In this article we will talk about Ancient Greece. More precisely, we will try to find the answer to the question of what is a policy in Ancient Greece.
In the 8-9th century BC. e. Greece was not the only state, as, for example, the states of the Ancient East during its heyday. Greece was a country of policies.
The policy in Ancient Greece is a community of citizens, a collective of farmers and pastoralists who live together and together defend their land. Gradually, the policy changed, acquiring the features of the state. Its center was the walled city, with a trading area - agora, a temple dedicated to the patron god of the city, various houses and the like. Around the city, farmers and shepherds settled. All suitable land for farming, land and natural resources were considered the property of the community.
The owner of the land could only be a citizen. All citizens were members of the militia who took up arms during the military threat. The assembly owned all the power in the polis. Only citizens of the village had the right to participate in it. There were different types of policies in ancient Greece.
There were dozens of them. Powerful were the policies of ancient Greece. Their names are Athens and Sparta. The richest city was Corinth. Each policy had its own government, army and treasury, minted a coin.
Athens
When asked what the policy is in Ancient Greece, the first state to be considered is Athens. The territory of the Athens polis occupied the entire peninsula of Attica in Central Greece. Athens itself is located in the center of a fertile plain 5 km from the sea.
The dominant position in the new state belonged to the clan nobility. The main government posts were held by aristocrats. The highest power belonged to the Areopagus, consisting of representatives of the tribal nobility, and to the archons - government officials (head, high priest, commander in chief, six public judges).
Gradually, the poor members of the community swung open and were forced to take loans from the rich. On the land of borrowers put a debt stone. When they could not repay the debt with interest, they lost the land. Accepting land for rent left only a sixth of the crop, and the rest was given to the owner of the land. The peasants became poor, became debtors, subsequently turning into slaves.
Reforms of Solon
In the 8-7th century BC e. a certain part of the demos - merchants, owners of workshops and ships, wealthy peasants - became rich. Now they sought to participate in the management of the policy, but were deprived of this right. It was they who launched and led the struggle of the demos with the aristocracy.
In the midst of turmoil, citizens turned to the Athenian politician Solon, who headed the policy in Ancient Greece - this led to the implementation of several reforms. First of all, he canceled the debts of the Athenians and banned debt slavery. Land plots returned to debtors. The Athenians, who fell into slavery for their debts, received freedom. From now on, not a single Athenian could be a slave!
Solon introduced the division of citizens into four categories - the richest, wealthiest, middle-income and poor - depending on the size of their property and income. Citizens of different ranks had different rights and performed various duties to the state.
The transformation that Solon made in Athenian society reoriented Athens to the path of democracy.
Tyranny in athens
20 years have passed since the beginning of the reign of Solon, and in Athens, unrest began again. A relative of Solon, commander Pisistratus, in 560 BC. e. seized power and began to rule in Athens alone, by force securing peace and harmony in the Athenian polis. So in Athens tyranny was established.
The lands of aristocrats who left the country were distributed among the peasants. For them, the tyrant introduced a tax (a tenth of the crop), which enriched the state treasury.
Peisistratus tried to promote the development of agriculture, crafts, trade, and shipbuilding. He began a large construction in Athens: temples, paths and water pipes were erected by his order.
Famous artists and poets were invited to the city, the Iliad and the Odyssey were written, which by then had been transmitted orally. Actually, it was during the reign of Pisistratus that Athens turned into the cultural center of Greece. Since then, their marine power has begun.
Completion of the Athens policy
Tyranny fell shortly after the death of Pisistratus (as his heirs ruled brutally), and the legislator Klisfen was elected the first archon. He divided the entire territory of the Athenian state into 10 districts, each of which consisted of three equal parts - coastal, rural and urban. Citizenship was now determined not by belonging to a clan, but to a specific district. Previously, the territory of the country was divided by gender. With this reform, Klisfen “mixed” citizens and gave them all the same rights. Thus, the influence of the clan nobility in government was reduced.
All citizens were now considered equal regardless of property status: even the poor could occupy any public office. So, in Athens, power again fell into the hands of the people.
Sparta
A powerful policy in ancient Greece was called Sparta. In the 9th century BC e. on the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Laconic region, the Dorians founded several settlements. Subsequently, they finally conquered the local Achaean tribes. In the 7th century BC e. Dorians annexed the neighboring region of Messenia to their possessions. During the two Messenian wars, a state formation took shape , called Lacedaemon (Sparta).
In the article we are looking for the answer to the question of what is a policy in Ancient Greece. Therefore, we dwell in more detail on the state structure of Sparta.
Government structure
The citizens of Sparta lived according to the laws that, according to legend, the sage Lycurgus introduced. The leading role in the management of the Spartan state was played by the council of elders. The decision of the council of elders was approved by the national assembly. Only warrior citizens who reached the age of 30 took part in it.
Lycurgus made sure that all citizens of Sparta had equal rights, so that there were neither poor nor rich among them. Spartan families received the same land plots, they could not be sold or donated, since all land in Sparta was considered the property of the state.
The Spartans were forbidden to engage in craft, trade, their only occupation was military affairs. Weapons and handicrafts made perieki for them. The land allotment of the Spartan was treated by helots. The Spartans could not sell, fire or kill Helot - the Helot families, like the land, belonged to the state.
Genesis of the Spartans
Analyzing the question of what a policy is in Ancient Greece, we will briefly talk about the life of the Spartans.
The Spartans were brave, hardy warriors. They wore rough clothes, lived in identical one-story wooden houses. They had certain forms of hairstyles, beards and mustaches. During the construction it was allowed to use an ax, and only in the manufacture of doors - a saw. From 16 years old and until old age, the Spartan was obliged to serve in the army. At 30, he was considered an adult and had the right to receive a piece of land and marry.
This is how the policy states of Ancient Greece lived and developed.