04 Greek Politics and Warfare in the Classical Age
Compare political power and citizenship in Athens and Sparta, then trace how the Persian Wars and rival alliances shaped Greek warfare and the Peloponnesian War.
City-states and political power
Classical Greece was not a unified state. It consisted of independent poleis (singular: ), or city-states, each with its own laws, government, army, and religious traditions. Their political systems varied and could change over time.
Citizenship and political systems
meant rule by the citizen body, while meant rule by a restricted group, often wealthy or influential citizens. Other poleis had tyrants or kings. These categories describe who held political power, but actual governments could mix institutions and shift between forms.
Citizenship brought legal and political rights, but those rights were not shared equally by everyone living in a city. In Athens, adult male citizens could participate in government; women, enslaved people, and resident foreigners called metics were excluded from political decision-making. Athenian women belonged to citizen families but could not vote or hold public office. Athenian therefore gave eligible citizens unusually direct influence while excluding much of the population.
Athenian direct
Reforms associated with around 508/507 BCE helped establish Athenian . The Assembly (ekklesia) brought citizens together to debate and vote on public matters, including war and foreign policy. Large citizen juries decided court cases.
The (boule) prepared business for the Assembly and managed everyday administration. Its members were selected by lot for limited terms. Many other offices were also assigned by lot, while important military commanders, called strategoi, were elected. Random selection was intended to broaden participation; election suited roles for which Athenians valued particular skill or leadership.
Participation was connected in part to citizens’ economic and military roles. Wealthier men could serve as cavalry or equip themselves as hoplites, while poorer citizens often rowed in the fleet. Naval service gave poorer citizens an important contribution to the city’s defense and a political stake in its decisions. Political equality among citizens did not mean equality across Athenian society as a whole.
Sparta’s mixed political system
Sparta combined several forms of government. It had two hereditary kings, a council of elders called the , a citizen assembly, and five annually chosen ephors, who exercised oversight and executive authority.
The assembly consisted of male Spartan citizens, but ordinary citizens had less scope to shape policy than Athenians did in their Assembly. Sparta is often described as oligarchic because effective political power rested with a relatively narrow citizen group and its institutions. The Spartan citizen body was sustained by the labor of , a large unfree population, and was surrounded by other non-citizen inhabitants.
The
The grew out of conflict between the Persian Empire and Greek cities, including Greek communities in Asia Minor. In 490 BCE, Athenians and their allies defeated a Persian force at Marathon. In 480 BCE, during the invasion led by King Xerxes, Spartans and other Greeks resisted at Thermopylae, while the Greek fleet defeated the Persians at Salamis. A Greek victory at Plataea in 479 BCE helped end the invasion.
These events did not involve every Greek city acting as one: some fought with Persia, while the Greek resistance depended on cooperation among rival poleis.
The and Athenian power
After the invasions, Athens led the , an alliance formed to continue resisting Persia and protect Greek communities around the Aegean. Members contributed ships or money. Over time, Athens gained greater control, suppressed attempts by some allies to leave, and moved the league treasury from Delos to Athens.
The alliance developed into an Athenian empire, increasing Athens’ wealth and power. This growth alarmed Sparta and other states.
The and its aftermath
The (431–404 BCE) pitted Athens and its allies against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Its causes included fear of Athenian power, disputes among allies, and growing rivalry between Athens’ maritime empire and Sparta’s influence on land. Athens relied on its fleet and fortified access to its port; Sparta and its allies were stronger in land warfare.
The conflict included truces and renewed fighting and eventually spread beyond mainland Greece. Athens’ disastrous expedition to Sicily weakened it severely. Sparta later built naval strength with Persian support and defeated the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami. Athens surrendered in 404 BCE.
Sparta’s victory did not bring lasting stability. Sparta briefly backed an oligarchic government in Athens, the Thirty, but Athenians restored in 403 BCE. The war weakened major poleis and exposed the difficulty of maintaining alliances when powerful members limited their partners’ independence. Military resources could strengthen citizens’ influence at home, while rival political systems and competing alliances shaped conflicts abroad. Athens’ defeat ended its dominance but did not resolve rivalries among Greek states.