The argument of which two city-states, Athens or Sparta was superior has finally been answered. The two city-states had been bitter rivals for years trying to see which of them was superior. A city-state is an area that includes the city and the surrounding land around it. They have their own government, culture, beliefs, customs etc. Each city-state was different from the rest of the city-states. Superior means “better” than, and one of the two city-states Athens and Sparta was definitely superior. Athens was a superior city-state because of their economy, education, and government.
The first reason Athens was superior to Sparta was because of Athens great economy. In the text it states, “Athenians bought and sold goods at a huge marketplace called the agora” (Franklin 5). The agora allowed the citizens to buy and sell what they wanted to. The Spartans discouraged trade. In the agora they could buy household items and they could buy and sell slaves. That made them superior because they could trade to make money and buy what they wanted to. The trade of Athens might have been superior but so was their education.
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Franklin says, “Athenians believed that a good citizen should have both an intelligent mind and a healthy body.“ (8) The boys in Sparta were taught to fight at the age of 7 with little other education. Sparta only thought of war and never thought of peace and education like Athens. In Athens, they were taught different subjects than just war in Sparta. The men still went to war but started their training at the age of 18. Over all, the education of young boys and girls is better in Athens than in Sparta. The education in Athens helped to make superior military soldiers and government
Athens and Sparta both had very different economies. Their economies were both based around different things. Athens economy was based around trade. A quote that reinforces this statement is found in Document 9, excerpt from “The History of the Peloponnesian War” by Thucydides a quote from that excerpt states “He made a law that no son was obligated to support his father unless he had been taught trade..” this quote show how greatly trade influences the Athenian economy. On the other hand Sparta was completely different. Sparta mostly depended on farming and strengthening their military A paragraph from Document 8, an excerpt from “ Parallel Lines: Lycurgus” by Plutarch reinforces this by stating “Each man’s
Not so much for the girls, but for the boys they actually had a good education in Athens. They taught all the boys many different subjects like reading, writing, speaking, music, citizenship, and P.E..Now for the girls in Athens, they were educated, just not exactly the same way that the boys were educated. What I mean is that ALL of the girls in Athens were educated by their mothers. The education in Sparta is completely different, for the boys all of their education was training to be a soldier and in athletics for the wars that they have.It was hard for the boys/men because they could only basically “retire” from being a soldier until they are 60.For the girls living in Sparta, they were educated in athletics, like the boys were.They were also taught to raise children or to run a household like their
Athens is more superior than Sparta through, government, economy, and culture. Athens government is a democracy which means all citizens get to take part. In Athens “ all men are on an equality” which means “ Not of the few but of the many” (doc 3 pericles). Every citizen in Athens is allowed to take part in government, even poor citizens. Unlike Sparta, who has an oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy. The Spartan government is made up of kings and elders only. Not everyone gets to participate.
Since Sparta was small, their main way to remain powerful was military strength therefore, their education was based on military disciplines. “A Spartiate’s son was nurtured by his parents only until he was seven years old. At that age he was removed from his family and, from his eighth to his twenty-first year, he was educated by the state according to rigorous [military-like]
Athens had a better government in my opinion. I think Athens had a better government because they created a democracy. According to the Athens and Sparta Document Set, a democracy means “rule by the people”. The Athens also got to abolish politicians they did not like. Athens also had ten generals, meanwhile, Sparta has two kings. In my opinion, I think that having ten generals is better than two kings because they understand you more. Sadly not all Ancient Athens were citizens, but if a free male would be a citizen if his father was a citizen of Athens. Later on, they changed that law, it was then bothering the father and mother had to be a citizen for the child to be considered a citizen. Sadly the women didn’t get that many rights but they soon they got more status. The Athens also made it to where not only the wealthy can engage in the jury service. In the Athens, you have to be an 18-year-old man to complete military training. On the other hand, in Sparta, you have to be a 30-year-old to complete military training. Basically, I’m trying to say that the Athens had a better
Athens was superior to Sparta for two reasons. These two reasons include Athen’s government and their navy.
During the Fifth century, Greece was controlled by two main powers; Athens and Sparta. These city-states were very different. Sparta was known for their strength, discipline, individuality, beauty, sports, and learning (Beck et al. 131). Athens was known for education, fitness, art, literature, and wealth. Not to overlook the rights of women, which were a little elevated in Sparta, the city that had an overall greater respect for human rights, would be Athens.
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 are two powerful city-states, different from each other in such way that
The city-state that was superior was Athens because of their geography, government, and cultural achievements. Athens had the geographic advantage over Sparta economically, politically, and socially. “As the soil was not conductive to large-scale agricultural programs, Athens turned to trade for its livelihood and mainly, to
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.
Athens is superior towards Sparta throughout ancient Greek history. During the Archaic Age, Sparta was solely focused on fighting wars and training their children for these wars. Athens on the contrary, was a city that focused heavily on the arts and was a very relaxed and peaceful city to live in. In Athens, all men born to Athenian parents were citizens, in Sparta, only the wealthy were citizens. In 594 BCE, Salon, the new leader of Athens, he created a constitution that ended the political control of the wealthy. Unless someone was part of the 1 percent, Athens gave members of society more rights than Sparta. By 508 BCE, Cleisthenes came to power in Athens and creates a democratic constitution of all people. While this advancement occurred
Sparta and Athens were two of the most dominant and influential city-states in Greek history. The social and political evolution of these two city-states are intriguing and provide insight into different types of government.
Athens was superior to Sparta because of its beneficial economy, democratic government, and well-rounded education. Economy made Athens superior to Sparta because of its trade and currency. There was not enough land around Athens for all of the citizens to farm, so trade was essential for Athens. Athens was near the sea and had a good harbor, so trade flourished. Trade helped Athens obtain the supplies they did not already have, such as grain and wood (Frey 286).
Introduction Athens and Sparta were two of the largest, most powerful, and most influential cities of Ancient Greece. They may have both been big and historically well revered, but their societies were structured and ruled very differently. This difference is especially true politically speaking. (Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship, 2016) Sparta was very focused on growing and maintaining a strong army, in efforts to ward off any uprising from their rule over the Helots.