Athens And Spart Sparta

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.

Greece influenced many civilizations. The geography of Greece was that it was surrounded by water and high mountains leading to the development of the city-states. Each city-state had its own government and laws. Three major city-states of Ancient Greece were Athens, Sparta, and Troy.

Ancient Greece was comprised of small city-states, of which Sparta and Athens were two. Athens was renowned as a center of wisdom and learning. The people of Athens were interested in arts, music, and intellectual pursuits. Sparta, on the other hand, was recognized for its military strength. A Spartan's life was centered on the state, because he lived and died to serve the state. Although the competing city-states of Sparta and Athens were individually different as well as governmentally diverse, they both managed to become dominating powers in Ancient Greece.

Around the year 500 BCE many poleis existed in ancient Greece. Two of the main poleis, or city states in Greece, were Sparta and Athens. Although both of the city states were located in the same area of the world; they had different ways of living. Sparta and Athens had many differences in how they ran their city states. There were many political, economic, and social differences between the two city states. Sparta and Athens may have had their differences but they fought side by side against the Persian invaders. The city states fought off the Persians and brought in the “Golden Age” of Greece. The fate of Greece would be very different if they wouldn’t have fought together against the Persian Empire. In today’s world some countries share

 John Locke-natural rights (people were born with life, liberty, and property), when gov’t established, there is a social contract btwn. the people and gov’t, if the gov’t does not meet needs of people, people can form new gov’t.-ideas incorporated in DI

Envision a world where the people are ravenous and yearning for any remnant of food they could obtain, where the society is overrun and no one has a free say. This is the type of society the ancient Spartans would have lived like unlike the ancient Athenians. The Athenians lived a far more diverse life if compared to Sparta. Ancient Athens was better to live in than ancient Sparta due to its efficient and honorable government and flourishing economy.

Athens, the most famous and richest of the Greek city states dominated the ancient world for a long time. The Athenians developed, many new war tactics that were adopted by other Greek city states. Sparta was also a powerful Greek city state and one of the most feared military powers in the ancient world. Spartans grew up in a different society and used many war tactics that were different from traditional Greek warfare (Paton). At one point in time, Athens and Sparta were the most powerful civilizations in the whole world thanks to their very effective war tactics. Some strategies they used were good armor, intense training and surprise attacks. Spartans began training at a young age and were fierce fighters. Athens was rich and had a good navy. In the Persian war, Athens and Sparta worked together and ended up winning. But Athens and Sparta were two very different societies (Hayes 117). Even though the Spartans won the war the golden age of Greece ended this show how military power can make or destroy a great civilization.

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

The way they got along with the rest of Greece was surely different in that Sparta consisted of the most feared fighters and held military supremacy over the land. However, Sparta seemed satisfied in keeping to itself and provided military assistance when necessary. Where, Athens was hegemonic and felt the need to dominate and the necessity to have more and more control ultimately led to the war between all Greeks.

According to Blackwell (2003), participation in Public life and decision making in the community have dissimilar approach for Sparta and Athens.

Sparta and Athens are two very different city-states, with Sparta valuing pure military strength, on the other hand Athens boasted their intellectual and artistic skill. However, each of their skills was surprisingly based on the geography around the city-state. With Sparta being located in southern Peloponnese they were exceptionally isolated, comparative to the Athenian land which was located off the coast of the Aegean Sea. Since the Athenians had access to the sea they were able to trade with nearby city states and specialize in areas relating in aquatic studies. Such luxury of trade dismissed the idea of self-reliance in the Athenian land, instead they could grab all they needed from nearby cities. However, the Spartans were very secluded

The second invasion of Greece by Persia had been defeated, and Sparta had become the leading power of Greece. However, this would be short lived. Soon after the war Sparta retreated into its typical isolationist ways. Which left Athens the chance to become the new leader of Greece.

The purpose of a society is to provide a place where certain views and values can be pursued. I think that neither Athens or Sparta were "right" in terms of what they valued because neither of them had a well-rounded society. They each had certain values, but left out some important ones. Athens, while being successful in learning and the arts, needed a stronger military aspect so that their polis would be protected well. However, when looking at Sparta, the opposite is true. Their citizens need the choice of learning about arts and philosophy, not only military strategies and discipline. I think that society should value military/ physical activities, learning and history, and the arts. Their citizens should have choices so that they will

Athens and Sparta were both Greek cities. You know well ancient Greek cities, we call "Poleis," were city-sates, which mean they have their own government. Athens was in central in Greece, and its location encouraged Athenians to look outward toward the world beyond the city. In contrast, Sparta was more isolated. It was located on a plain between mountains and the sea. Spartans were suspicious outsiders and their ideas. Spartan grew what they needed, for what they couldn't grow, Spartan took from their neighbors. For their histories, the two city-states were rivals. I will show their differences reflected in their public life and governmental structures as the below.

Athens and Sparta, two of the most prominent Greek city-states, had a few similarities. Other than being apart of Greece and the language they spoke, they both worshipped the same gods, which are the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses, which included Zeus, Poseidon, and Aphrodite. Additionally, slaves played a major role in both city-states. These Greek city-states were clear rivals, but they did team up to defeat the Persians during the Greco-Persian War. Following their victory, both city states alliances with other city-states to create Athen’s Delians League and Sparta’s Peloponnesian League; these leagues were obvious rivals which led to the peloponnesian War between these city-states and the final outcome was Sparta defeating the Athenians and taking them over. Athens and Greece, even though they have some similarities, are exceedingly different, especially when looking at their government, economy, and cultural value.