Compare And Contrast Sparta And Athens

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.

offices could be held by whom. A male citizen of classical Athens must have reached his 30th

In Athens, only men from wealthy families received an education. Men studied reading, grammar, poetry, history, math, and music. Although education in Athens was very significant, they focussed more on art. Athens was not military based. For example, military service was mostly optional. In Sparta, Men devoted themselves to mainly military and athletics. They were required to serve in the military from a young age. When they grew older and stronger, they attended Sparta’s military school to train even harder to protect their home. Because of their dedication, Sparta was the most powerful army in Greece. Unlike Athens, Sparta did not value art and literature. Instead, they valued duty, strength, and

There were several advantages and disadvantages to each of these two polies. Their societal structures were relatively similar, and their governments were exact opposites. Athens was a very artistic and philosophical city-state while Spartan culture revolved more around the training of men for war and stability of the government. Spartans valued organization and stability, while Athenians comparatively valued freedom of choice. There were also huge gender biases between the two polies, and through all of this, traditions and beliefs have been passed down to our generations today, helping to shape the world we live in.

“The ancient Greeks left us a very rich legacy of stories inspired by their gods, goddesses and heroes. They invented democracy and the modern alphabet, and laid the foundations of mathematics, philosophy, astronomy and medicine.”(Martell and Kuhtz 5) Some of the major city-states of Greece are Athens and Sparta. These two cities are very close to each other yet they are very different. Firstly, I will present Athens and Sparta generally. Secondly, I will discuss their military and trade expansion and how they reacted to the Persian and Peloponnesian war. Finally, I will examine their political long-term stability.

Bitter rivals would be the correct term to describe Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece. They may have been geographically close, but they were pretty different in their lifestyles, values, and cultures. However, they fought as allies in the Greco-Persian wars between 499 and 449 BC. In the year of 490 BC, a Persian army that consisted of 25,000 men landed open to the Plain of Marathon, and the Athenians persuaded Sparta to join forces with them to fight against the invader. The 10,000 Athenians then had to face the Persians assisted only by 1,000 men from Plataea.

prepared for battle at all times. Athens was a cowardly, fearful civilization that went running from battle and was eventually conquered by Sparta. Although Sparta wasn’t known for it’s intellect, their warriors were wise when it came to techniques of war. Sparta was known for it’s fighting strategies and it’s ability to be resourceful in all situations and environments.

Athens and Sparta were the most famous cities in Greece. They were bitter rivals in ancient Greece. They were very close to each other geographically, but so different in the values, lifestyle, and cultures.

Athens and Sparta, two of the most influential powers in ancient Europe, were quite different in many ways. Some of the main differences between Athens and Sparta were their governments, their education systems, their people’s rights, and the way their people were treated as a whole. They had completely different forms of government. They had educational systems that taught things almost completely opposite of each other, one military-based and one more focused on the arts. Also the people had different rights. Athenian men had more rights than Spartan men, while Spartan women had more rights than Athenian women.

Spartan and Athenian society were very different from each other in several aspects. However, the two shared several of the same characteristics. For the most part, the differences between both city states is what set the two apart. Meanwhile, the few things that both ancient city states had in common is what united them. Spartans for the most part, wanted a strong army, a civilization with no freedom and less education for their men. They wanted to send their men to fight in the army. On the other hand, the Athenians had a strong army, but their freedom was a necessity and the education to their people was a priority.

In this paper we will explore the differences between Sparta and Athens, as well as the similarities.

The main objective of this essay is to describe and investigate the structure of the government in the ancient Greece’s most powerful city states, namely, Athens and Sparta. Both city states have gone through various cycles of wars, reforms, social upheaval and unrests, and each of these elements has had influenced the development of the governmental systems that we have bettered or inherited today. Athenians saw the need for fundamental changes in the government, allowing them to pave the way for direct participation of their citizens and citizen’s initiative in the democracy and elimination of the some oligarchical elements. The Sparta, although not as democratic as Athens, allowed women to be far more than reproductive

(rule of one), oligarchy (rule of a few), tyranny (rule by force) and democracy (rule by

In the land of Greece there were many city state but the two most powerful were Sparta and it main rival the Athens. These two city states were very different when it comes to how the government was ruled. The Athens was all for developing their intelligence and Sparta focused mostly on military since first born. Not fearing death and fighting for honor in the name of its state, Sparta became a massive powerhouse but how did this effect the way the other nations viewed Sparta and what training and preparation made Sparta so powerful?

Kantz, Marilyn A. (n.d.). Cambridge Illustrated History of Athens. Two Faces of Greece: Athens and Sparta. Retrieved 21st Apr, 2015 from: http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/educational/lesson1.html