Athens VS Sparta Essay

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.

Athens had a better government in my opinion. I think Athens had a better government because they created a democracy. According to the Athens and Sparta Document Set, a democracy means “rule by the people”. The Athens also got to abolish politicians they did not like. Athens also had ten generals, meanwhile, Sparta has two kings. In my opinion, I think that having ten generals is better than two kings because they understand you more. Sadly not all Ancient Athens were citizens, but if a free male would be a citizen if his father was a citizen of Athens. Later on, they changed that law, it was then bothering the father and mother had to be a citizen for the child to be considered a citizen. Sadly the women didn’t get that many rights but they soon they got more status. The Athens also made it to where not only the wealthy can engage in the jury service. In the Athens, you have to be an 18-year-old man to complete military training. On the other hand, in Sparta, you have to be a 30-year-old to complete military training. Basically, I’m trying to say that the Athens had a better

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.

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

Sparta and Athens were two of the most dominant and influential city-states in Greek history. The social and political evolution of these two city-states are intriguing and provide insight into different types of government.

On the topic of governmental standpoints Sparta was an oligarchy whereas Athens was a democracy. An oligarchy is a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique (Dictionary.com). Sparta’s government was set up into four branches: two co-kings, Gerontes or Gerousia, Ephors, and Appella or Demos. The co-kings were of two different family lines of limited hereditary monarchs who were kept in check by the other parts of government as well as by each other. One of the two kings was the commander in chief of the army. Gerontes were a council of 30 consisting of the 2 co-kings plus 28 others each were rich elders of noble birth. They would hold office for the rest of their life after being elected by the people. Gerontes acted as advising body and court of criminal justice in which

Introduction Athens and Sparta were two of the largest, most powerful, and most influential cities of Ancient Greece. They may have both been big and historically well revered, but their societies were structured and ruled very differently. This difference is especially true politically speaking. (Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship, 2016) Sparta was very focused on growing and maintaining a strong army, in efforts to ward off any uprising from their rule over the Helots.

Sparta was a military-based city-state, on the other hand, Athens was a generous, art based community. Athens was a greater city to live in because they had education privileges, a strong government, and had characteristics for agriculture. One reason Athens was a greater city to live in is because they had many education priviledges. According to the article, “Athens and Sparta,” by Mr. Duckworth, “Unlike Sparta, in Athens, boys were not forced to join the army. As an Athenian, one could pursue several kinds of arts and sciences.

Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Ancient Greece. A city-state is a small independent country with its own laws and government. Although they were only 150 miles apart, they were very different from one another. They each have their own values, geography, government, economy, education and how they treated women and slaves. If given the chance to go back in time, I would suggest that Greeks settled in Sparta because of their better education, better treatment of women and slaves and better geography.

Although Sparta and Athens were close on the map, they were far apart in many aspects of their civilizations. While having some similarities, the military powerhouse and the intellectual center of Greece had major differences in governments, societies, and cultural developments.

Athens and Sparta were two of the most influential city-states of Greece. The daily life of both city-states varied greatly depending on which perspective you are viewing it from. Within this post I will visit the perspectives of men, woman and children of both city-states.

Sparta and Athens though being both Greek city-states, they shared some common characteristics, similarities and differences in their system of government.

In Athens, there is an element of respect for the will of the people, which is known as a democratic system of choosing leaders (Ancient Greek Democracy, 2010) while Sparta had a different way of life (Oligarchy) and create incentives for citizens, even outsiders to love its system. For instance, aristocrats in the city-state of Athens really appreciate the Spartan system where

A reason why Sparta had a superior government to Athens was that it had a , "Council or Senate (apella) of 28 councilmen (men over 60 and elected for life by the citizens) and the 2 kings. They acted as judges and proposed laws to the citizens' assembly.” This was known as the council of elders, the only people in the council of elders were old men who have gained much experience and wisdom throughout their years. This would improve the government as it would make sure the correct decisions were made as only educated people had a say in the government. A weakness in the Athenian democracy is that ,“Usually around 5,000 citizens met, every 10 days or so on a hill called the Pnyx.” This was a huge inconvenience to the Athenian people due to the fact that transportation was so inefficient back in the 4th century BC. People were spending significant time traveling to the assembly and voting that they were losing chances to boost their economy by working in specialized areas such as farming or craftsmanship. Sparta was certainly the better government of the two powerful Greek