What was ancient Greece hierarchy based on?

Question

For my essay paper I need to know who was on the top of the hierarchy and what were the advantages of being on the top and why were they on the top. I also need to know how it was influenced like what they based it on.

Answer 1

Land ownership. In Athens this evolved into wealth.

"The Greek cities were originally monarchies, although many of them were very small and the term "King" (basileus) for their rulers is misleadingly grand. In a country always short of farmland, power rested with a small class of landowners, who formed a warrior aristocracy fighting frequent petty inter-city wars over land and rapidly ousting the monarchy. About this time the rise of a mercantile class (shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC) introduced class conflict into the larger cities. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced by populist leaders called tyrants (turannoi), a word which did not necessarily have the modern meaning of oppressive dictators."

"In Sparta, the landed aristocracy retained their power, and the constitution of Lycurgus (about 650 BC) entrenched their power and gave Sparta a permanent militarist regime under a dual monarchy. Sparta dominated the other cities of the Peloponnese, with the sole exceptions of Argus and Achaia."

"In Athens, by contrast, the monarchy was abolished in 683 BC, and reforms of Solon established a moderate system of aristocratic government. The aristocrats were followed by the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons, who made the city a great naval and commercial power. When the Pisistratids were overthrown, Cleisthenes established the world's first democracy (500 BC), with power being held by an assembly of all the male citizens. But it must be remembered that only a minority of the male inhabitants were citizens, excluding slaves, freedmen and non-Athenians."

"The wealth of Athens attracted talented people from all over Greece, and also created a wealthy leisure class who became patrons of the arts."

"The distinguishing features of Ancient Greek society were the division between free and slave, the differing roles of men and women, the relative lack of status distinctions based on birth, and the importance of religion. The way of life of the Athenians was common in the Greek world compared to Sparta's special system."

"Only free, land owning, native-born men could be citizens entitled to the full protection of the law in a city-state (later Pericles introduced exceptions to the native-born restriction). In most city-states, unlike Rome, social prominence did not allow special rights. For example, being born in a certain family generally brought no special privileges. Sometimes families controlled public religious functions, but this ordinarily did not give any extra power in the government. In Athens, the population was divided into four social classes based on wealth. People could change classes if they made more money. In Sparta, all male citizens were given the title of "equal" if they finished their education. However, Spartan kings, who served as the city-state's dual military and religious leaders, came from two families. Slaves had no power or status."

"City-states legally owned slaves. These public slaves had a larger measure of independence than slaves owned by families, living on their own and performing specialized tasks. In Athens, public slaves were trained to look out for counterfeit coinage, while temple slaves acted as servants of the temple's deity."

"Sparta had a special type of slaves called helots. Helots were Greek war captives owned by the state and assigned to families where they were forced to stay. Helots raised food and did household chores so that women could concentrate on raising strong children while men could devote their time to training as hoplites. Their masters treated them harshly and helots often revolted."

"Ancient Greece" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece

"Solon ordered a national census, measuring Athens wealth. Already, the Athenian population was divided, into four classes, constituting a Timokratia, which is an oligarchic social system. Solon redistributed political duties more popularly, among these classes : "

"- Pentakosiomedimnoi : "men of 500 bushel"
Annually, these people produced 500 bushel either of dry things or of liquid ones.
"- Hippeis : "knights"
For war, these people could support both their own equipment and a horse. This was valued, at a 300 bushel production annually.
"- Zeugital : "For working", these people had two beasts minimally. This was valued, at a 200 bushel production annually.
"- Thetes : These people were manual workers."

"Solon" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon#Political_career

Answer 2

Greek Hierarchy

Answer 3

Athens, the city-state came into being in 800 B.C.E. The Homeric age wherein there were separate tribes and villages was from 1200-800 B.C.E., Before 1200 there were what was called Aegean people that circled the Aegean sea as far to the east as what would become Troy. There was no dark age as there were no written histories until the Greeks began using an alphabet the borrowed from the Phoenicians. It is hard to say oral history was right or wrong and Atlantis is not part of the Homeric age. Many writings were lost when Christianity destroyed temples and early libraries the temples held because Greek history included Greek Gods.That began the dark age of Greece and Rome.

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awanR

During the Dark Ages of Greece the old major settlements were abandoned (with the notable exception of Athens), and the population dropped dramatically in numbers. Within these three hundred years, the people of Greece lived in small groups that moved constantly in accordance with their new pastoral lifestyle and livestock needs, while they left no written record behind leading to the conclusion that they were illiterate. Later in the Dark Ages (between 950 and 750 BCE), Greeks relearned how to write once again, but this time instead of using the Linear B script used by the Mycenaeans, they adopted the alphabet used by the Phoenicians “innovating in a fundamental way by introducing vowels as letters. The Greek version of the alphabet eventually formed the base of the alphabet used for English today.” (Martin, 43) Life was undoubtedly harsh for the Greeks of the Dark ages. However, in retrospect we can identify one major benefit of the period. The deconstruction of the old Mycenaean economic and social structures with the strict class hierarchy and hereditary rule were forgotten, and eventually replaced with new socio-political institutions that eventually allowed for the rise of Democracy in 5th c. BCE Athens. Notable events from this period include the occurrence of the first Olympics in 776, and the writing of the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Answer 5

Ancient Greek hierarchy was based around citizenship. At the top there were the citizens, which were the native born sons of Greek citizens. Below them were the non-citizens, who more often than not were the middle class. Below them were foreigners, who were often treated with suspicion. At the bottom were the slaves, who were little more than cattle. The role of women varied. In Athens, women were the property of their fathers or husbands, expressly forbidden to leave the house unless going to a funeral or religious ceremony. On the other hand, in Sparta, women were virtually men's equals, able to hold jobs, participate in athletics, even participate in government! Aristotle (an Athenian) once derisively called Sparta a gymnotopia; a land ruled by women. As much as Spartan women were derided for their freedom, they were also universally praised for their beauty, perhaps due to the fact that every Spartan woman exercised at least 6 days a week.

On another note, the Greeks were radically jealous of their citizenship. To them, foreigners simply couldn't grasp the espirit de corps of the city, so citizenship was generally confined to an elite few. Remember, Socrates wasn't executed by the state; he was exiled. He chose to drink poison rather than spend the rest of his life as a foreigner in some strange city-state.

Answer 6

Ancient Greece is a place; the time-span covered by "ancient" presumably covers the years from neo-lithic Stone Age settlements to classical Greece.

I can't tell from your question's wording if you are interested in the pre-classical or the classical period of "ancience" in Greece.

Before the period of fleets, strong, populous polises of city-states, alliances and philosophers, the Greek mainland and islands had cities, up to 10,000 persons; they were ruled not apparently by "kings", although government by a tyrannos or sole ruler was not unknown; there was a nobility class of landholders who comprised the advisory body to the hereditary but limited monarch of lawagetas, lawgiver. The central CEO of the kingdom received payments in tithe or goods from the people and kept it in a palace granary and storehouses for people against a year of famine of drought. He was served by a clerical class of priests, owned household slaves and city slaves and kept records of everything received or distributed.

The later classical Greek system elaborated on this system, either as an archon held elected government with people holding offers, an ecclesia and boule--a larger Assembly of citizens whose duty to attend devolved on certain tribes or percentages, and the boule who were the steering committee of the larger council. There were elected military generals, those who educated children and trained soldiers, paid rowers for the fleet and trierarchs of vessels who paid to have such a ship; each man paid for his own panoply as a hoplite or foot soldier; and citizens who owned land were expected to contribute to civic expenses, festivals, etc.

Find a good library book or website for the period that interests you. The Homeric period, I believe it's misdated too early, nevertheless ends c. 650--620BC. The classical period then begins. But do not be fooled by the term "king"; the monarch was elected at some point by heads of the tribes represented in a town, and frequently there were two leaders--one for war, one for peacetimel institutions; and there s no evidence for an inherited hereditary kingship earl on. It was more an election of the best man; and even he had to undergo an ancient ritual by pretending to die and be reborn every eight years--there was a time when the king served a year and was sacrificed.
Hope this helps.

Answer 7

It really depends on which time period and which city you refer to.... Until the time of Alexander the Great and his father, Greece was not united. Sparta was an oligarchy and Athens was pretty much a democracy but it was very unorganized.... Pretty much the democracy included being able to speak in the city-square about any issue you desired, but countless other people with louder voices would be doing the same as you tried speaking.