, which the most powerful Greek city state at the time and resulted in its downfall, as well as the rise of another dominant polis. However, the others poleis also ganged up against the new state leading to its downfall, and the cycle continued. Other factors that led to the downfall of the poleis include the rise of the Macedonian as a power under the leadership of Philip II, the political indifference and lethargy, and the rise of individualism, among others (Finley, 1983: p.112). In conclusion, the polis was one of the most dynamic sources of change. Its history is one of the most influential guides to understanding the origin of the modern world. However, the downfall of the polis was not the end of the city-state. There are similar activities that occurred in the Renaissance Italy and some in Holland and Netherlands (Sealey, 1976: p.67). They also showed a combination of political independence such as a strong political system that included a wide citizen base and a high number of prominent thinkers, artists and writers. Therefore, as earlier stated by Kitto (1951: p.45), the Polis was so much more than a form of political organization. It was a living community, based on kinship, real or assumed- a kind of extended family'. This because was a community of citizens where all political, social, economic, religious and cultural activities were focused. Moreover, it had a culture that was built around the expansion of the human intellect via physiology, drama, architecture and mathematics as argued by (Jones, 1987: p.30), and fueled these accomplishments through valuing and encouraging their development and advancement. Bibliography Austin, M. & Vidal-Naquet, P. (1977). Economic and social history of ancient Greece: an introduction. University of California Press, CA. Cartledge, P. (1993). The Greeks: a portrait of self and others. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Finley, M. I. (1983). ‘The Ancient City from Fustel de Coulanges to Weber and beyond’ in Shaw, P.D, Saller, R.P. (eds), Economy and Society in Ancient Greece. Transaction Publishers, Bristol. Fisher, N. 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