Comparing Athens And Sparta

Sparta’s government was said to have a mixture of the major types of government which is oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy. While Athens seems to only have a democracy. In Document 2, an excerpt from “The Spartan Constitution” by Aristotle there’s a quote that states “they praise Lacedaemon because it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy..” This quote tells exactly what type of government Sparta had. It’s also said that Sparta is the foundation for the governments we now have in the world. Athens on the other hand had a democracy as stated in Document 3, an excerpt from “Funeral Orations” by Pericles a quotes from this excerpt states “it is true that our government is a democracy, because it’s administration is in the hands, not of the few, but of many..” This quote clearly states that the type of government Athens has is a

Imagine you had to choose between two very, very risky places to live in. Well, that is what people had to do 7,000 years ago. The two places are called Sparta and Athens, both had very harsh and violent laws. Trust me we are all very lucky to live in the places we do now compare to these two places. Now on to having to choose between the two, the only reason on why I would choose this place is because of the different laws for the men. Obviously, I would say that because I am a boy. I would rather live in Athens because of how fair the laws are compared to Sparta. There are many laws in Athens that are better than Sparta. One of the laws includes how they rule their kingdom. In Ancient Athens, it was run by the people themselves in the city. All of the citizens in Athens were happy they had that they had that freedom. In Ancient Sparta, there was not much freedom from voting for their rulers. The only reason that is because only a small group of wealthy, powerful men could rule Sparta. There are many more reasons why I think that Athens is better/ fairer.

Athens is more superior than Sparta through, government, economy, and culture. Athens government is a democracy which means all citizens get to take part. In Athens “ all men are on an equality” which means “ Not of the few but of the many” (doc 3 pericles). Every citizen in Athens is allowed to take part in government, even poor citizens. Unlike Sparta, who has an oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy. The Spartan government is made up of kings and elders only. Not everyone gets to participate.

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.

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.

Athens is superior towards Sparta throughout ancient Greek history. During the Archaic Age, Sparta was solely focused on fighting wars and training their children for these wars. Athens on the contrary, was a city that focused heavily on the arts and was a very relaxed and peaceful city to live in. In Athens, all men born to Athenian parents were citizens, in Sparta, only the wealthy were citizens. In 594 BCE, Salon, the new leader of Athens, he created a constitution that ended the political control of the wealthy. Unless someone was part of the 1 percent, Athens gave members of society more rights than Sparta. By 508 BCE, Cleisthenes came to power in Athens and creates a democratic constitution of all people. While this advancement occurred

“Where they differed was that while sparta had militaristic values, Athenians were democratic,” stated Mr. Duckworth in the passage “Athens and Sparta.” Athens and Sparta were very different in many ways, but the question is if Athens or Sparta had been the better place to live? I believe Sparta would have been the better place to live because Sparta woman had more freedom than other Greek women, Sparta was a protective city-state, and Sparta was an Oligarchy with two rulers.

Amid the stature of Athens, it's social, political, and monetary force Athens occupants have jealousy of Sparta. The city-state of Athens developed quite differently from Sparta. Athens was a typical aristocratic Polis whose nobles served first as magistrates and then on the governing council Areopagus.

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.

Between the city-states Athens and Sparta, Sparta is superior geographically. To start with, Sparta is superior because of farming. For example, Sparta farmed crops like grapes, olives, barley, and wheat. Another example is Sparta produced broad beans, chickpeas, and lentils. In fact, they had fertile soil.

Athens and Sparta were both great city-states that helped shape culture today. They were both located in Ancient Greece around the 5th century B.C. Although they had the same religion and language they were unique in many ways. They had very different militaries, economies, and life of children. Both Athens, and Sparta extremely valued their military, however they were very unlike.

In early Greece the government for both Athens and Sparta were not that different and slowly diverged into different governments. In early times they were both ruled by a basileus who is a king or tribal chief. Sparta retained this system much longer than Athens did. Gradually the Greek monarchy was replaced by an oligarchy which means ruled by a few. In Athens they were ruled by three archons whereas in Sparta they were ruled by two kings.

Athens and Sparta were both Greek city-states that shared the same language and a similar religion but on a social, political and a cultural basis the two states remained antithetical to each other (Hanson, 491). In 430 BC the city-state Megara supported and helped Corinth to fight against Athens so Pericles decided to remove all Megarian products from the Athenian market. Corinth and Megara supplicated to Sparta which in return asked Athens to abolish this Megarian decree. Pericles would only agree to Sparta's demands if Sparta would accept foreign states to take part in trading with Laconia. Sparta refused but proposed as a requirement for peace that Athens should surrender her Empire and recognize the independence of all Greek cities. Pericles and the Athenians refuse