Free Greeks Vs Persians In Politics And Religion Essay Example

Both Persians and Greeks were two great ancient civilizations. They existed nearly at one period of time and even fought against each other. The states were different in many ways. First of all, Greeks had a developed polytheistic religion. The gods were responsible for changes in nature, important events and virtues of human life. Gods and goddess had a close but complicated family relationship. Greek citizens also offered up sacrifices to their gods. Not all the gods were treated equally. It depended on the city. Athens worshipped Athena, the goddess of wisdom and tactic, and Spartans liked Ares, the god of war. On the flip side, Persians were the first who developed a monotheistic religion. It was called Zoroastrianism, and it had clear good/bad dualism. It valued cleanness and modesty.
Persia was a monarchic state. The power was passed from one generation to another. The monarch had enormous powers, which were ensured by satraps, or regional representatives on the conquered lands. The empire should be centralized but it was not actually implemented in practice. Persian emperors allowed their servants to have any religion they like and even have their kings as long as the taxes are paid to the emperor. It was the only empire of that time that did not have slaves. On the contrary, Greek towns used the work of slaves in their everyday life. Besides, the Greeks did not have a unified state. They started recognizing themselves Greeks only after the Greek-Persian wars, when Athens asked about the military help. Athens was a democratic state, where officials could be elected. On the other side, Sparta was an oligarchy with different elements of monarchy and democracy. The power was ensured by two kings.