The City Of Sparta And Athens

Sparta was a very unique society which could be defined as Utopian Militaristic State. Spartan boys all were devoted their entire lives from an early age to the Spartan army. This heavily militarist society was also unique in terms of women's position in society. They had much more rights and freedoms than other Greek women, but in terms of family life they were not so lucky. Women were living separately from spouse during their whole lives. Their husbands were only coming to home at night, they were secretly removed after a short time. And also they were separated from their sons for military training. Women had to be strong in family and social life. Spartan lawgivers wanted girls to receive a good education in order to prepare them to their womanhood duties.

In no other city-state did women enjoy the same freedom and status as Spartan women. As a military-driven society, the Spartans realized that “regardless of gender all Spartiates had an obligation to serve the militaristic end of Sparta.” With this focus in mind, women were allowed more freedom, rights, and independence. Spartan women were

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.

This tradition allowed for a city-state with an exceptional army, women with a substantial amount of liberties, and a gene pool that was superior to those around it. The Spartan way of life was one that focused itself on the importance of a physically strong society, and the people of this city-state went to great lengths to ensure that they maintained this tradition. As a result of this mentality, the authoritative figures of Sparta gave women more freedoms, as society did not see them as inadequate versions of men, but more as the mothers of society, whose job was to be the backbone of the strong Spartan army by birthing and raising robust young men. In fact, this lifestyle was so prevalent and noticeable that soldiers and writers from Athens and other outside lands took notice. Many documents from almost all areas around the Mediterranean Sea demonstrate this, especially in Xenophon’s “The Constitution of Sparta”, which describes the importance of physical ability in Sparta, as written by an Athenian soldier. The people of Sparta preserved this physical superiority in many ways. Boys moved into barracks at the young age of seven to train and become a part of the renowned Spartan army, and mothers abandoned babies with medical issues as soon as possible. This not only ensured that all citizens were able-bodied and working to improve the city-state at all times, but improved the gene pool of the civilization by eliminating any possible genetic disorders with visible phenotypes within the society. All these factors contributed to the health, wellness, and overall success of the Spartan

A woman’s place was supposed to be at home, in both Sparta and Athens, but the capacity in which they were supposed to be at home differed substantially. In Athens, it was compulsory for women to be acquiescent and compliant. They were supposed to stay home most of the time, bearing, nourishing and taking care of the children, spinning and weaving clothes, keeping the home clean and tidy, preparing food or overseeing the preparation of food by the servants; women from Sparta were the complete opposite of the women in Athens, they were allowed to keep property with the over seeing of the male counterpart, which according to Aristotle, said that in 4th BCE, 405 Sparta was owned by women, and may have contributed to

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

In ancient Greece there were two major polises which allowed the Greek culture to achieve greatness during the 400-500 B.C.E. era. These two polises were Athens and Sparta; both city states differed in many ways before the start of the Persian War. There were low rugged mountains that separated these two city states so communication and travel were difficult. The government of these two city states can be seen as a primary difference between the two. Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, and Cleithenes were four leaders that greatly influenced the political development of Athens. Athens and Sparta differed primarily in their political, social, and economical aspects. But there were other difference that Athens and Sparta share which I will examine in this essay.

During the early era of the Golden age and late of Classical age of Ancient Greece, from the years 520-321 BC womens roles were significantly different between the two mainly Greek city state Athens and Sparta. These roles that the women presented had huge differences in a way women were portrayed in their societies. Both cities were very different in many ways, the females were raised very differently, and had different duties they had to perform. For example if you commit adultery by Spartan women it was considered tolerated and encourage in their society on the other hand adultery in Athenian women was not even considered and substantially have very few consequences. Unlike the Spartan women Athenian women were treated as unimportant citizens in a lot of ways. They were classified into three different classes. The lowest class which were considered as slaves, the citizen class, and the Hetaerae which were considered as prostitutes, but they were allowed to have education and go to marketplaces, and have rights. With Spartan women they were taught to read and write, also were expected to protect themselves and the children since men were barely around. They were definitely different from other Greek cities and were mainly raised to act as warriors because of the responsibility of owning and protecting their homes. These womens had three considerable lifestyle differences how they were raised , How were their marriages, and what responsibilities they had. These will serve

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,

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

Athens and Sparta were similar when it came to their social structures. Women’s rights and responsibilities were one of the few areas in

If we think about the many ways these two city-states differ, the first thing that comes to mind is their government and the people it consisted of. Athens had a population of about 140,000, where as Sparta had about 100,000 people. Athens had about 100,000 slaves which is roughly 75 percent of there population. Sparta, on the other hand had only about 8,000 free men leaving the rest to slaves that is 92,000 enslaved men. With that being said, Athens had a democracy, which in term meant “ruled by the people”. Athens is considered to be the “birthplace of democracy” (www.allempires.com). This democracy allowed for every person to have a say in the way Athens was ruled, this differed from Sparta in that, they were ruled by an Oligarchy. Oligarchy means “ruled by few”, which means that

The treatment of women in ancient societies was the same in nearly every ancient civilization. The majority of ancient Greece, especially Athens, was no exception. The treatment of women in Athens was the same as every other Greek city-state, except Sparta. Women’s rights in Athens and Sparta were completely different for a short period of time before it returned to how it was before Sparta conquered Messenia. Women in Sparta had rights women everywhere else in Ancient Greece, especially Athens, didn’t have. They had control over property, worked, and did basically everything men did before, rights that women could have never have dreamed of having before that time (Fleck and Hanssen, 2005).

“Athens Vs Sparta” by Mr.Duckworth states, “Where they differed was that while the spartans had militaristic values, Athenians were democratic. Sparta was an militaristic state. Sparta had an oligarchy government. Spartan women had more freedom and rights than any other greek city-state. Sparta would be a better place to live because, the spartans had a very simple lifestyle, sparta used their army to protect others, and sparta women had more freedom than other greek city-state.

It’s extraordinary that Spartan women had controlling lives during a time when most women had derogatory lives. They were managing things because men couldn’t do it, only because they were only tools for war, a result of militarism. Not only did they have power but they were celebrated. The Ancient History Encyclopedia says that they were afforded a public education, something other Greek women couldn’t afford, which was a huge benefit to Spartan women despite the fact that they couldn’t use it for a career. They were given an education so that they could manage their husband’s estate and also other things of Sparta while the men fought in war.