The City Of Sparta And Athens

After the conclusion of the Persian Wars (492-479BC) with Athens being the true victor, and before the Peloponnesian War, a period of prosperity covered Athens, and they needed to devise new ways to protect themselves and expand their wealth, and how this would affect their relations with allies.

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.

However, this is not true because Athens’ had a very strong navy which overpowered Sparta’s military. First of all, Athens won two Persian Wars, which in the first one Sparta was imprisoned. According to the text, “...the Spartans were detained, and the 10,000 Athenians had to face the Persians aided only by 1,000 men from Plataea. The Athenians were commanded by 10 generals, the most daring of whom was Miltiades. While the Persian cavalry was away, he seized the opportunity to attack. The Greeks won a decisive victory, losing only 192 men to the Persians’ 6,400 (according to the historian Herodotus)” (Greco-Persian Wars). This means in the first Persian War that the Athenians had to fight the Persians themselves whereas the Spartans were captured. This proves that the Athenians had a better army because they defeated the Persians while Sparta did not. Also, Athens was winning the Peloponnesian War before disease broke out. Thus, Athens had a better army because when against Sparta, Athens won. To conclude, Athens’ navy surpassed Sparta’s army due to the reasons above.

Their leaders refused Sparta’s offerings of peace and the war continued. Both the Spartans and the Athenians gained some victories, but the end came in 405 B.C. during the battle of Aegospotami. Sparta had gained aid from the Persians and were able to defeat the Athenian navy once again. The following year the Athenians finally surrendered and Sparta dismantled its empire.

peloponnesian warlasting from 431- 404 B.C., in which Athens and it's allies were defeated by Sparta and it's allies.

Sparta invaded Attica in 431 B.C, and easily gained control of the area surrounding Athens. Athens was most known for having a superior navy, while Sparta was known for having a superior army. This caused the war to drag on, because neither side could easily gain total domination of the land and sea. Sparta tended to use a strategy that involved annually invading Athenian territory, and destroying anything that helped the Athenians survive. Farms and other resources were targeted by the Spartans, but the effectiveness of this strategy is questionable. Athens was protected by its "Long Walls" that it had constructed earlier, so it was near impossible for the Spartan army to break through and ravage Athens. Not to mention, these walls ran all the way to the port supplying Athens. There was no way that Sparta could match the Athenian navy, so Athens could receive supplies from outside from their port. It soon became clear that the war would be won not from battle alone, but from time itself.

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.)

Athens and Sparta are two rivals of ancient Greece. Athenians and Spartans lived their lives different, and they valued different things. Athenians and Spartans had an Assembly, whose members were elected by the people. Sparta were ruled by two kings, those two kings either ruled until they were died or forced out of office. Athens were ruled by archons, they were elected annually. Athens in the birthplace of democracy. Spartans focused on war and obedience. Young boys were trained to be warriors. Young women were trained to be mothers and warriors. Athenians could get good education and could pursue several kinds of arts or sciences. For many years Spartan armies provided much defense of the Greek lands. The Spartans bravery and courage at the “Battle of Thermopylae” during the Persians Wars, inspired all of Greece to fight back with all their might against the invading Persians. Athenians and Spartans fought side by side in the “Battle of Platea”, which ended the Persians invasions of Greece. Spartans provided assistance for Greece when necessary. Athenians wanted to control land around them. That led to war between all the Greeks, this was the “Peloponnesian War”. After many years of fighting the Spartans won. In Greek spirit Sparta refused to burn the city of Athens. The culture and spirit of Athens was allowed to live on, as long as Athenians no longer desired to rule Greek. Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Sparta is known as Sparti in Greek. Sparta is

The following year, faced with the arduous effects of war, both Sparta and Athens consented to a peace treaty. In 418 B.C.E., the new Athenian general, Alcibiades, convinced the assembly to break off the peace treaty and instead strike Spartan’s allies. In 416-415 B.C.E., the small island of Melos was taken over because of its refusal to sever ties with Sparta. Later in 415 B.C.E., in the hopes of conquering the wealthy Sicilian city of Syracuse, Alcibiades swayed the assembly to move forward with the invasion. Well, things did not go as planned. Alcibiades’ political opponents removed him from command and Syracuse defeated the invaders. In anger, Alcibiades joined Sparta, and in 413 B.C.E., convinced them to take over a military station located in the Athenian countryside. From there Sparta conducted annual raids. Because of repeated raids and not being able to defend themselves, Athenian farming was destroyed and silver mining was discontinued as slave laborers (twenty thousand) defected to the other

Envision a world where the people are ravenous and yearning for any remnant of food they could obtain, where the society is overrun and no one has a free say. This is the type of society the ancient Spartans would have lived like unlike the ancient Athenians. The Athenians lived a far more diverse life if compared to Sparta. Ancient Athens was better to live in than ancient Sparta due to its efficient and honorable government and flourishing economy.

Classical Sparta Page 1 Samantha Elliott Ancient Sparta was an interesting time, one that’s like no other. There were many key components of Sparta and the Spartans that stood out to make it unique. The first unique trait of Sparta was; “Sparta was one of the most efficient and strongest of the Leading Greek city states in its time”(“Spartan Warriors.” Ancient Warriors.) regarding its military.

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,

Today in 431 B.C., the Peloponnesian War broke out. According to what Pericles has told other sources, Athens’ wealth and power were climbing throughout the thirty year peace period, Sparta became very jealous and skeptical of Athens. After disagreements over the city of Corinth, Sparta had declared war on Athens. Since Athens controlled most of the sea, they decided to build walls that would go from the city to their seaport, Piraeus. This made it easier so they could stay in the city, and they still get the supplies they needed. Since Athens decided to stay put because they were secure behind the walls, this allowed Sparta to surround Athens.

The Greeks won against the Persians because of heroic actions performed by Athens and Sparta and occasional help from Apollo. The History.com Staff stated, “Athens and Sparta, both powerful Greek city-states, had fought as allies in the Greco-Persian Wars between 499 and 449 B.C. In the wake of the Persian retreat, however, Athens grew more powerful and tensions rose, escalating into nearly three decades of war. Sparta emerged victorious, while the constant fighting left Athens bankrupt, exhausted and demoralized. Neither city-state regained the military strength they once had” (“Peloponnesian War”).

This investigation will attempt to answer the question what are the similarities and differences of the role of women in Athens and Sparta. The question is relevant because women’s roles have developed over time and knowing women’s history helps women’s rights to keep moving forward. The issues that will be addressed are the religious, job roles and the expectations of women in their society. Women of wealth and women of lower classes will be included. This investigation will focus on the time period of 600 BC to 300 BC and the places investigated will include Athens and Sparta. This will be accomplished through a thorough examination of academic journals, books and websites.