Ancient Greece has always struck even the imagination of compatriots, not to mention the learned historians of our time. Their civilization, which originates from ordinary fishermen and herders, soon became one of the most powerful in the Ancient World. The Greeks were revered as outstanding (and extremely cunning) politicians, beautiful sailors and warriors.
They reached considerable heights in mechanics: some of their devices are not inferior in complexity to mechanical watches of the 19th century. The Greeks knew about the energy of steam, created the first prototypes of steam engines in the form of toys.
However, all these and many other achievements would not have been possible without a carefully verified social structure of the state, which could educate its citizens and protect them from enemies. Since the main "cog" of the ancient Greek civilization was the policy, this phenomenon should be discussed separately.
What is an ancient Greek policy?
In fact, a separate city was called a polis. But here an important clarification should be made: in those years, cities were often actually separate states. The same Phoenician empire was, in the modern sense of the word, a confederation formed by individual countries that could withdraw from its structure at any time. In addition, the bulk of the population of the policy was politically active: any free person considered it his duty to participate in voting and in making important government decisions.
All this often resulted in fierce disputes and even fights right on the streets, which is why contemporaries considered the Greeks to be “ebullient and noisy people.” Thus, the policy should be considered a separate, special form of political and social structure. The territory of such an education was limited not only to the city walls, but also to those lands that the bulk of the population of the policy (that is, people in the public service) could protect and cultivate.
How did city-states come about?
The policy is unique in that it arose at a turning point in ancient history, during the transition from the clan and communal system to the first “proto-states”. In those distant years, the stratification of society began:
skillful people preferred to become artisans and sell the results of their work, rather than give away the benefits created by them. Merchants appeared who were able to sell handicrafts to other tribes, the “caste” of warriors who defended the very merchants and the general well-being of all members of this “forerunner of the state” was rigidly isolated.
In general, almost all the city-policies of Ancient Greece had a good army, and therefore, if necessary, could stand up for themselves.
Of course, all these people preferred to live not in a bare field. Large cities began to quickly emerge and develop. Due to the fact that artisans and landowners, merchants and warriors, scientists and politicians lived in their walls, they were completely self-sufficient. So there were policies.
But what was the social structure of such amazing (by modern standards) “cities”? Oddly enough, but the bulk of the population of the Greek-style policy was represented by free people, citizens. They participated both in the production of everything necessary (herders, farmers, artisans), and in the protection of their land. The military estate protected settlements from not too dangerous threats, while during the time of enemy raids, its inhabitants went out to protect the walls of the polis.
Economic basis
The key to economic well-being was a special, antique form of land ownership. Its feature is the duality of structure. On the one hand, the land unconditionally belonged to the state, but at the same time, the right to private ownership of it was not in any way disputed. Important! Only (!) A citizen of the policy of birthright who was a free man owned the right to receive his share. Thus, the policy cities of Ancient Greece supported the patriotism of their own inhabitants, and also did not allow the intervention of foreigners in the internal affairs of the state.
Who else lived in policies?
As we have already said, all rights could be possessed not only by a free person, but by the citizenship of a native policy. In addition to “full-fledged” citizens, meteks, perieks, and freedmen lived in the polis. They were completely free, they could engage in almost any activity, but they did not have the right to vote, they could not occupy responsible posts. As a rule, they were engaged in petty trade and craft.
Slaves are the third social layer of the policy. They did not have any rights at all, they could not have property. Every thing that a slave did or acquired belonged to his master. In particular, this Greek and Roman slavery differed from a similar concept among the same Phoenicians, in whom a non-free man could still have at least some property.
Athenian division of society
In Athens, the Greek polis model, based on a clear division of all its inhabitants, was especially pronounced. As we already know, free people were divided into citizens and meteks.
A citizen could only be one whose both parents were Athenians. They possessed the fullness of political rights. Athens citizenship gave the right to all state benefits and payments. From the age of 18, these people were considered military liable, and up to 20 years, all young men underwent compulsory military training. Thanks to this, the history of Ancient Greece does not know the moments when the Greeks surrendered to enemies without a fight.
Meteks were people who lived in Athens for a long time. Most often these are people from other policies. They not only did not have the right to vote, but could not even acquire real estate in the city. Citizens and Meteks could not enter into legal marriages, and children from their connection were considered rootless. Each metek needed to have an intermediary, prostate, through which it was supposed to communicate with the state.
Thus, the bulk of the population of the policy is demos, that is, free people. This has changed only in the last years of the existence of the state, when slaves in many cities became the predominant social layer.
These people, among other things, were subject to a considerable number of various taxes, which most often went to military needs. In addition, they were required to perform military service. Freedmen were equated with them, paid the same taxes. The political model of the Greek policy deliberately did not allow such people to rule the state, since they could harm the state.
Slaves were private and public. The latter could become overseers, be part of the police guard, be executioners and scribes. Private slaves lived separately from their masters. In many ways the only indication of their situation was the quitrent, which they paid to their master. A prisoner of war, a child of a slave, a man who was bought abroad for this purpose could fall into slavery. Under Solon, long slavery was abolished, which until then had been used extremely actively in Athens. As we have already said, slaves could not have property. But this did not apply to state slaves who could have something belonging to them.
The testimonies of these people in court were valid, but only if the master was vouching for them. He could kill his slave at any time, and this was not considered a crime. For the murder of someone else's "property" was fined.
What did the policy give to its citizens?
In those difficult times, the policy undertook to give land to its citizens, to ensure their right to possess slaves. The city, that is, the state, had to take care of maintaining the economic well-being of all its inhabitants. Simply put, these rules led to the main direction of foreign policy - expansion and colonization, since citizens constantly needed new lands. For the performance of state and military service, a salary was laid, which was formed from the funds received in the form of taxes and military production.
In general, the history of Ancient Greece in this regard was no different from the same period in other states.
The specifics of military service
Every citizen between the ages of 17 and 60 was considered to be obliged to military service (see above). Rich people formed cavalry and entered the ranks of hoplites (heavily armed infantry). All the rest were light infantry and, in some cases, light cavalry. The specificity of social relations within the policy was that service in the army and the militia was not only honorable, but also desired. Citizens really were patriots, because they perfectly understood that nowhere but in their native policies do they need anyone, that their life, as well as the life of their family and loved ones, is directly dependent on the well-being and security of their own state.
Features of the political arrangement
Despite the huge number of cities, their political arrangement was relatively the same. In any case, there were some commonly used rules. So, all the cities of Ancient Greece had the following legislative bodies:
- National Assembly (appella, eklessia).
- A meeting of full senior citizens, “honorary members” (Gerusia, Areopagus, Senate).
- Separately elected officials (magistrates).
The popular assembly - the most democratic form of political life of the society of that time - was in every policy. It is due to the presence of this management body that the right of every adult citizen to participate in state activities was fully realized.
However, one should not assume that peace and harmony reigned within the polis. Various sectors of society led a constant political struggle, providing themselves and their representatives an advantage in the popular assemblies in order to choose their people to higher places. The cities of Ancient Greece could be either oligarchic (Sparta) or democratic (Athens).
The prevalence was far from always explained by intrigues alone: there could be many landowners-agrarians in the polis or craftsmen and traders. The stronger the numerical representation of a particular social stratum, the more significant was the opinion of its representatives at meetings. So, Corinth was a reference trade and craft policy, while Sparta belonged to the agricultural states. Of course, it was the traders who determined the development of ancient Greece: Athens, in contrast to the same Sparta, was always at the center of the political life of that time, constantly braking and holding back the development of its warlike rival.
The crisis of public-political arrangement
With the increase in the number of slaves and the increasing focus on slave labor, the Greek city-states are becoming one of the forms of a purely slave-owning society. As a result of this, many private farmers simply go bankrupt, being unable to tolerate competition with free slave labor. The antique form of ownership is almost completely degrading and collapsing, policies are entering an era of crisis. Despite the fact that most of the cities experienced their heyday around the 5th century BC, only 100 years later their mass decline and a slide into banal slavery and dictatorship began.
Thus, the main stages of development of Ancient Greece are not distinguished by something unusual: moving from a primitive tribal system to communities, the Greeks eventually came to a model of a developed slave-owning society. In general, this is precisely what caused the weakening of their country.
Dragon Legislation
One of the evidence of what happened was the "Dragon Legislation." Obviously, it received its name for the extreme degree of cruelty of those norms that were part of it. However, up to now only their names have survived basically. It is known that a certain Dragon introduced the following:
- All residents of the city, who could and were able to carry weapons, received all political and civil rights.
- Nine archons were appointed.
- From now on, the Council of Citizens was elected by lot, it could include 401 citizens.
- The patriarchal social structure was completely preserved.
- Any citizen for debts could now become a slave.
- Everyone has the right to blood feud.
- A college of cosmos and ephebs was appointed.
- A strict property qualification was enacted in law when applying for public service.
These features of the Greek polis remained in a practically unchanged state for all subsequent years.
The Laws of Solon
Before Solon's reforms, internal contradictions began to manifest themselves more and more in society. In the 7th century BC, all this leads to an open uprising against the nobility. In addition, the clan aristocracy greatly interfered with representatives of merchants and artisans who had become extinct. They expectedly wanted to “push aside” the aristocracy, which greatly impeded the economic development of Greece.
Therefore, in 594 BC, Solon was elected the main archon. He tried to prevent serious public upheaval, and therefore retained part of their privileges for the nobility. In general, the peculiarities of the Greek policy largely consisted precisely in the fact that the city leadership nevertheless tried to take into account the interests of all groups and social layers of the population.
Major reforms
First, Solon "refinanced" the debts of people who fell into slavery because of this. All debt obligations have been completely canceled. The issuance of loans was prohibited by law, the security of which served as the identity of the borrower. Slaves purchased outside the state were returned to their homeland, civil rights were returned to them.
Solon divided all citizens into four categories. Only members of the first three were allowed to rule the state (this is the main part of the population of the policy of Ancient Greece), only first-class citizens could become archons and members of the Areopagus. All people who belonged to the fourth category had only the right to vote at the national assembly.
In addition, as in the case of the Dragon, the “Council of Four Hundred” was elected, but only people from the first three classes, in equal amounts from each social stratum, could enter it. A jury was created, and all citizens could be jury, regardless of their rank.
For about three decades, all of Solon's innovations were kept in full, and then they were partially reformed.
Klisfen Reform
Klisfen supported the nobility in her struggle against the tyrannical rule of the pisistratides. Their king, Hypius, was expelled as a result, tyrannical power was abolished, and the government was entrusted to Klisfen himself. With his arrival, the characterization of the Greek polis underwent significant changes.
At the beginning of the fifth century BC, he carried out reforms aimed at the final elimination of the remnants of the clan system. It was Klisfen who abolished the division of citizens into four categories, introducing territorial differentiation. In total, there were ten categories (fil). Each of them was not an ordinary territorial entity, but always consisted of three others: one third of the city’s territory, one third of the coastal territory, one third of the state’s internal lands. Thus, 2/3 of the townspeople and 1/3 of the rural agrarians clearly appeared in the country. Tritium was ruled by demarchs. So the characteristic of the Greek policy has changed.
Instead of the “Council of Four Hundred”, the “Council of Five Hundred” was introduced, which included 50 people from each fila. The archons were abolished, their place was taken by a college of strategists. The census for the occupation of higher government posts has been fully preserved. It was Klisfen who became the ancestor of ostracism, the “Court of Shards”. In its course, any citizen whom the society considered dangerous for the city could be expelled from the policy for a term of ten years.
We hope that from the article you learned what the bulk of the population of the policy did, what is the role of these ancient cities in the history of the Ancient World.