Who has the power?
City-states and government
Athens and Sparta were the two most important city-states in ancient Greece. But there were many city-states in the ancient Greek world.
There were three main forms of government in the city-states of ancient Greece. The first was monarchy, or rule by a king. The second was oligarchy, or rule by a small group. Sparta had an oligarchy. The third was democracy, or rule by the citizens, who voted. Athens had the first democracy for about a hundred years.
Greek Men
In Ancient Greece, men ran the government. The men spent a lot of their time away from home. They did things in politics, spent time in the fields, sailed, hunted, and traded.
For fun, the men wrestled, rode horses, and had the Olympic Games. When the men had parties, their wives and daughters were not allowed to be there.
Greek Women
Except for women in Sparta, Greek women had very little freedom outside of their home. They had to get their father’s or husband’s permission to go to weddings, funerals, and visit female neighbors. They could not leave the house without their husband’s permission.
In their home, Greek women were in charge. Their job was to run the house, make the clothes, and have children. Greek women did not do housework themselves. Most Greek households had slaves. Female slaves cooked, cleaned, and worked in the fields. Male slaves watched the door, to make sure no one came in when the man of the house was away.
Metics
Metics were immigrants or the children of immigrants who lived in Greece. They were a class of people who were not citizens. To be a citizen, a person had to be born in Greece to Greek parents. They had a lot of responsibilities without a lot of rights. They had to fight in wars and pay taxes.But they could not be a part of the government or vote.
Slaves
Slaves were very important to ancient Greek life. They cleaned and cooked, worked in the fields, factories, shops, mines, and on ships. Most slaves’ lives were not very different from a poor Greek citizen’s life. But there were things slaves could not do. They could not go to school, be in politics, or use their own name. The citizen who owned them gave them a name. They were the property of their owner.
People became slaves in many ways. Some people became slaves when they were caught in battle. Some were children of slaves. Some children were sold into slavery by poor families.
Slaves were so important to the culture of ancient Greece, that some historians believe there were as many slaves as citizens.
Ms. Ouellet's Social Studies Blog 