Legal System And Social Hierarchy In Ancient Greece
In Greece the legal system and social hierarchy were tied together. The government kept the people in place and made up their lifestyle. Within the Greek empire some of the major cities such as Athens, and Sparta had basically control over people's lives and this didn’t allow them to move up the chain. They did this by subjugating people and taking rights from people.
The city powerhouse known as “Sparta” had a government that made up the social hierarchy. This was because “The government of Sparta subjugated people ( Tied people to land)”( lecture slides) . Which meant they had to grow crops for them and they could live there. This didn’t allow those people to move up the chain because they were tied to that land no matter what or …show more content…
In Athens “Citizenship was by no means open to all residents: only free adult males from athens played a role in public affairs,leaving foreigners, slaves and women with no direct voice in the government.”(Mediterranean Society, 236) Basically rich men controlled the government and made all the laws. They also were the only ones who could vote on these laws. If you were a poor male, slave, women, etc, you couldn't vote for anything. If you wanted to vote for a law that would benefit the poor and you were poor you couldn't because you were not able to vote. These poor people couldn't do anything to change their way of life because they couldn't vote or be in the government. This government made the people that were poor always stay poor. The government relationship with social hierarchies were very tied together. Another way it demeonstarted this was when Athens was increasing their maritime trade which brought prosperity to athens. This meant that “Owners of small plots could not compare and fell into heavy debt. Competitive pressures often force them to sell their holdings to aristocrats, and debt burdens sometimes overwhelmed them and pushed them into slavery.” ( Mediterranean society, 236) The government basically enslaved them if they didn't complete what they had to every month, this made it hard to even get out of
The city powerhouse known as “Sparta” had a government that made up the social hierarchy. This was because “The government of Sparta subjugated people ( Tied people to land)”( lecture slides) . Which meant they had to grow crops for them and they could live there. This didn’t allow those people to move up the chain because they were tied to that land no matter what or …show more content…
In Athens “Citizenship was by no means open to all residents: only free adult males from athens played a role in public affairs,leaving foreigners, slaves and women with no direct voice in the government.”(Mediterranean Society, 236) Basically rich men controlled the government and made all the laws. They also were the only ones who could vote on these laws. If you were a poor male, slave, women, etc, you couldn't vote for anything. If you wanted to vote for a law that would benefit the poor and you were poor you couldn't because you were not able to vote. These poor people couldn't do anything to change their way of life because they couldn't vote or be in the government. This government made the people that were poor always stay poor. The government relationship with social hierarchies were very tied together. Another way it demeonstarted this was when Athens was increasing their maritime trade which brought prosperity to athens. This meant that “Owners of small plots could not compare and fell into heavy debt. Competitive pressures often force them to sell their holdings to aristocrats, and debt burdens sometimes overwhelmed them and pushed them into slavery.” ( Mediterranean society, 236) The government basically enslaved them if they didn't complete what they had to every month, this made it hard to even get out of