Power and Politics in the Polis of Ancient Greece

Welcome up! In this episode we will talk about the ancient greek civilization and politics. Coming up! Hello, I'm Understanding Politics and in this channel I explain political theories and debates to students as well as curious and passionate people, just like you. I've structured this lecture in five macro sections. In the first one we will deal with the etymology of major greek words that have a relevance for today's topic. In the second we will discuss how the american polis was usually structured. In the third we will look at the constitution of Sparta, while in the fourth and fifth ones we will discuss the constitution of Athens with their forms of Solon and Clisthenes. Let's dive into it. To ancient greeks we owe the word which western civilization used to refer to the lives of communities, politics. This word comes from the plural neuter of the adjective politikos politika and means literally things concerning the polis. A polis is what nowadays we would call city, a human self-sustaining community able to satisfy the needs of its members and where human beings can express themselves entirely. Ancient greeks had also two important words that we do not use in current languages, politeuo, which should be translated as doing politics, and politeia, a complex system of institutions regulating the life of the polis, including not simply administration but education and religion. Politeia should hence be translated as the way of being polis. For the ancient greeks the politics was the highest form of education for men because it was through the polis that citizens were formed. For them politics was the work of logos, an activity where they could rationalize the relationships among the different members of the community. Language is hence rationality and communication is the rationalization of relations between people. The polis is what nowadays we would call a city-state, this type of entity at a restrictive territory that could be seen from the top of the mountain, a thing that poses ancient greeks in stark opposition to the great empires of ancient Egypt and Asia. Yet in such small territories ancient greeks managed to develop a varied set of constitutions. Aristotle described 148 different ones but only the constitution of Athens reached us. The polis came to be as a political community at the end of the 7th century BC gathering different villages. In fact at the time of Homer the communities were structured around the genos, a group of families with a common ancestor. In these communities they had kings and the king of kings ruled over them. In these realities religion was the common element gathering groups and laws and justice were believed to be a result of the will of gods. In ruling the king was assisted by the council made by genoi, the elders with whom he agreed the most important reforms and decisions to be communicated to the demos, the mass of free people that did not belong to the aristocratic families. The third institution in the omedic polis was the assembly composed by the demos but where only the aristocratic members had the right to speak. This institution did not have any specific power but the king and the council often sought an agreement with the assembly to ensure that the citizens would follow the laws. The Homeric polis is hence structured through a rigid patriarchy where common people did not have strong political rights. The constitutional evolution was realized in an opposition between the people and the genoi of the council. Initially the aristocracy strengthened depriving the king of the military power that was transferred to Apollo Marco. The king in fact did not always have the military knowledge to lead the polis. Afterwards important political decisions were transferred to the college of archauns, from arche meaning rule, usually chosen by the elders. With the first great constitutional reforms laws started to be written becoming available to the widespread public and not only to the genoi. This was the period of great legislators such as Licurgus and Draco. This was also the period of affirmation of the nomos, the law made by the polis legislators, in opposition to the previous temistes, laws decided by the gods. The membership in the army was extended to non-aristocratic members and all those who could buy weapons and become part of the army were extended political rights. As you might already know Sparta and Athens became the models from which future constitution drawn inspiration for their own political system. Sparta remained substantially faithful to the genos having a system largely based on the aristocracy. The mass was distinguished between citizens of Sparta and those who conquered territories who then became part of the serfdom. The citizen of Sparta had to be educated to live for the polis and since his young age he was taken away from the family to grow into collective where he will be grown to be a warrior. Until 30 years old the life of a citizen of Sparta was the The serfdom worked for him and he never actually enjoyed or disposed of the property he had been assigned. The assembly or apella constituted by all members part of the army had the sovereign power. Its members selected magistrates and took the most important decisions particularly concerning waging wars or signing peace treaties. The army was led by the king chosen among the The council of elders, the gerousia, was composed of members elected by the apella. Members had to be above 60 years old the age at which the military service officially terminated. These men had extensive judicial powers. While the apella gathered once a month the daily administration of the life of the polis was handed to the ephors a group of five people who had to control all magistrates including the king and had the right to arrest them in case they The tribunal would be then constituted by the gerousia. This constitution is largely attributed to Lycurgus but its faith to tradition led the polis to progressively withdraw and isolate from the rest of the greek world of that time. In Athens the situation was different. The life of the polis had created a situation where wealth had increasingly accumulated in the hands of the The continuous wars impoverished the population caused the indebtedness of simple farmers and shop owners that became source of larger landowners. It is in this context that the reforms of Solon were promoted in mid-5th century BC. Once in power Solon decided to cut the public and private debts. He also divided the citizenry in five different classes according The first classes had money to buy five measure of products, the medimnoi. The hippes were those who could have a horse. Zeugitae could have a couple of animals worth the land while Thetis were free men who did not have money to buy their own weapons. The roles of magistrates could be given to the two upper classes while Thetis could participate in the assembly and be elected to tribunals. According to Aristotle these reforms had freed Zeugitae and Thetis in three ways. Money could not be lent asking somebody's freedom in exchange, everybody could be punished for a crime and their access to tribunals allowed them to democratize the justice system. Solon firmly believed in eunomi, suggesting that sooner or later justice punishes those who violated the law. At the same time a working polis functions as long as there is equilibrium because limit and Clearly this is intended also at the social level in terms of redistribution of wealth. While Solon gave more dignity to the people of the lower classes, the richest citizens kept accumulating wealth. This created the premise for the emergence of tyrants, kings concentrating power to destitute aristocrats of their excessive privilege following a revolt from the poorest members of the citizen. Their programs consisted in giving work and dignity to Thetis. Tyrants were briefly followed by aristocracies but the reforms of Solon had paved the way for more reforms in a democratic sense. This is what happened between 508 and 507 BC with the reforms of Clisthenes, a noble member of the family of Alcmeanoids. Clisthenes changed the system from genos to This means that the territories of Athens were divided in three major lands, the coast, the city and the interior, and each of them was divided in 10 districts, political and administrative communities, in which the 10 portions of the populations were repartitions avoiding the recreation of the older genos. The council called boulet was constituted of 500 members, 50 from each tribe and divided in 10 sections. These sections rotated in the Britannia, the government of the city, for a tenth of the year. Also the army was divided in 10 regiments corresponding to 10 different tribes. By focusing on the demos and giving them power, kratos, Clisthenes hence created a direct democracy. With the following reforms of Ephialtes, most of powers were transferred to the ecclesia, a general assembly competent in foreign relations, legislation, the political aspects of the judiciary power, the executive power and the election of magistrates. The Europagus, the council of aristocrats, basically lost all powers. In this way, virtually any free citizen of Athens could hold a political mandate if he desired. Rather than democracy, this was called isonomy, meaning that every citizen was the same in front of the law, and isagory, meaning that each citizen had freedom of speech. This was the Athens that defended the Hellenistic world against the Persians at Marathon, and that Democritus from Apdera summed up as it follows. Better to live poor in a democracy than enjoy an apparent happiness at the court of a king. On the one hand, Spartans found freedom in becoming polis and devoting their life to it, whereas in Athens the individual was guaranteed the possibility to fulfill his life as he pleased. During the Persian wars, the opposition between Sparta and Athens on one side and the Persians on the other side was then presented as a fight for competing values, freedom and despotism. The lecture is over. Thank you for watching. The idea of freedom achieved dedicating your life to the collective you are part of is a key concept to understand the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Swiss leftist thinker was in fact advocating in favor of a direct democracy and freedom through the use of reason in his famous book The Social Contract. In a way, Rousseau wanted for Switzerland to become a new Sparta.