Uh....their leader is KING Leonidas. Sparta was in no way a democracy, proto or otherwise.
LOL. Yeah that would have been real news to the Helots.
"Uh....their leader is KING Leonidas. Sparta was in no way a democracy, proto or otherwise."
I agree. They were no better than the Persians invading them. The Spartans had slaves and were in no way a democracy. I was only quoting Esquire magazine's line. Don't blame the messenger.
It is a great story, nevertheless, but I won't be seeing the movie because I cannot stand the lead actor's political diss of our troops. It's that simple.
Well technically it was a constitutional totalitarianism.
And the Kings (two of them - which divided the power) were more hereditary war leaders, and had less freedom of action than ordinary Spartans.
The real power was with the Ephors - elected for a one term term by the votes of all the citizens - so proto-democracy sounds about right
The Persian Empire on the other hand was a straightforward Oriental Despotism, where the King could do what pretty well pleased him.
Although I get your point, it must be said that they WERE the earliest form of democratic self rule and the seed of western democracy. The English have a King, does that rule them out of the "democracy club"?