Athens And Spart Greek City State That Comprised Of Complex And Multifaceted Institutions

“The City of Sparta lies in the valley of the River Eurotas. Along with having a river close by; the Spartans were also enclosed by the mountains of Taygetos to the West and Parnon to the East.” Their society was a slave based culture, which allowed the Spartans to become the only full time fighting force in Ancient Greece. Their society was manned by two kings; one of which took the reins of the army in times of conflict or war, while the other king remained in Sparta and maintained society. However, the kings did not have complete power in ancient Sparta. They took two of the 30 seats of the gerousia, or the council of elders; this council of elders prepared possible legislation such as declaring war for a citizen assembly to reject or accept.

“Life at Sparta in several ways resembled that of a military camp,” (Powell 2001, 219). Many laws that Lycurgus proposed revolved around the benefit of the Spartan military. These implementations set by Lycurgus do not give any benefit to the democratic changes occurring in society at the time.

During the times of Ancient Greece, two major forms of government existed, democracy and oligarchy. The city-states of Athens and Sparta are the best representatives of democracy and oligarchy, respectively. The focus of the times was directed towards military capabilities, while the Athenians were more interested in comfort and culture. It was the oligarchy in Sparta that put a war-like attitude as its first priority and best met the needs of Ancient Greece. These factors empowered Sparta and led to the development of an authoritative and potent state. Other contrasting issues included women’s rights, social classes, and value of human life.

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

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.

Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.

Athens and Sparta, the two largest and most powerful cities in ancient Greece (between 800 and 323 BCE) were two different models of polis, their social, political and cultural values and ways of life were dramatically different. (Brand, n.d.)

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.

Sparta is considered by many people as the greatest and most powerful city in Greece for its great strength and power among the other city-states on the Peloponnese peninsula. When you look at Sparta compared to its rival city-states, is it really as great as we think it is? After all, it only lasted 300 years. Sparta’s weaknesses definitely outweighed its strengths. There are many factors to support how Sparta dug its own grave, but the main reasons are because of their lack of education, abusive ways, and their overpopulation of helots (Slaves).

The Spartans were a military force to be rekon with, in part their entire lives were focused upon developing and training their people into excellent soldiers. In order to have a society that had such a presence, their way of life was drastically different from any other city- state of this time. Politically, there was no hierarchy within Sparta, all men were seen as legally equal. The government leaders were made up of two hereditary kings, who would often be prominent leaders within their military. There was a council that was referred as, the “Gerousia”. The council was only made up of men who had reached a certain age, around sixty years. This was to ensure that only men with experience and knowledge would be able to deliberate the important issues that were being discussed. These men also were retired from the Spartan military, thus having knowledge in military strategy. This group mainly reviews foreign and domestic issues, which ultimately is preparation for the council made up of Spartan citizens(73-74).

In this essay I will argue that the gerousia and ephors (to a lesser extent) ultimately ruled Sparta, despite the Spartans’ claim that the assembly had the ultimate power. The evidence I will use for this will consist of both ancient authors and modern scholarship. I shall assess the evidence via the themes of power and privilege, implicit and explicit influence, and perceptions of power: where did it lie? First, I must explain a little about the gerousia, ephors and assembly.

Written Assignment 1 Speaking of ancient Greece and its two most prominent cities, it is truly valuable for the analysis of two sets of opposing government in its conception, which have been taken as models of exercising political, economic and social power, I try to describe them concisely and short on the written assignment with the following questions: How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? To qualify to be recognized citizen of the city-state of Athens, they had to be Athenian by birth, whose parents were originated from Athens, be eighteen years of age and not be a slave. This right was exclusive for men, women had limited citizenship rights.

Ancient Sparta was one of the major Greek city-states in ancient Greece. Sparta’s “uniquely military society,” in

Ancient Greece had many poleis, but two widely known were Sparta and Athens. As both civilizations grew, we were introduced to the famous Greek lawgivers of each place named Lycurgus and Solon. Lycurgus, the ruler of Sparta, constructed reforms to create equality throughout the people and to create justice through fair demands and rules. Solon, the ruler of Athens, did not enforce laws, but only acted in means of gestures for the people to learn morally. Based on Plutarch’s “Life of Lycurgus” and Solon’s poetry, both lawgivers have many more diverse aspects than they do similar as we see through the way they conducted justice and equality for their people and through their personal strengths.

The ancient civilization of Greece contained many different city-states; two of these city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta and Athens were different in their values, politics, and societies. Sparta was focused on their military, discipline, and to have a strong state. Athens was a democratic state that was peaceful and where women were open to culture and democracy. How do these two city-states differ?