The Political Structure Of Sparta, Athens And Sparta

However, though non aristocratic Athenian men are possible to do if he is wealthy. By contrast, in Sparta case, it owns more strict conditions, only warriors participated in political life. It derives from Sparta was a warrior society of fierce, the strict hierarchy. ・Who held public office?

If you had the choice to live in Athens or Sparta, which one would you choose and why?

Top of the social tree were the ‘best people’, the aristoi. Possessing more money than everyone else, this class could provide themselves with armour, weapons, and a horse when on military campaign. The aristocrats were often split into powerful family factions or clans who controlled all of the important political positions in the polis. Their wealth came from having property and even more importantly, the best land, i.e.: the most fertile and the closest to the protection offered by the city

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 was a much more superior polis compared to Sparta because the Athenians invented new ideas and creations that supported the people, such as democracy, the Athenians led the Delian League, and Sparta created the Peloponnesian League after the Athenians created their alliance, and the Athenians changed the ways of their government many times to suit the people, and the Spartans did not.

Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and well known cities among all the Greek nations. Most would find it easier to find more similarities among these two groups of mighty people. But there are some differences between these two power houses. For instance the way that these cities were governed and their political procedures and functions were quite different from each other.

The Athenian and Spartan governments had extremely different approaches to life. The democratic views of the Athenians were open minded and curious, focused on development. The oligarchic views of the spartans were more narrow minded and restricted, focused on constancy. The athenian democracy distributed power very well and gave everyone a fair share in the decision being made. Athenian life was comfortable and free, the polar opposite to the cruelty of Spartan life. The Athenian democracy also used their wealth very wisely inciting the development of their civilisation. Based on the information below, the Athenian population lived a happier life.

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.

Unlike the Spartans simple lifestyle, Athens was a modern and open society. Athenian society was divided in three classes: citizens who could participate in politics, the aliens who could participate in the army and the slaves who had no political rights. Children stayed at home until they turned 7 after which time, they attended school to learn how to read and

The civilization of Ancient Sparta was comprised of four distinct classes. The men, women, Perioikio, and Helots all held important roles that allowed the society to function as it did. The men primarily served in military service and politics. The women has the primary goal of wifehood and motherhood. The Perioikio were freemen but not citizens of Sparta. They had to provide military service and dealt with the trade, manufacture, and crafts. Helots, the serfs or bondsmen of Sparta, served as agriculture supply and aided in times of war. These responsibilities and their interactions, led to a powerful, militaristic, and intertwined society. Although the result was interior decomposition of the state, the influence from these practices has been felt since.

The major ancient Greek city-states -Athens and Sparta, depict different forms of government which are; monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Aristocracy and democracy were found in Athens whereas monarchy and oligarchy were more established in Sparta. Both cities, in a way, they demonstrated a tyranny form of government. However, in reality, these forms of governments were controversial and one could debate their existence in each city-state.

In Greek class structure only free, landowning, native-born men could be citizens entitled to the full protection of the law in a city-state. In most city-states, unlike in Rome, social

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

Supposedly formed by Lycurgus, the government in Sparta is very unique in that it is an Oligarchy; combining monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.

Greece in ancient times had many social, political and cultural features, including: religion, society, government and warfare. Two powerhouses of Ancient Greece were the cities of Athens and Sparta, who led Greece in many of their endevours.