Grecian Government

1. Polis

1.1. A polis (plural: poleis) was the typical structure of a community in the ancient Greek world. A polis consisted of an urban centre, often fortified and with a sacred centre built on a natural acropolis or harbour, which controlled a surrounding territory (chora) of land

2. Forms of Government,

2.1. For the Greeks (or more particularly the Athenians) any system which excluded power from the whole citizen-body and was not a tyranny or monarchy was described as an oligarchy. Oligarchies were perhaps the most common form of city-state government and they often occurred when democracy went wrong.

2.1.1. Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, Democracy

3. Tyrants

3.1. Tyrant, Greek Tyrannos, a cruel and oppressive ruler or, in ancient Greece, a ruler who seized power unconstitutionally or inherited such power

3.1.1. Cypselus at Corinth and Orthagoras

4. Democracy

4.1. In the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people.” This system was comprised of three separate institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy; the boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes; and the dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors. Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, Cleisthenes’ invention was one of ancient Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world

5. Education

5.1. Children in most of ancient Greece started their education at age seven. In Sparta, boys were given military training from ages seven to twenty to prepare them for service in the army. Girls also were required to train physically. They believed strong women produced strong babies.