Western Civ Lesson 30: Answering my 2 chosen topics

2 topics I chose:

1. Describe the circumstances leading to the Persian Wars. Why were they significant events in Western history?

2. How was Athenian government organized? How much citizen involvement in government was there?

What led to the Persian wars and why was it significant in the Western history? The wars started off with a misunderstanding between civilizations. The Athens and Spartans were in a rival between each other because Sparta would not join the Greeks defense group. The Athens tried to make an alliance with the Persians in order to look over the Spartans. The Persians agreed under a condition that they would give them pieces of earth and water. the Greeks didn’t know what the Persians meant by that so they’ve brought them some soil and water. The Greeks soon learned that what they meant was that the Persians would be in great power over them. Some years later the Athenians supported the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor to overcome the Persians and send 20 ships to help. The king of Persia would of course get upset over this and declared war against the Athens. These events were significant in the Western history because it teaches us to make decisions and the importance of understanding each other.

How was the Athenian government organized and how much citizen involvement in government was there? The Athenian government was organized in a strict systematic way. The government consisted of 4 major groups: Assembly, Council of 5 hundred, Law courts, Magistrates. The Assembly contained all citizens and the citizens were allowed to participate in the meetings. The Council of 5 Hundred members are chosen by a lot of people and would serve for 1 year. These members discuss the topic matters. The Law Courts have 6000 citizens that are chosen every year. They are the ones that make the penalty decision and they are the ones that bring up the topic to the meeting. The Magistrates are those who make that final decision if the person is found guilty or not. They were also elected or chosen by lot. Being able to speak in public was a highly prized skill to have back then, because you can’t be taught how to public speak it was a skill someone can learn to obtain.

Thanks for reading this essay, I hope you liked and learned something from it. Have an amazing rest of your day!