However Xenophon’s view is not a totally fair one, considering his past military experiences with Spartans, as well as the fact that he was not a Spartan citizen and therefore only knew the official laws laid out to him. The ancient Greeks believed that the world was created perfect, and that every change made it a little worse. This made conservatism fundamental in preventing decay in the world. The Spartans therefore found it essential to live by the laws, which were mainly military based, that the legendary Lycurgus had laid out for them in the first half of the 7th Century. Unlike other Greek states, who were much less rotated around the military and had women responsible for making clothes, the Spartans left that duty for the slave women, so that the higher class women could concentrate on physical training just as much as the men did.
In his commentary of Xenophon’s ‘Hellenica’, George Carkwell argues that Sparta originally lost her power from 394 BC, after the naval victory of the Persian and Greek fleet. The combined Persian and Greek fleet was under the command of the Athenian Conon and Pharnabazus. They defeated the Spartan navy led by Pisander. Following this significant defeat, Spartan ‘harmosts’ were expelled through the Aegean and this led to the Lacedaemonian maritime empire being virtually
Pericles was the most prominent politician in Athens from 461 until 429 BC. He encouraged his fellow Athenians to use the tribute money the League collected to underwrite the development of Greek culture. During this time Athens was also known as the “school of Hellas.” Pericles at the time was more of a tyranny than a limited democracy. Sadly, Pericles was a victim of the plague that swept Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. During the second Persian war,
The Spartans were really close to them on the other hand, this led to them having an open shot to Athens with little in their way. The Athenians had ships, but that didn’t stop Lysander from get into Athens and ending the war. xxii. The conflict after the war was mainly caused by the amount of power that the Spartans had. It caused Persia to help Athens for freedom and it also caused the city-states to revolt from Spartan control.
The Persians and the Medes appeared in the region east of Mesopotamia around 1300 BCE. Cyrus II united the Persian tribes and overthrew the Median monarch around 550 BCE. He placed the Persians and the Medes in positions of responsibility and retained the frameworks of the Median monarchy. From then, Cyrus, founder of the Persian Empire, ruled as the revered king and conqueror. The Roman Empire had a very different foundation from the Persian’s monarch grounds.
Athens was more worried about the comfort and culture during the time of the military battles. The oligarchy in Sparta put a war like attitude as it's first priority and it met the needs of Ancient Greece. Athens did not have the best form of government because it did not give the citizens of Greece more freedom. The Athenian democracy can not be called a true democracy because there was several flaws in the governement and how it worked. Only the
From the Babylonian to the Persian Empire, slowly each empire grew stronger and larger but still they inevitable failed, due to attacks from outsiders and retaliation from its own citizens. I honestly feel that it all failed due to greed. The rulers just seemed to never be satisfied with all they achieved. The first Persian Empire, Achaemenid, was ruled by Cyrus from 558-530 B.C.E and then passed onto his son Cambyses from 525-522 (Bentley and Ziegler 108). Cyrus was honorable; he went from a king to ruler of a large empire that expanded from India to the borders of Egypt (Bentley and Ziegler 108).
He explains that the strong can only be powerful when they make just choices, otherwise they will be overthrown by a united majority. Plato, and Socrates, introduces the idea that knowledge exists for the benefit of others, and that justice is no different. Therefore, rulers must exist to benefit others, or else they will rule no more. The Republic goes on to show many more examples throughout text, including why justice benefits the weak as well. Socrates argues that justice, when defined properly, is not subjective nor does it benefit only one group of people.
Unlike many legends whose origins have been lost in the mists of time, we know exactly when and where the story of Atlantis first appeared. The story was first told in two of Plato's dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias, written about 330 B.C. Though today Atlantis is often conceived of as a peaceful utopia, the Atlantis that Plato described in his fable was very different. In his book Frauds, Myths and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, professor of archaeology Ken Feder summarizes the story: "a technologically sophisticated but morally bankrupt evil empire — Atlantis — attempts world domination by force. The only thing standing in its way is a relatively small group of spiritually pure, morally principled, and incorruptible people — the ancient Athenians.
“Democracy; by the sword, principles and the spirit” Democracy is the form of government which derives its power from the people. Democracy came from the two Greek words Demos, ”people” and “kratos” which means power. Etymologically, it means the rule of the people. To me, the Democracy that the Ancient Athenians embraced is a Democracy of the Sword, a collective consciousness of the Ancient Athenian objection to the Socratic idea of a Philosopher King and the desire for political equality. It is apparent on how the Ancient Athenians executed Socrates after the series of attempts of his followers to destroy Democracy.