The City States of Spart and Athens in Ancient Greece Essay

Thesis: The period between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars can be considered the Golden Age of Athens. It was the golden age because Athens thrived in multiple characteristics of an empire. Context:

The city-states Athens and Sparta were rivals in ancient Greece. Geographically the two were very close to each other, but they had a very different economy, cultural values, and way of governing. Both city-states had two very different ways of doing things. I will be highlighting the major differences.

Politically these areas share hardly anything in common from the way each ran their governments: Athens that which ran a Democracy, Sparta ran an Oligarchy and The Persians ran a Monarchy. Economically Persia sought more wealth and power through the threats of other areas that includes both Athens and Sparta who refused in the end to submit. Both Sparta and Athens treated their women differently as Sparta exercised and trained, keeping their breasts in shape, unlike the Athenians. During this time all had their own city-states or polis in their control, some will create walls and others will make ports. In the day to day life of Athenians, Spartans or Persians, they hold festivals or contests for their people.

The two dominating Greek city states, Sparta and Athens, have there own strengths that make them the strongest throughout Greece. Sparta is "located in the southeastern Peloponnesus, in an area known as Laconia" (Spielvogel 53). Athens is on the peninsula of Attica (Geography). Sparta is know for their immense military might (Spartan Military). Athens is known better for their "leading naval force in Greece" (Women of the Ancient World). Their government systems were very different but very effective. Each Greek state was able to conquer a lot of land using different tactics. This brings up the thought that every country or state could be effective if all the people supported the cause. Political correctness however tends to breed idiots. With this being said, unenforced laws leads people to start thinking that they can get away with whatever they want or better yet, defy the lawful order of an officer. This can than become deadly and spread, until it cripples the system and a new one takes over. What does this new system believe in? Are they idea 's that are realistic? Or are they the idea 's of tree-hugging hippies who thinks everyone is going to "play ball." Well little does the tree-hugging hippie know, is that "The Man" who was "keeping him down" actually did know what he was talking about. Maybe the thirty plus years of military experience wasn 't complete garbage. Maybe it was keeping him and his family safe from the psychopaths and terrorists that

     As we look back upon the two significant differences in the governmental systems of Sparta and Athens, there are also many other characteristics that distinguish the differences and similarities of these two city states. The difference in land as well as population perceives a relative historical comparison. Sparta lacked land area and was forced to seek other land in the fertile plain of Messenia. Although, if we look at the Athens, we see that they had no issues with plentiful land, as they possessed large and populous territory.

Sparta was a city-state that developed into a warrior society, while Athens was a city-state that evolved into a democracy, a place where people can vote for laws. In Sparta, men spend their lives dedicated to welfare and training. Some women in Sparta took up household and

The huge topic between Athens and Sparta that the two did not see eye to eye on, is what they educated citizens to be. Sparta trained it's people to be very skilled warriors, and included very harsh training to ensure a strong defense. But, on the other hand, Athens believed education was extremely important and trained their citizens to be scholars. Even with their differences, at the end of the day both Athens and Sparta are one country united and share the same goals.

In the period known as classical Greece in the years 800-323 BCE, Greece comprised of small city states (poleis) which were considered and operated as independent small countries. Amongst those city states Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and considered in Greek history as the most influential states to western civilisation. These two city states shared some common characteristics whilst in some instances they were very different from each other. Sparta and Athens had differences and similarities in the way they governed their city states, in how they established their military forces, how they treated women, their marriage customs and social gatherings

The most important city-states of Ancient Greece was Sparta and Athens. Both of these city-states shared similar characteristics such as both would remain the foundation for the Greek political world. Both Athens and Sparta had a similar government system. Their members were elected by the people. Athens is said to be the of democracy. Athenians were educated(except girls) but they never knew much about brute force, unlike the Spartans. The Spartans changed their society to remove all social distinction and became the greatest soldiers in Greece. Even girls were trained to become soldiers because for the Spartans there is no such thing as inequality; women can do the job of mem. However, in Athens, girls did not receive an education like the boys in Athen did but, instead, were expected to become housewives. The Greeks never unified

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.

Also, A lot of people think Athens was better because it was a democracy but not everyone was included.Some free people weren’t included even some free men weren’t included.People also think Athens was better because you weren’t required to be in the military but like Pericles said “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.”.This is highly true but what are the people who aren’t involved in politics to do just sit there and watch?It’s better to live in an unprejudiced society where politics doesn’t affect you much then in a society where politics affect everyone a lot and some people are just left out while the people of “higher standing” or the men make all your decisions for

The golden age of Greece is the most known city during this time period was the rivals of Athens and Sparta and the question is why were Sparta and Athens rivals? it’s the strengths of the two societies that brings the ancient world to its heights in art, two of the Greeks states was a thirst for more territory and power. Jealousy brings about the Peloponnesian wars that lasted 30 years and left Sparta and Athens mere shadows of their former selves. In the 8th century with the writing of the works of Homer, the Iliad an ethnic identity for the Greeks. The differences between Athens and Sparta was that Spartans was founded by Lycurgus around 800 BC that was a militaristic society and they were controlled by Peloponnese, the primary rivals of

Sparta and Athens may have been two big parts of Greece but they did not get along, this lead to them fighting for years and years over small differences. Which brings me to my next point, Greece was highly militarized. What I mean by that is that they will solve everything

Athens and Sparta are two powerful city-states, different from each other in such way that

The ancient civilization of Greece contained many different city-states; two of these city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta and Athens were different in their values, politics, and societies. Sparta was focused on their military, discipline, and to have a strong state. Athens was a democratic state that was peaceful and where women were open to culture and democracy. How do these two city-states differ?