Citizenship was not dependent on wealth, influence or occupation. All Athenian citizens had the right to vote in the Assembly, debate, own land and own slaves. All Athenian citizens were expected to have military training, be educated, pay their taxes and serve Athens in times of war.
Primary Causes
There were many factors that went into the decline and fall of Ancient Greece. Here are some of the primary causes: Greece was divided into city-states. Constant warring between the city states weakened Greece and made it difficult to unite against a common enemy like Rome.The Greeks made important contributions to philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The Greeks were known for their sophisticated sculpture and architecture. Greek culture influenced the Roman Empire and many other civilizations, and it continues to influence modern cultures today.
Greece is widely considered to be the cradle of Western culture and democracy. The ancient Greeks pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic thought, including biology, geometry, history, philosophy, and physics. They introduced such important literary forms as epic and lyric poetry, history, tragedy, and comedy.
Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives. The most important duties for a city-dwelling woman were to bear children--preferably male--and to run the household.
The rule of law is a normative principle that political power may not be exercised except according to procedures and constraints prescribed by laws which are publicly known. The concept of the rule of law can be found in ancient Greek theories of law (nomos), and it is implicit in many other Greek legal ideas.
Athenian society was ultimately divided into four main social classes: the upper class; the metics, or middle class; the lower class, or freedmen; and the slave class. The upper class consisted of those born to Athenian parents. They were considered the citizens of Athens.
CITIZENSHIP. In Greece, citizenship meant sharing in the duties and privileges of membership in the polis, or city-state*. Citizens were required to fight in defense of the polis and expected to participate in the political life of the city by voting.
The four most common systems of Greek government were: Democracy - rule by the people (male citizens). Monarchy - rule by an individual who had inherited his role. Oligarchy - rule by a select group of individuals.
Athenian slaves were the property of their master (or of the state), who could dispose of them as he saw fit. He could give, sell, rent, or bequeath them. A slave could have a spouse and child, but the slave family was not recognized by the state, and the master could scatter the family members at any time.
The population of Sparta consisted of three main groups: the Spartans, or Spartiates, who were full citizens; the Helots, or serfs/slaves; and the Perioeci, who were neither slaves nor citizens. The Perioeci, whose name means “dwellers-around,” worked as craftsmen and traders, and built weapons for the Spartans.
If the men brought their shields home with them, it meant they had won the battle. Dead warriors were carried home on their shields. The Spartans believed new ideas would weaken their way of life. Because of this, they tried to prevent change.
It provided the Athenians with a definitive way of ensuring that the important organs of their system of democracy were not tainted by corruption.
During the 5th century BC Sparta was very powerful. This was due to her army, which was feared by other Greeks. Sparta focused on producing good soldiers and all Spartan male citizens were part of the army. The Spartan army played an important role in the Greek victory over the Persians, in 480-479 BC.
The people of Greece lived in independent city-states. Greek city-states had various types of government: monarchy, oligarchy, and direct democracy. Over time, the male citizens of Athens gained the power to make political decisions. Athens is often called the birthplace of democracy.
The exact time when hoplite warfare was developed is uncertain, the prevalent theory being that it was established sometime during the 8th or 7th century BC, when the "heroic age was abandoned and a far more disciplined system introduced" and the Argive shield became popular.
Solon was chosen to be the leader of Athens because he was a fair and respected merchant and the nobles wanted to make some changes in order to avoid an uprising. They turned to Solon for leadership, and he made several major changes.
Greek Mythology and Gods. Myths are stories created to teach people about something important and meaningful. They were often used to teach people about events that they could not always understand, such as illness and death, or earthquakes and floods.
The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, with the number of members numbering between 150 and 330 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of
Helot, a state-owned serf of the ancient Spartans. The ethnic origin of helots is uncertain, but they were probably the original inhabitants of Laconia (the area around the Spartan capital) who were reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians.
