The City Of Sparta And Athens

When comparing power levels and women’s rights, Sparta was a leader in its time. Athens and Sparta, though both Greek city-states were different in the way they operated. More specifically, Sparta was different in the way that they treated their women. Athenian woman were treated quite appallingly compared to the standards of today’s women. The stem of this difference seems to lie in how these two city-states were governed. Sparta, known for its’ militaristic ways, was an oligarchy and Athens, known for its’ philosophers and thinkers, was a democracy. Sparta’s oligarchy was ruled by a counsel of 5 men, on being a lawmaker or giver. The lawgiver’s name was Lycurgus. Lycurgus was

Ancient Greece is known for its two rival city-states, Athens and Sparta. It was the strengths of these two societies that brought the ancient world to its heights in art, culture and with the defeat of the Persians, warfare. With Athens and Sparta fighting for power and territory, it brought about the Peloponnesian wars that lasted thirty years, leaving the two city-states in their own shadows. The classical era was helped shaped from the works of Homer, The Illiad and The Odyssey, that in a way, created a set of rules and an ethnic identity for the Greeks. The heroic achievements of Odysseus and the other Achaeans served as role models for the Greeks which told them how to behave and how not to behave in many situations, especially on the battle field and in competition.

Sparta was an isolated Greek city-state located on a narrow plain in southern Greece called the Peloponnesus. Spartans valued military strength and were very suspicious of outsiders. Although Athens is a great place, Sparta would be a better condition to live in. One reason Sparta is preferable is because women were treated better than in Athens. For example on page 306, the article states, “Women could also own and control their own property.”

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

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

Women took on a degree of authority that other Greek women did not posses or want, according to their own upbringing. In so far as the desire for “communal property and the amelioration of women’s lot” was concerned, the situation of women in Sparta was perfect for supporting the system in place (Foley 66). In so far as the culture was desirous of a nurturing or artistic element where the arts could flourish and political discourse and philosophical schools could abound, Sparta was not a particularly working or functioning city-state—at least, not on par with a city-state like Athens which was much renowned for its artistic cultivation and schools of philosophy and

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

“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.

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.

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

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

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 Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta were similar in that they both denied women basic rights, but they are more different because of their culture and political structures. In both city-states, their social structures featured women as minorities. However, their customs and concepts differ tremendously. Generally, Sparta had a very strict military-based state, while Athens focused on the fine arts. Politically, the two city states differed in that Athens had a democracy and Sparta had an oligarchy. Although the city-states had some similarities, they had vast differences.

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.

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).