Sparta was known in Greek as Sparti. The city lied at the southern end of the central Laconia plain, on the right bank of the Eurotas River. Its population was about 100,000 and it was located in the Laconia region. It had a fairly temperate but very dry climate. Sparta’s also depended on agriculture for their sustenance. They had a mandatory military service. Their system of leadership was Oligarchic and their descendants were mostly the descendants of the Dorian invaders. Athens, on the other hand, was the largest capital city of Greece. Its citizens were about 140,000. The region in which Athens was situated was Attica. The city of Athens had a Mediterranean climate. Athenians depended on trade and agriculture for survival. They did not have a military based system. They practiced Democracy and their descendants were mostly from Ionian descent. (Diffen, n.d).
The cities
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The Athenian people had a very modernized and an opened outlook towards life. In contrast to Sparta, in Athens, males were not obliged to join the armed forces they had the opportunity to pursue a good education and distinct varieties of arts and sciences courses. The people of Sparta were not open to other forms of education they only focused on military obedience and power. They didn’t also associate with people outside their territories. Family ties in Athens however, were much stronger. Women were officially dependents of their spouses or their fathers. Women in Athens had no right to own an asset apart from their family. In Sparta, women enjoyed more privileges than women in the other Greek countries did. Women in Sparta were stronger and they formed close relations with their men as they chose. Women could also possess their own assets. In the Athenian region females worked on house chores such as cooking or weaving but in Sparta, the females were free of all of such chores. (Differ,
Athens and Sparta both had very different economies. Their economies were both based around different things. Athens economy was based around trade. A quote that reinforces this statement is found in Document 9, excerpt from “The History of the Peloponnesian War” by Thucydides a quote from that excerpt states “He made a law that no son was obligated to support his father unless he had been taught trade..” this quote show how greatly trade influences the Athenian economy. On the other hand Sparta was completely different. Sparta mostly depended on farming and strengthening their military A paragraph from Document 8, an excerpt from “ Parallel Lines: Lycurgus” by Plutarch reinforces this by stating “Each man’s
Women in Athens lived in a society dominated by men. They had very few rights and essentially, there was nothing equal about it. The education of Athenian women was to say the least, lacking. Unlike men, they weren’t taught in school by actual teachers. They were taught at home by their mothers or tutors of some sort. Much of their education focused on household skills and many men viewed women as being inferior. Women were held back from participating in the sports that were ever so popular with the men.
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.
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, the two largest and most powerful cities in ancient Greece (between 800 and 323 BCE) were two different models of polis, their social, political and cultural values and ways of life were dramatically different. (Brand, n.d.)
Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. The societies of ancient Egypt and of the Greek city-state of Sparta provided a rare contrast. Both Egyptian and Spartan women could own property and engage in business. According to Dr. Peter Picone, the author of “The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian” states “the Egyptian women seem to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man”. Also he states that legal rights were on a class boundary more than a gender boundary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite different from the women of their neighbor, Athens. As you well know, the women of Sparta were bold, freer, and well educated. Also with the Sparta women, everything depended up money, which would determine your rank in society. While some of the Spartan citizens have quite small properties, others have very large ones; hence the land has passed into the hands of a few. And this is due also to faulty laws; for, although the legislator rightly holds up to shame the sale or purchase of an inheritance, he allows anybody who likes to give or bequeath it. Yet both practices lead to the same result. And nearly women held two-fifths of the whole countries; this is owing to the number of heiresses and to the large dowries that are customary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite
Athenian society was very dynamic in many areas while it was strict in regard to the treatment of women. Although Athenian women were protected by the state and did not know a different way of living, they were very stifled and restricted. The only exception was slaves, and heteria, prostitutes, and this was due to the fact that they had no male guardians. Since these women were on there own they had to take care of themselves, and therefore were independent. In a more recent and modern way of viewing the role of a woman, independence and freedom to do as one likes is one of the most important aspects of living. In Athens the wives had none of this freedom and the prostitutes did. Who then really had a “better”
Even being from the same time frame in history, the Roman women from Sparta and the Greek women from Athens were completely different. Their ideas, habits, and daily activities were majorly impacted by the community they lived in. Some of the main differences between the lifestyles of these women include the rights they were given under the government, the daily and professional attire of the women, and the marital and divorce rituals of each of the women. Though they had many different things about them, they also had some similarities that connected them together. Both the Athens and Sparta have two completely different statuses for their women in the society, in many different aspects as well.
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.
The Agoge was a harsh, tough education program which all men of Sparta were required to participate in. The agoge would begin when a Spartan boy was at the age of seven. All boys would receive the same education which was harsh, brutal, and torturing. It was designed to condition the boys to become ready to fight rather than learning about traditional subjects. In the end, some Spartan boys turned into strong hoplite soldiers while unsuccessful boys were outcast from society. Despite the hardships many Spartan boys had to endure, the agoge would prove very useful for Sparta. Out of all the Greek poleis, Sparta was the one known for having the strongest army.
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.
But in the Spartan society, the woman had a dignified position just because they were the mother of the famous Sparta worriers. The Athenian women were also not allowed for education or to educate themselves. Men were the only ones allowed in the schools. They also wore clothing that completely covered their bodies and was not able to walk where they
Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t
Sparta and Athens were both prominent city-states or poleis in Ancient Greece. Sparta, meaning “sown land” or “broom shrub” was also called Lacedaemon and was located on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia on the southeastern Peloponnese. Sparta was a model oligarchy and a very unique city-state because of its social system which was entirely focused on military training. “The Spartans were secretive and anti-intellectual. They rarely let in visitors and left behind few writings. Most modern knowledge of Sparta comes from information preserved by the Ancient Greek writers Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle, and Plutarch who were not themselves Spartans” (Sacks). Their inhabitants were classified as spartiates (Spartan citizens), mothakes (non-free Spartan men raised as citizens, perioikoi (free men), and helots (non-Spartan serfs and slaves). Sparta was a subject of fascination or disgust for Ancient Greeks. Athens was also a Greek city-state and is one of the oldest cities in the world that has been continuously inhabited for 5,000 years. Athens is named after the Goddess Athena, their patron. Athens stands on what was once a defensible settlement, called an acropolis. Athens was known
The ancient civilization of Greece contained many different city-states; two of these city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta and Athens were different in their values, politics, and societies. Sparta was focused on their military, discipline, and to have a strong state. Athens was a democratic state that was peaceful and where women were open to culture and democracy. How do these two city-states differ?