Concept of State

Definition
Greek
The word politics has its origins in
Ancient Greece. All of the cities in
Ancient Greece, such as Athens, Sparta,
and Corinth, were referred to as city-
states and the Greek word for a city-
state was polis ()
History of evolution of state
In ancient Greece, Athens was Sparta were two important city states,
the great rival of each other. Sparta was a peninsula southwest of
Athens, also called (Lacedaemon) was the capital of the district of
Laconia.

Sparta was one of the most important Greek city-states throughout
the Archaic and Classical periods and was famous for its military
prowess. The professional and well-trained Spartan hoplites with
their distinctive red cloaks, long hair, and lambda-emblazoned
shields were probably the best and most feared fighters in Greece,
fighting with distinction at such key battles as Thermopylae and
Plataea in the early 5th century BCE. The city was also in constant
rivalry with the other major Greek cities of Athens and Corinth and
became involved in two protracted and hugely damaging conflicts,
the Peloponnesian Wars of the mid- to late 5th century BCE and the
Corinthian Wars of in the early 4th century BCE.


Sparta prided itself not on art, learning, or splendid
buildings, but on its brave men who "served their city in
the place of walls of bricks." Athens, with its beautiful
temples and statues, its poetry and philosophy,
dominated the intellectual life of the world. In the end,
however, Sparta wrested temporary political supremacy
from its cultured opponent.
The Spartan government was founded on the principle
that the life of every individual, from the moment of
birth, belonged absolutely to the state. The elders of the
city-state inspected the newborn infants and ordered the
weak and unhealthy ones to be carried to a nearby gulf
and left to die. By this practice Sparta hoped to ensure
that only those who were physically fit would survive.

The children who were allowed to live were brought up under a
severe discipline. At the age of 7, boys were removed from their
parents' control and organized into small bands. The strongest
and most courageous youths were made captains. The boys slept
in dormitories on hard beds of rushes. They ate black broth and
other crude food. They wore the simplest and scantiest clothing.
Unlike the boys of Athens, they spent little time learning music
and literature. Instead they were drilled each day in gymnastics
and military exercises. They were taught that retreat or surrender
in battle was disgraceful. They learned to endure pain and
hardship without complaint and to obey orders absolutely and
without question.
They were allowed to feel the pinch of hunger and were
encouraged to supplement their fare by stealing food for
themselves. This was not done to cultivate dishonesty but to
develop reasonableness and enterprise. Girls were educated in
classes under a similar system, but with less harshness.


Women in Sparta had a better lot than in other Greek
city-states. In Sparta they could own property which
they often gained through dowries and inheritances.
In fact, women became amongst the richest members
of society, as their men were killed in the many wars,
and eventually controlled 2/5th of Spartan land. In
addition, Spartan women could also move around with
reasonable freedom, they could enjoy athletics and
even drink wine. All of these freedoms would have
been unacceptable in other Greek poleis.

Discipline grew even more rigorous when the boys reached
manhood. All male Spartan citizens between the ages of 20
and 60 served in the army and, though allowed to marry,
they had to belong to a men's dining club and eat and sleep
in the public barracks. They were forbidden to possess gold
and silver, and their money consisted only of iron bars. War
songs were their only music, and their literary education was
slight. No luxury was allowed, even in the use of words. They
spoke shortly
There were three classes of inhabitants in Laconia. Spartan
citizens, who lived in the city itself and who alone had a
voice in the government, devoted their entire time to military
training. The peroikoi, or "dwellers-round," who lived in the
surrounding villages, were free but had no political rights.
They were tradesmen and mechanics--occupations that were
forbidden to the Spartans.


The Helots were serfs, little better than slaves, bound to the
farms and forced to cultivate the soil for the citizens who
owned the land. These Helots, whose marriages and
children were not so strictly controlled by the state, were the
most numerous class and bitterly hated their masters.
Another strange feature of Sparta was its government, which
was headed by two kings who ruled jointly. They served as
high priests and as leaders in war. Each king acted as a
check on the other. There was a sort of cabinet composed of
five ephors, or overseers, who exercised a general
guardianship over law and custom and in later times came
to have greater power. The legislative power was vested in
the assembly of Spartan citizens and in a senate, or council,
of 30 elders consisting of the two kings and 28 other men
chosen from the citizens who had passed the age of 60.
Ephors

Rivalry with Athens, Thebes & Corinth
Cleomenes or Kleomenes was King of Sparta in the
late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. During his reign,
which started around 520 BC, he pursued an
adventurous and extending Sparta's influence both
inside and outside the Peloponnese. He was a
brilliant diplomat. It was during his reign that the
Peloponnesian League came formally into existence.
During his reign, he intervened twice successfully in
Athenian affairs but kept Sparta out of the Ionian
Revolt. He died in prison in mysterious
circumstances, with the Spartan authorities claiming
his death was suicide due to madness.

Sparta, under Cleomenes (c. 520-490 BCE), overthrew the
tyrants of Athens (an absolute ruler uncontrolled by law or
constitution, and/or one who has usurped legitimate
sovereignty. A tyrant usually controls almost everything.)
but the resulting democracy put a stop to any Spartan
ambitions in the city. Sparta was, however, an ally with
Athens in the defence of Greece against the invasion of
Persian king Xerxes, and fought with distinction at
Thermopylae in 480 BCE and at Plataea one year later. From
480 to 460 BCE regional rivalries and revolts by the helots
damaged Sparta and worse were to follow when rivalry with
Athens developed into the Peloponnesian Wars from c. 460
to 446 BCE and again from 431 to 404 BCE. The long wars
were damaging to both sides but Sparta, with some Persian
help, finally won the conflict when Lysander destroyed the
Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE. Spartas position
as the number one city-state in Greece, though, was to be
short-lived.

Government

The Spartan political system was unusual in that it had two hereditary
kings from two separate families. These monarchs were particularly
powerful when one of them led the army on campaign. The kings were
also priests of Zeus and they sat on the council of elders known as the
gerousia. This body consisted of 28 over-60 years of age males who held
the position for life. The gerousia led the citizen assembly, probably
proposing issues on which to vote and it was also the highest court in
Sparta. The assembly (Ekklsia) met once a month and was open to all
citizens who voted by the simple method of shouting. There was also
an executive committee of five ephors (ephoroi) chosen by lot from the
citizen body, able only to serve for a maximum of one year and who
were ineligible for future office. Two of the ephors also accompanied
one of the kings when on campaign. Just how these different political
elements interacted is not known for certain but clearly a degree of
consensus was necessary for the state apparatus to function. It may also
explain Spartas reputation as being a conservative state slow to make
decisions in foreign policy.

The Military

For all Spartan citizens there was a strong emphasis on
military training and careful living in communal mess
halls where simple food such as barley meal, cheese,
figs and wine were the norm. From the age of seven,
males had a militaristic where they were separated into
age groups and lived in barracks. These youths
pursued rigorous athletic and military training which
became even more demanding from the age of 20.






















2. Welfare State