Athens And Sparta Compare And Contrast

The city-states Athens and Sparta were rivals in ancient Greece. Geographically the two were very close to each other, but they had a very different economy, cultural values, and way of governing. Both city-states had two very different ways of doing things. I will be highlighting the major differences.

“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.

Spartan’s government was far superior to the government of Athens. Sparta had elements of an oligarchy. The two rulers were a piece of the administration for convention were the Council of Elders, or Gerousia, a gathering of twenty-eight Spartiate men and the two lords that who make charges, that the Assembly, or basic man, vote on. . There were broad governing rules to ensure that no part, or branch, turned out to be too intense. The Assembly was made out of each mature male in Sparta, yet hypothetically anyone could take part. They voted whether to pass bills into law, and against normal conviction, they could vote more than yes or no. These individuals from the Assembly were picked, by the fair evaluators, who sat in an alternate room and tuned in for the loudest cheer for every hopeful. This technique gave everyone a shot, and in the event that you truly needed a specific competitor, you could simply shout louder. The Ephors, were a gathering of five individuals, who settled on everyday choices, and were chosen yearly.

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.

Athens and Sparta are the two famous city-states in Ancient Greece. The Athens was more superior then Sparta. The Athenians were stronger because they had a better geography, government, cultural achievements, and I would rather live in the Athens.

Athenian citizen makes more contribution to government rather than Spartans. The Athenian government allows citizen to be a member of the government except for the military position, as its stated on an article that ” each citizen can be voted for each legislation”(Echos in the past, page, print). Which signify that being in the government position means having the capability and not the wealth. In the athenian

Ancient Greece was comprised of small city-states, of which Sparta and Athens were two. Athens was renowned as a center of wisdom and learning. The people of Athens were interested in arts, music, and intellectual pursuits. Sparta, on the other hand, was recognized for its military strength. A Spartan's life was centered on the state, because he lived and died to serve the state. Although the competing city-states of Sparta and Athens were individually different as well as governmentally diverse, they both managed to become dominating powers in Ancient Greece.

Sparta was ruled by a king or at some point two kings. These two kings were from two separate families of royalty and neither of them had absolute power. The king or kings had to be consulted by the Ephors. The Ephors had a lot of power and authority in the Spartan government. They were a group of five elders, men over the age of 30 who would serve in this position for a year. They had the power to bring up charges against anyone in Sparta, including the king. Unlike Athens who was set on trying to establish a peaceful democratic atmosphere; Sparta was a lot more militaristic and strict. One of the Spartan government’s main priorities was the strength of the Spartan army. They believed that strength, endurance and numbers were a key part in a successful and powerful army. Therefore every Spartan boy at the age of seven would be taken away from their mothers and put into training for the next 13 years.

     As we look back upon the two significant differences in the governmental systems of Sparta and Athens, there are also many other characteristics that distinguish the differences and similarities of these two city states. The difference in land as well as population perceives a relative historical comparison. Sparta lacked land area and was forced to seek other land in the fertile plain of Messenia. Although, if we look at the Athens, we see that they had no issues with plentiful land, as they possessed large and populous territory.

Both Athens and Sparta developed their own form of political equality among few of their people,

In both of these poleis, the governments tried to prevent class distinctions between civilians. Part of the reason Spartans did not have many luxuries was because everyone in Sparta was considered equal in status and the government wanted to discourage the development of social and class distinctions. While in Athens, it showed that the commoners were displeased that the aristocrats had more luxuries than they did so they ended up rebelling, which in turn caused Athenian democracy to become the government so all Athenian land-owning males had a fair

All you needed to do was be a Citizen of Athens and you could hold any office. Though aristocratic Athenians had a higher education and could sway the demos more easily than non-aristocratic

Beginning with contrasts in government, Sparta, was an Oligarchy where most of the power was shared between two kings. Athens, on the other hand, was a democracy after periods of monarchies and aristocracies. Sparta’s kings ruled until death or forcibly removed from office. Members of Spartan offices were also restricted to people who had very high social standing,

The reforms of Cleisthenes established the basis for the Athenian democracy. All citizens enrolled in ten tribes and each tribe chose 50 members by lottery each year for a new council of 500 people. These 500 people had the responsibility to take care of foreign and financial affairs. There was also an assembly of all male citizens, and they had the final authority in passing laws through free and open debate. In Sparta there were two kings who led the army and ruled their city-state. There were five ephors elected each year and they were responsible for the education of the youth and the behavior of citizens. There was also a council of elders that consisted of two kings and 28 citizens over the age of 60. They decided on issues to present to the assembly who were also all male citizens. There was no debate on resolution to these issues, only voting.

Athens: In Athens, the government was controlled by the people. They elected all of their officials into office. These offices were the Ekklesia, the Boule, the Heliaea, and the Magistrates. You had to be a male adult Athenian citizen to take part in government. Sparta: In Sparta, any free male citizen had the right to be active in public life and government.