Roles Between Athens And Sparta

The spartans only accepted babies that were strong. If the baby was weak they would leave it to die one Mount Taygetus. They would begin at the age of seven for training. The selection of spartan warriors began before birth. They would send boys at the age of seven to military boarding school.

After an embarrassing defeat at the battle of Hysiai Sparta went through great military change, these changes dramatically changed all other areas of Spartan life, turning Sparta into a military focused state. This militaristic influence impacted greatly on Spartan education, essentially aiming to mass produce the perfect solider. The education and training of Spartan boys aged as young as 7 in the agoge became the crucial

The government in Sparta followed a very different coarse than that of the Athenians. It was controlled by an oligarchy in which the power was held by a group of five men called ephors. Working below the ephors was the Council of Elders and an Assembly. Male citizens over age sixty could serve on the Council while anyone, male or female, over the age of twenty could be a member of the Assembly. Though the citizens had little say in the decisions made by the government, the system worked effectively. Over the years, the Spartan's brutal reputation in war grew so great that other nations and city-states were too frightened to attack Sparta even though the Spartan army was no larger then eight thousand men. The Spartan Constitution called for all men to begin their military education at the age of seven, where they were trained to be tough and self-sufficient. Every man in the army fought with a great deal of passion for his country. Life in Sparta may have been rough, but the rest of the Greeks envied the Spartans for their simplicity, straight forwardness, and fanatical dedication. The beliefs of Sparta were oriented around the state. The individual lived and died for the state. The combination of this philosophy, the education of Spartan males, and the discipline of their army gave the Spartans the stability needed to survive in Ancient Greece.

On the contrary to life of women in Athens, the women of Sparta had considerable freedom. They were allowed to leave their houses when ever they pleased. They were required per the state policy to have education both from physical and educational perspective. The reason for physical education was because they could make and nourish babies that would be healthy for the children to be capable of being good warriors and if the baby was not fit as they would be judged by the elders, as mentioned before they would be left to die outside the city.

The slaves tried to revolt but were shut down by the Spartans even though they were so highly outnumbered. The Spartans began to train their soldiers differently. In case the slaves revolted again, the army could just slaughter the salves in battle. They began to train their soldiers at a younger age. They would be sorted out as soon as they were born and the strong would live with their mothers until they were seven while the weak were killed by being thrown off the top of a cliff. They were trained until they were twenty years old when they would be full time soldiers. At age thirty they would be matched up with a wife and attempt to produce strong baby boys with them. At age sixty a soldier would retire and become part of the council. Life expectancy was forty-five so not many people made it to sixty. While Sparta was growing the best army the world had ever seen, the Persian Empire had taken control from India to Turkey and planned to attack Greece next. Sparta helped the Greek city-states from being conquered by Persia which causes Persia to send a large army to attack Marathon. Athens wins the war after being more advanced in combat and Persia retreats. After a Persian civil war, Xerxes takes over as the Persian emperor and leads the largest army ever seen to attack Athens. Athenians take guard at Thermopylae and after one day of fighting, 300 Spartan soldiers tell the Athenians to fall farther back and they will stale as long as possible so they could

It was ruled by two families which had a dual monarchy. Eventually Sparta decided to take over Messenia and enslave its indigenous people the Helots. The reason for this was because Messenia was fairly good for agriculture which was something very rare since only about 20 percent of ancient Greece was farmable. Due to a revolt by the Helots, Spartan leaders decided to become very strict in their ways of ruling. Spartans kings were determined to make every Spartan loyal to the state. The best choice for this waas to make Sparta a strictly militarized society. Boys were trained at a very young age. An unknown author explains this as “At age 7, Spartans boys entered a rigorous state-sponsored education, military training and socialization program. Known as the Agoge, the system emphasized duty, discipline and endurance”(2009). The purpose of the harsh training of boys and placing them in barracks was for them to be strong and disciplined. Agoge helped transform boys into well trained men capable of taking on any challenges that came their way. It made them both very physically and mentally strong.Taking a child from his family at a young age and training him for years into a warrior made him loyal to his people. What happen if a boy showed signs of defects? Joshua Cole remarks, “At birth, every Spartiate child was examined by officials who determined whether it was healthy enough to

Sparta was a warrior society centered on the loyalty of the state and military service, at Sparta the children used to begin their training to become a warrior at the age of 7, leaving their houses to join the barracks, where they also learned to write and read. The Spartan army was considered the best in the world, due to their commitment to the training and their battle strategy, they could overcome any opponent, to increase their power in the battlefield, the warriors were taught to fight until the death, because giving up was a dishonorable act towards Sparta (“300”, 02/27). The society was divided into 3 different groups; Equals, Half-citizen who were considered full citizens, and the Helots who were slaves. The Spartan government, different from the Persian Empire, had a decentralized government, splitting the power between the council, which consisted in 2 kings and 28 nobles (man over the age of 60).(Dr. Kaz, lecture, 02/24) Sparta had an strong and stable government, being considered the best in Greece. The woman in Sparta had much more freedom than in other place at that time, as the men were always training for the army, the woman had an important role in organizing and controlling the city, they were also treated very well, because they regarded them as the producer of the Spartan soldier. (Dr. Kaz, lecture,

The Spartan’s were a highly developed warrior based society. They came into the major military power through their highly developed military strategy. The men were required to be a part of the military if they were future citizens. The Spartans had a highly revered group of men, who decided if a child was weak or strong and if they would live to become a good asset to the country. When they decided if they were bad, they would kill all those insufficient. The strong boys were often bathed in wine and raised by their mothers until the age of seven, when they were placed in the agoge (Andrews, 2013). When they turned seven they were taken away and trained to kill.

Imagine that you are a boy in Sparta. If you were born unhealthy you would of been left outside the city to die. You live with your family for several years until one day you are taken away from them to become a soldier and when you come back your parents may be dead. This is part of education in Sparta. Although Sparta’s education had some strengths, the strengths did not outweigh the weaknesses. Male children were taken from their families at a young age, their training was very harsh and bleak, and they were also abused and mistreated.

It’s shown through the economy growth of Sparta after the Peloponnesian war, and its shown through Sparta’s relations with Athens after the war. The militarism was crucial to its growth, and allowed Sparta to really develop not only as a city-state, but as a known power. Without Sparta, we wouldn’t be able to learn from its successes and its failures, which even today are relevant. This research paper will explain them so that we can either try and achieve them or avoid them.

Classical Sparta was a Greek city-state that comprised of complex and multifaceted institutions. Labelled by Xenophon as “most powerful and most celebrated”, contemporary historians have been drawn to question and assess whether these ‘powerful’ institutions were unique to Sparta (Xen. Con. 1.1). Upon evaluating ancient sources in relation to these historical considerations, it became apparent that the focuses and construct of Sparta’s institutions widely differed to institutions demonstrated in other Greek city-states. It was evident however, that among these differences were also institutional similarities. In analysing the distinctive nature of Sparta’s institutions, this paper will specifically compare the establishments of Sparta to those exemplified by Athens and Corinth in order to determine the specific differences in Sparta’s establishments to those found in other Greek city-states. The areas examined and compared include the political, educational, socio-legalistic and religious institutions.

The next stage in turning a Spartan male into a Spartiate soldier was for them to become enrolled as an eiren, or a prefect. Their job was to oversee the younger boys, as had been done for them. They were encouraged to use violence against the younger boys to toughen them up. The older boys were now expected to attempt to get into a syssition, however if they failed to get into the syssition they applied for they would lose their citizenship and become an outcast. The Spartans at this point were able to go to war and get married, however they were not allowed to leave the barracks.

In Athens women were considered goods from their husbands or fathers. They had no rights and received little or no formal education. Meanwhile Spartan women were active members of society, received education and even served in the government. They were also expected to manage their husbands properties while they are fighting some war and they had the right to buy properties. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review)

Between 800 B.C. and 600 B.C. the lives of Spartans were very organized and tightly controlled. Males spent their childhood

The Spartan men were expected to be full time warriors, who spent their lives training and fighting. The introduction into this lifestyle began early. Spartan boys started their military training at age 7, when they left home and entered the Agoge which was a training system and school for young Spartan boys. The boys lived communally under strict conditions. They had to do continual