Ancient Greece: The Five Most Powerful Greek City-States

In the early fifth century BC, Greece consisted of many city-states allied in various factions or leagues. The alliances between these cities are difficult to understand. The alliances created a patchwork where

The Peloponnesian war was fought between the two city states in ancient Greece, being Athens and Sparta. These two cities had alliances that, between them, included close to every Greek city-state. The Peloponnesian war was inevitable because Athens was too hungry for power, and tried to take total control of Greece. Athens’s growth in military and economic power led to the beginning of a bloody war.

During 750-500 B.C.E, Ancient Greece is a place that is known for some city-states, called poleis. Each polis differ particular on economically, politically, and military, When in doubt, however, the city-states did not get along. Two of the most well known and powerful city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta is far better than Athens on the grounds that their armed force was strong and defensive.

Additionally, the Peloponnesian War, from 431– 404 B.C., was a definitive battle in ancient Greece amongst Athens and Sparta. It demolished Athens, in any event for a period. The competition between Athens' sea space and Sparta's property domain was of long standing. Athens under Pericles (from 445 B.C.) had turned into a bastion of Greek vote based system, with an outside approach of frequently mediating to help neighborhood democrats. The Spartans, who favored theocracies like their own, loathed and dreaded the government and social domination of Athens (“Peloponnesian War”). Sparta feared Athens so exponentially that Spartan leaders believed war was the only solution to preventing the further dominance and expansion of Athenian democracy. Post-war, Sparta did achieve the temporary land-dominance and territory it hoped for, until it was overthrown by Thebes among the Corinthian War. Conclusively, the production of war due to threatening nearby civilizations lead to temporary reward, yet it directly caused another fierce, destructive war years later.

Athens was the largest polis in Greece. Its population was over five times as great as the other small city-states. Athens stood out from Sparta as well as the other city-states not only because of its immense population but also because it was the commercial leader of Greece and was home to a great navy. The Athenians valued their political freedom and free thought. Like the Spartans they too wanted to protect their state but unlike the Spartans, the Athenians strove for excellence not only in being warriors but also in their everyday lives. Since the Spartans were only concerned with being great warriors, the Athenians became the cultural center of Greece during the Hellenic period. Athens original government was a monarchy ruled by one king, however, the king's influence began to diminish with the changing times and soon Athens was under the rule of an oligarchy.

In the period known as classical Greece in the years 800-323 BCE, Greece comprised of small city states (poleis) which were considered and operated as independent small countries. Amongst those city states Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and considered in Greek history as the most influential states to western civilisation. These two city states shared some common characteristics whilst in some instances they were very different from each other. Sparta and Athens had differences and similarities in the way they governed their city states, in how they established their military forces, how they treated women, their marriage customs and social gatherings

The city-states of Ancient Greek provide examples of different types of government structures that, even

During the late Archaic Greek and Classical periods, two particular city-states were in existence with significant similarities as well as differences. These two city-states, Sparta and Athens have unique formations of government, histories, goals, as well as societies.

In ancient Greece there were two major polises which allowed the Greek culture to achieve greatness during the 400-500 B.C.E. era. These two polises were Athens and Sparta; both city states differed in many ways before the start of the Persian War. There were low rugged mountains that separated these two city states so communication and travel were difficult. The government of these two city states can be seen as a primary difference between the two. Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, and Cleithenes were four leaders that greatly influenced the political development of Athens. Athens and Sparta differed primarily in their political, social, and economical aspects. But there were other difference that Athens and Sparta share which I will examine in this essay.

Introduction This assignment describes the character of the four ancient governments in order to compare and contrast the five government forms in the Ancient Greek city-states. They are monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

Athens and Sparta are two rivals of ancient Greece. Athenians and Spartans lived their lives different, and they valued different things. Athenians and Spartans had an Assembly, whose members were elected by the people. Sparta were ruled by two kings, those two kings either ruled until they were died or forced out of office. Athens were ruled by archons, they were elected annually. Athens in the birthplace of democracy. Spartans focused on war and obedience. Young boys were trained to be warriors. Young women were trained to be mothers and warriors. Athenians could get good education and could pursue several kinds of arts or sciences. For many years Spartan armies provided much defense of the Greek lands. The Spartans bravery and courage at the “Battle of Thermopylae” during the Persians Wars, inspired all of Greece to fight back with all their might against the invading Persians. Athenians and Spartans fought side by side in the “Battle of Platea”, which ended the Persians invasions of Greece. Spartans provided assistance for Greece when necessary. Athenians wanted to control land around them. That led to war between all the Greeks, this was the “Peloponnesian War”. After many years of fighting the Spartans won. In Greek spirit Sparta refused to burn the city of Athens. The culture and spirit of Athens was allowed to live on, as long as Athenians no longer desired to rule Greek. Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Sparta is known as Sparti in Greek. Sparta is

Athens, the most famous and richest of the Greek city states dominated the ancient world for a long time. The Athenians developed, many new war tactics that were adopted by other Greek city states. Sparta was also a powerful Greek city state and one of the most feared military powers in the ancient world. Spartans grew up in a different society and used many war tactics that were different from traditional Greek warfare (Paton). At one point in time, Athens and Sparta were the most powerful civilizations in the whole world thanks to their very effective war tactics. Some strategies they used were good armor, intense training and surprise attacks. Spartans began training at a young age and were fierce fighters. Athens was rich and had a good navy. In the Persian war, Athens and Sparta worked together and ended up winning. But Athens and Sparta were two very different societies (Hayes 117). Even though the Spartans won the war the golden age of Greece ended this show how military power can make or destroy a great civilization.

Being the birthplace of democracy gives Ancient Greece a very important reputation. One of the most famous civilizations lies between three seas, the Aegean Sea, Sea of Crete, and the Ionian Sea. Such abundance of water makes Ancient Greece good in fishing and trade. Two of the biggest city-states were Athens and Sparta. While Athens was a democracy, Sparta was an oligarchy, which means ruled by few powerful and wealthy people. Ancient Greece is also known for many things like the birthplace of the first Olympics, beautiful architecture, and famous philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The two biggest city-states have always had issues. Sparta and Athens are very different from the way they are administered as well as their practices. Athenians were the most scholarly types while the Spartans were more of the military type. Due to the fact that Sparta had a very military lifestyle, they were good at raising strong outspoken women in a society where women were kept at home.

Ancient Greece is known for its two rival city-states, Athens and Sparta. It was the strengths of these two societies that brought the ancient world to its heights in art, culture and with the defeat of the Persians, warfare. With Athens and Sparta fighting for power and territory, it brought about the Peloponnesian wars that lasted thirty years, leaving the two city-states in their own shadows. The classical era was helped shaped from the works of Homer, The Illiad and The Odyssey, that in a way, created a set of rules and an ethnic identity for the Greeks. The heroic achievements of Odysseus and the other Achaeans served as role models for the Greeks which told them how to behave and how not to behave in many situations, especially on the battle field and in competition.

Ancient Greece was and still is a mountainous land almost completely surrounded by the Mediterranean sea having more than 1400 islands (The British Museum, n.d.). The mountainous geography caused the Greek populations to be isolated in different colonies, even though they spoke the same language and had the same gods in common, the separation and distance between its people, drove them into forming poleis also known as city-states (Gaskell, 2015). Consequently, it not only influence these colonies to develop different cultures, but also different government systems such as aristocracy, democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and tyranny, as it will be discussed in the paragraphs to follow.