Let us look closer at two of the most famous Greek poleis, one known for its warriors, the other for its government.
Sparta is the undisputed master of the Peloponnesius, having forcibly taken much of it from its original Dorian masters and subjected the rest to subservient city-states or intimidated allies – with the notable exception of Argos. The poor Messenians, heirs to the Mycenaean civilization, have been made “helots,” a kind of state-slave, whom the Spartans keep down via yearly wars carried out against them – the Spartans even have a secret police force, the krypteai, who keep an eye on the helots. This is very important, since the helots greatly outnumber their belligerent masters and the Spartans want to devote a majority of their energies to raising every man to be a soldier, relegating agriculture to their state-slaves. What makes the Spartans such great warriors? A long time ago, the Spartans did away with their kings, establishing a curious governmental and societal system that undermines the traditional Grecian tribal politic and makes their boys the toughest warriors in the known world.
Spartan upbringing is a dangerous affair. When children are born, they are first checked for any defects. If none are found, the child is allowed to grow up. After a few years at home, the children are taken to the agoge where they are trained in basic education and fighting – even the girls. Once the children are twelve years old, the girls are sent home to learn how to run a house and handle managerial work; the boys are quite literally turned out. Trained to fight, the boys are gathered together in packs and fed only enough to keep body and soul together, and maybe not enough then. To instill in them a spirit of independence and survival, the boys are encouraged to steal from the helots (this also served to keep the state-slaves down) and at one point it becomes a right of passage to kill a helot in combat. When sixteen years old, the boys seek out a mess (very important, as Spartans who don’t have a mess by age twenty are made helots), where they are entrusted to a big brother, who mentors them further in the ways of the fighting Spartans, and once the boys grow to be thirty, they are granted a plot of land from the state and inducted into the ranks of the homoioi, the grown men of Sparta. Once a man, the Spartans join the apellai, the council of Spartan males, which is led by five ephors. This is paired with another council, the gerousia, which is open only to men aged sixty years. Besides these councils, there are two “kings” of Sparta who lead her armies into battle – but only one at a time outside the Peloponnesius, and only half the army at that; the other half and its king remain in Spartan lands to make sure that the helots do not overstep their bounds. As one can imagine, the Spartans have a difficult time forming an empire with such a selective population and such strict standards, but they are excellent mercenaries and offer their services across the eastern Mediterranean.
By contrast, the Athenians have a much more governmental focus. These governments have formed in a series of steps under the watchful eye of a number of reformers. The first is Drako, an aristocrat who codifies the Athenian laws, defending the masses from their oppressors in the eupatridae (blue-blood families), who alone supply archons to the aereopagus (council). Though the powers of this group tyranny are curbed for a time, civil unrest prompts an archon, Solon, to define the classes; in this way, he establishes who can hold what office and determines who has rights in Athens. He also cancels all debts and establishes a governing council of 400 and a jury trial of 501 men. Another thirty years pass under this new system until a new tyrant takes the city. Peisistratus wants to undermine the familial tribal makeup of his polis, but unlike the Spartans, he takes civil measures, promoting nationalism though games and establishing traveling judges who do not give an olive what family the guilty party belongs to.
But the eupatridae are unhappy, because they cannot throw their weight around like before, so once Peisistratus dies, they go to the Spartans, crying out that their “liberty” is at stake. The Spartans cannot stomach the idea an upper class without its liberty, so they march to Athens and liberate the city, prompting more civil unrest in the form of struggles among the eupatridae over who will take control once again. After a few years of such maneuvering, one Kleisthenes comes to power and sets out to divide the families as never before. He first divides Athens and its possessions into ten phyles, each subdivided into three trittys: a coastal, an urban, and an inland. Then each trittys is divided again into demes. Each phyle contributes fifty men to a council of 500, though each deme also has its own council. And in a brilliant move, Kleisthenes divides the families of Athens into the different demes such that their old power is broken.
In addition to the land divisions, Kleisthenes creates a council of ten stratagoi (generals) and introduces the ostracism policy. Unfortunately, these systems shall prove troublesome for Athens, as the generals will grow too powerful and those usually ostracized are the best and the brightest of the polis.
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