It would seem that a subject known to everyone from the school desk. But the fact of the matter is that it is at school that students learn many distorted views on the history of ancient Greece, which arose back in the 19th century.
"Free" Athens and "despotic" Sparta
Throughout the history of ancient Greece, the opposition of Athens and Sparta in social and political structure runs like a red thread. At school they suggest that Athens was a free, democratic state (with the proviso, of course, that the free had slaves there who were not subject to civil rights), and Sparta was a paramilitary, based on the suppression of the individual. The education system in Athens was bringing up comprehensively developed personalities in young people, and in Sparta - unquestioning obedient warriors, a kind of soulless machines for killing.
In fact, young people, both in Athens and in Sparta, underwent compulsory military service, and only after that they became full citizens. True, in Athens - already at the age of 20, and in Sparta - only at the age of 30, but in Athens, a citizen was subject to compulsory conscription in case of war. Full rights provided for participation in the national assembly and voting in the adoption of laws, and in this there was no difference between Athens and Sparta.
The order of Sparta seemed painful to the Athenians only for the following reasons. From 7 to 20 years old, young Spartans were necessarily brought up at government expense in barracks-type boarding schools, adult Spartiats were obliged to arrange public meals, and most importantly, no one had the right to enrich themselves. Trade and craft were prohibited to the Spartans (only foreigners could engage in them), the import of luxury goods into Sparta was prohibited.
At the same time, each Spartiat was a co-owner of public lands, on which unequal helots worked, and could not go broke and impoverished. The helots were not slaves in the classical sense of the word, since they had houses and plots of land, but a kind of serfs belonging to the entire state. At the same time, there were approximately seven helots for one Sparta. In Athens, at the end of the 4th century BC. there were about twenty absolutely disenfranchised slaves for one free.
It is interesting to compare the status of women in both states. The Athenians were kept locked up in houses, in the female half - a gynequee (Herodotus wrote that the Athenians borrowed the custom of women's seclusion from the Persians). More free behavior was allowed only for unmarried heterosexuals. In Sparta, women were much more liberated, for girls, as well as for boys, gymnastic competitions were even organized.
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There is a legend that sick babies in Sparta were thrown from the Tarpeian rock. Archaeologists have not found a single child skeleton there, only adults.
"Peacefulness" and "tolerance" of Athenian democracy
Democracy in Athens is completely wrong to equate with the liberal democracy of modern times. The period of the triumph of democracy in Athens, under Pericles and later, was characterized by an outburst of Athens' aggressiveness and the terror of the demos against dissidents.
The Athenian demos has always been the initiator and inspirer of the imperialist actions of Athens aimed at subjugating and enslaving other Greek states. An illustrative example of this is the history of two Athenian maritime alliances - the 1st (V century BC) and the 2nd (IV century BC).
Originally emerging as a voluntary association of independent Greek city-states for the purpose of joint defense against Persia, these maritime alliances increasingly turned into a tool of Athens to achieve its goals and exploit the allies. Athens shamelessly disposed of the treasury for its needs, collected from the mandatory contributions of the allies. Any attempt to detach itself from the alliance of Athens was brutally suppressed by military force.
The Peloponnesian War also arose out of Athens' imperial claims. It is not surprising that most of the city-states ultimately supported Sparta as a liberator from the oppression of Athens gravitating over the whole of Hellas.
At the same time, the demos was an extremely conservative force that did not tolerate any innovations in the field of thought and morality. Pericles himself suffered from his willfulness when his beloved, heterosexual Aspasia, was accused of atheism. With great difficulty Pericles obtained her acquittal in court. Pericles' friend, the philosopher Anaxagoras, who taught about the materiality of the world, was less fortunate - he was sentenced to death, and Anaxagoras had to flee from Athens. Protagoras, who declared that "man is the measure of all things," was expelled from Athens, and his writings were burned.
The xenophobia of the Athenians played an important role in the noted incidents - all named persons were natives of other cities of Hellas. But the tragic fate of Socrates, who sneered at the greed and stupidity of the demos, shows that the Athenians did not spare their fellow countrymen either.
The position of different social strata
From a textbook on the history of the ancient world, everyone is familiar with a picture depicting a popular assembly in Athens. On it, in the corner, in the foreground, a man (dressed, unlike the Greeks, in trousers) with a whip, drives away some Hellene. What social strata did these people belong to?
The man with the whip is clearly a policeman. Few people know that the police in Athens consisted of Scythians (hence the non-Hellenic attire), who were state slaves. And the Hellene, who does not have the right to participate in the national assembly, is obviously a metek, that is, a native of another polis living in Athens. At the same time, the lion's share of trade and crafts in Athens (and, consequently, wealth) was in the hands of the methecs.
So the plot of the picture is very amusing - the slave drives away, perhaps, the rich man. True, not a simple slave, but a state one.
Tyranny was allegedly painful to the people
The ancient Greek word "tyrant", meaning a cruel ruler, has survived for centuries. In reality, it did not initially have such a negative meaning. As for the common people, all tyrants came to power as leaders of the common people against the aristocrats who oppressed them.
Many Greek city-states went through a period of tyranny, including Athens. Most of the tyrants were noted for the wide organization of public works that earned the poor people, and the construction of beautiful monumental buildings. The tyrant Pisistratus, who ruled in Athens in the 6th century BC, laid the foundations of the power and glory of his city. Under him, Athens was adorned with majestic buildings and the most beautiful sculptures, a solemn holiday in honor of the god Dionysus was established, which was celebrated many centuries later.
By the way, about works of art. Contrary to the common misconception, ancient Greek temples and sculptures were painted with bright saturated colors, and were not at all sparkling white like their present remains.
Yaroslav Butakov