Re:Spartan School (2019)
by spaced-out on Thursday March 18, 2021 @03:16AM
(#26500311)
>Throughout the rest of Greece, most women were illiterate.
Most women in Sparta were illiterate too.
Thanks, I read up on the democracy claim, and I was very surprised. Today I learnt something new.
Re:Spartan School (2019)
by tom_mellior on Thursday March 18, 2021 @04:43AM
(#26500672)
Namely, you learned that "an Assembly composed of all citizens" is not meaningful democracy if the class of "citizens" is defined so narrowly that this comes out to a tiny ruling class dominating a vast majority of subjugated people.
Re:Spartan School (2019)
by YeGoblynQueenne on Thursday March 18, 2021 @03:08PM
(#26506342)
That is a good description of the Athenian democracy where only landed indigenous men were part of the demos, women had no rights, let alone the right to vote, immigrants (metoikoi) also could not vote or own real estate and the economy was supported by relentless slave labour.
Note, all this was 2,000 years ago.
It's fascist, but still a democracy of sorts. Of course, the fact that it is fascist means it shouldn't be worshipped.
Not desiring Fascism through Democracy is one of the reasons the US has a bicameral legislature and the President has a veto power. Much of the Federal Structure is to protect the rights of the individual in the context of rulemaking by the majority. This is a constant source of friction, but it is intentional, the reasons for which are shown in this very discussion.
I think you picked-up a skewed version of History.
Sparta, the first democracy in recorded history, was one of the few Grecian areas where women could go to school, own property, and engage in sports. Throughout the rest of Greece, most women were illiterate. The Spartan constitution is the first known to have an Assembly composed of all citizens.
Plutarch said, "devotion to the intellect is more characteristic of Sparta than love of physical exercise."
Socrates said, "the most ancient and fertile homes of philosophy among the Greeks are Crete and Sparta, where are found more sophists than anywhere on earth."
The oldest recorded heterosexual love poem was the work of a Spartan poet praising Spartan maidens.