Athens And Sparta's Fear Of Civil War

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.

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.

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.

Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and well known cities among all the Greek nations. Most would find it easier to find more similarities among these two groups of mighty people. But there are some differences between these two power houses. For instance the way that these cities were governed and their political procedures and functions were quite different from each other.

The Golden Age of Athens began around 460 BC and ended around 430 BC. It was the time of great achievements. This was flourishing, aton of our society can be traced back to the ancient greeks,. They made long lasting contributions is many places. Medicine, Government , and Philosophy were very important achievement that are used in society today.

This “golden age” began after the Greek victory over Persia during the Persian War (546 – 479 BCE) and came to a decline after the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 BCE). During this time period, the Grecian states were well renowned in cultural and political status. Greece excelled in government, philosophy, art, poetry and drama. The Golden Age also marked the creation of democracy in Athens. Theaters promoted famous playwrights, architecture including the Parthenon art and sculptures was created, and famous philosophers including Plato and Socrates significantly impacted the thought processes of that time.

The history of Sparta was the great exception to the political evolution of the city-states. Despite the fact that Spartans in the end were all Greek, Sparta failed to ever move in the direction of democratic rule. Instead, its government evolved into something more closely resembling a modern day dictatorship. If the Spartans had followed the other Greek city-states in their political practices they might have been able to avoid their own downfall and could have even become stronger.

Dr. Ng, Thanks for your insights. It was because of fear and anxiety Sparta felt. It was because Athens was getting bigger and having prosperity, and so Sparta got afraid of it because they thought that their governmental aspects and governing styles might have been changed Athens. Sparta showed her reasons like that Athens’ had three movements, which were the issues Spartans did not like and approve. They were Potidaea’s siege, helping Corcyra against Corinth, and imposing an embargo on Megara.

A negative effect of the Athenians rioting against the Spartans is that it caused Sparta to lose trust with Athens. This caused Sparta to eventually break their alliances with Athens. When the Athenians rioted in 508 BCE, the Spartans were forced to hold out in the Athenian Acropolis. They remained there for two days and nights until they agreed to a truce with the Athenians on the third day (Heredotus). Sparta had a history of interfering with Athenian politics. The Spartan king Cleomenes helped the Athenians expel their previous ruler, Hippias (Aristotle). He ruled Athens with his brother after his father, Pisistratus, died. Hippias was banished from Athens . ("Ancient Sources"). His brother, Hipparchus, was assassinated by tyrannicides.

Awesome job! Your compare and contrast regarding Sparta and Athens is exceptional. I like the fact that you described many aspects of their lifestyles. In addition to Sparta’s military the individuals who chose to enlist served until the age of 60. Sparta also gained more power once they defeated the city of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Due to the lifestyle of these individuals they were given a word in the English language Spartan which means brave and undaunted.

“Where they differed, was that while Sparta had militaristic values, Athenians were democratic,” Stated Mr. Duckworth in the article, “Athens and Sparta.” Athens and Sparta were two Greek city-states. They were constantly fighting over power power of Greece. Athens would have been a better place to live because, they were not focused on only military, people could get a good education, and they had a better government.

A key subject when discussing the Athenian “Golden Age” would be the Delian League. Founded in 478 B.C., the League was an alliance formed between Athenians and other Greeks (“Delian League”, 2011). The main goals of the League were to: protect the Aegean Islands from further Persian aggression, and to free Ionian Greeks from current Persian rule. The key to achieving this was something that made Athens have the biggest advantage: sea power. Athens not only had the largest navy by far, but also the motive to strike back at Persia. At first, Sparta had been offered leadership of the League because of their great military reputation. However, due to constant fear of Helot revolt, Sparta was disinclined to commit to being overseas (“The

Greece’s Golden Age can be defined as a time of flourishing. There are many changes that occurred during this time that changed Athens for the better. Athens made the important decision of splitting itself from Sparta, who they constantly differed with. “It is from this split that the Athenian Empire was created” (Hunt 80). This split illustrates the certainty that the Athenians possessed in terms of creating a better nation. Athens developed an empire because democracy was expensive. In order for democracy to be created, you need an empire to raise money. The Athenian empire was well-known for its excellent trading along with the arts and sciences that developed during this time. When trade flourished, the polis grew which created

Once the conflict between Greece and Persia had ceased in 479 BCE, Athens found themselves following a new leader, an Athenian statesman, Pericles, who had a fervent interest in advancing Athens. Under Pericles’ leadership, Athens experienced a period of time in the 5th century where they were regarded as the cultural, intellectual and commercial heart of the Hellenic world. Their hegemony and superiority contributed to the creation of a Golden Age, a valid title, which is currently embraced by historians. During this period of time, Athens flourished with culture, art and literature, had an impact in the scientific and medical world, and had a substantial amount of influence and control over the rest of Greece.

Athens and Sparta were the largest, most renowned and powerful Greece poleis in the ancient time. They are remembered up till now for their political structure, and are the inspiration for democracy and represented by Athens, and dictatorship represented by Sparta. In spite of that, their political structure was similar to a great extent. In other words, both in the democratic city-state and the dictator one, only the free native-born males were the citizen, and they are only people, who have political rights. Thus, to participate in the public life and affect the community, one can’t be of the non-native or unfree people. Also, they can’t be women, albeit, free native- born ones. (Brand, n.d.).