Why Athens Is Better Than Sparta

The Greek victory against Persia was largely due to efforts of mainly Athens but also Sparta as well. Athens was responsible for the major turning points of the Persian invasions, while Sparta was responsible for the deciding battle. Miltiades, with his skilful battle strategies, defeated the Persians during their second invasion at Marathon, which gave Athens a confidence boost on their military. During the third invasion, when the Athenians were evacuated to Salamis, Themistocles had devised a plan to trick the Persians which had resulted in Persian army without a supply line. Sparta?s importance had revealed during their sacrifice at Thermopylae and at Plataea, where they provided the most effective part of the army.

Without being either the ones who made this law or the first to apply it after it was laid down, we applied it as one in existence...and one that will endure for all time,” (Thuc., V, 105). The Athenians see no injustice in doing simply as their nature impels them to do. In fact, the Athenians see their offer of subjugation to the Melian people as more than reasonable, “What we will demonstrate is that we are here to help our empire and that there is salvation for your city in what we are now about to say, since we hope to rule over you without trouble and let both parties benefit as you are saved,” (Thuc., V, 91). Following their belief in doing what is necessary to strengthen themselves, even at the expense of others, is what brings Athens to Melos.

“The Restoration of the Athenian Empire” Our walls are crumbling and our fleet is minute. We here in Athens are unable to collect tribute from other city-states and are often in threat of being attacked. Our fleet is defenseless and weak. The Democratic fraction, propose that we spend our time and hard earned money on the rebuilding of our walls and fleet. That way Athens can dangerously collect tributes from other Greek city-states. The Democrats also would like to commence in hazardous military voyages with our insubstantial navy. Hoping the result brings forth great rewards.

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.

In Athens, as we stand today, Metic are not allowed the right to own property, which, as we all know is crippling in our society. They are however forced to pay taxes. Taxed without rights to vote or to serve on our juries. They pay to be excluded. This willingness to remain in Athens as opposed to wherever they may have originated from, or where their parents may have originated from, should be taken as a compliment on our part. The city we run, is such that they are not only willing to stick around through that, but that they stuck with us through a losing war.

Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.

The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life” (Pericles’ Funeral Oration, Thucydides). In other words, it doesn’t matter what your social rank is, if you are a citizen of Athens, you have a right (and duty) to serve in the government. This is known as a direct democracy today, and it is where we, citizens of the United States, took inspiration for our current system of government. Pericles is right to praise the city-state in this regard, as its legacy still has effect on the world millenniums after its time.

Most Greek city states were ruled by a small elite group, also known as an aristocratic oligarchy (cite text book). Pericles explains that the Athens government is a democracy because the administration is in the hands of many and not just a few people. This will cause the government to have equal justices exist for all people. This is confirmed by Pericles stating, “When a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit”. This means that a citizen has to earn their privileges, they don’t just get things because of who they are in society. Athens not only takes pride in their government, but is also very proud of their military. Athens considers their military training to be better that their enemies in many ways. The people never try to hide anything from enemies or prevent them from seeing or learning anything that might benefit them. While their enemies are undergoing difficult exercises to make them brave, the people of Athens live the easy life. Although they live the easy life, the people of Athens are equally ready to face the challenges which their enemies face. The people of Athens would rather meet danger with a light heart and not intense training like their neighbors. They also want to do this with courage not enforce by law, but instead gain by habit. When the Lacedaemonians come into Athenian territory they bring their whole confederacy,

Greetings everyone, I am Βιων (Bion).[1] I am what Athens considers a metic. Metics like myself come from different corners of the world to live in a place much more appealing than our homelands.[2] We happen to be most numerous right here in the city of Athens.[3] Though we lack the status of citizenship and cannot own Athenian property, we live within the city-states and have to pay taxes.[4] I want to say that I love Athens; the overabundance of knowledge created here is what charms me so much. That’s why I yearn to be a citizen in this city-state, however my status as a metic has prevented me from attending a prior session of the Assembly; the only way that I can address the Assembly is if I were to have someone sponsor me to be allowed

Throughout this section I was exposed to what it was like to live during ancient times. Something that stood out to me was that Athens had the first democracy, the form of government we use today in the United States. It’s amazing to me, to see once again how the past has shaped our future. Luckily, not everything is the same as it was in the past and the world has further progressed as, in Athens women were not treated as equal to men and slaves were used.

Around 490-479 BCE, the Persians Wars were starting to begin. Leading to the rise of Athens and Sparta. These two civilizations were very wealthy, even though they were in different parts of Greece. These two city states were always at war with each other and lead to many stalemates. Sparta and Athens had completely different mind sets for creating a great civilization. Sparta wanted to have a very strong army and that’s what they really desired to focus on the most. The Spartans wanted to leave their enemies with a massive victory. Athens wanted to make a society that would be stable in every quality. These civilizations happen to have many similarities and differences that exhibit distinctive characteristics.

Athenians created one of the best early civilizations documented in history. One of the contributions that Athenians made was citizenship. The city-state of Athens they valued citizen responsibility than citizen rights. Citizenship in Athens and Rome became honored and protected. With the population of around 300,000 people, including slaves only 13% actually were considered citizens. In Athens, participating in government and making the city-state work was considered the honorable act to accomplish; if Athenians didn’t fully participate they became known as useless. Athens had a better system for developing citizenship because Athenians cared more about who became a citizen, all citizens having equal rights, and the use of a democracy in the

"Come back with your shield- or on it," was the parting cry of Ancient Spartan mothers when their sons left for battle. Sparta reached its height after defeating Athens in the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Everything in Sparta revolved around the city-state having the greatest military and best disciplined citizens possible. During the same time however, there was another prominent city-state to the northeast known as Athens, this city-state founded democracy and also made many strides in the fields of literature and mathematics. Although Athens was a very powerful city-state, the unquestionably superior city-state was Sparta due to their geography, quality of daily life, and incomparable government.

democratic state, which allowed art and philosophy to flourish, not with its downsides though, as