...Athens and Sparta Essay Athens and Sparta are among the most spoken about city-states (city-state is an entity whose territory consists of a city. This is not administered as a part of another local government that is independent in Ancient Greece). These two city-states were related in many ways but also have many differences. Athens was a very pleasant city-state. Unlike many city-states, it had a democratic government. A democratic government is a government that lets the people rule or (self-rule), (self- governing). Democracy kept the Athens citizens pleased and allowed them the freedom to make their city-state improve their lifestyle. Athens was also famed for its high arts and sciences. This made them capable of knowledge beyond the city-states brim. Athens traded its goods in Agoras (Agoras was a central spot in ancient Greece. The literal meaning of the word is "Gathering Place" or "Assembly”.) Eventually, trading and Persia’s defeat in a long battle (500 B.C-449 B.C.) contributed to a Golden Age for Athens. Men devoted their time as part of the assembly which helped discuss the government and politics. Women in Ancient Greece were not as free as the men; they couldn’t vote or have an occupation. In Athens women stayed home to cook, make clothing and keep their daughters home. But life was much different in Sparta. Life in Sparta was very harsh and cruel, it was a fighting nation. Men in Sparta trained for war the greatest part of their time. Military...
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...March 5, 2014 The ancient Athens and Sparta In times, long before Jesus, when thousands of people were dying for there lands and where women and men had very different roles were two unique cities, Athens and Sparta, with very different politics, beliefs and day to day life. These ancient times were very popular for their wars and heroes as likely for their politics and beliefs, which were very untraditional at that time. 100 years of one of the biggest rivalry in history of human kind Athens and Sparta put their names on the map of the modern world with lessons we can learn and bravery and courage to be admired. Athens and Sparta were always compared with their distinctions. They both had very different ideas how women should be threated in the society, also the politics and beliefs in these two cities were very diverse as the final outcome of their history and their decision-making in important life or death situations. Athens is of the oldest cities in the world, which has been populated for the last 7000 years, which Sparta cannot compare to that, because Sparta became city around 3000 years ago. Athens and Sparta are both know for their government and religion, but one of the biggest conflicts, even in recent history, was women rights and their position in society. Athens, as most of the ancient cites and states, took away women rights even before they were born. They were at the bottom of the society. The purpose of women in ancient Athens was to live and be controlled...
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...Athens and Sparta existed from 2000 B.C. to 404 B.C. Sparta came around when the helots were conquered in a village that was named Sparta which became their capital. Athens were sea traders and were big on trade, which might have been a reason why their city-state came about. Sparta was located in a village down in a valley. They were a rigid and highly militarized society. Their location may have helped explain why Sparta developed different from Athens. Athens was an attic peninsula that was built inland. Their city-state was built around the rocky hill of Acropolis. Sparta was ruled by two kinds. One king led the army, while the other took care of the matters at home. The Council of Elders were made up of 28 male citizens over 60. They were usually wealthy and high in power. They proposed laws and served as a criminal court. An assembly consisted of all male citizens over 30 voted on those laws proposed by the Council of Elders to accept or reject them. The helots in Sparta hated the Spartans and what they did, because they had no say and were treated as a low class. Athens was a democracy ruled by Cleisthenes. What he first did was divide Athen’s citizens into 10 tribes. Then each tribe chose 50 men. And those men formed what we call the Council of Five Hundred. The members served for one year and couldn’t be chosen more than twice. They proposed laws to the assembly, but the assembly had the final word. The court became more democratic also. Jurors were citizens chosen by...
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...Thomas Curran February 15th, 2014 Western Civilization Spring 2014 Rashmi Chilka Sparta and Athens, the two greatest city states in all of Greece could not be more different. One is the yin the other is the yang, one is the great center of politics while the other a hard working oiled war machine. No two greater powers have ever lived so close to each other and coincided peacefully. Yet peace is a short term idea and one thing you can be certain of is that humans will always war with each other and these two super powers of ancient times were no different so every Greek eventually had to pick a side, Democracy or a Monarchy, philosophy or fighting, Athens or Sparta. Athens was like the California of the ancient world, always so innovative and open minded to a great many ideas. Athens was one of the first places to introduce democracy into a world full of feudalism and monarchies, not that all of the monarchs across the world were bad but overall the lifestyle was much fairer for the average citizen in Athens. The power came from the people and this made the people happy which is the goal of any government no matter what it is. Now Sparta was a little different, Sparta was a city focused on martial prowess, discipline and simply being physically better than all other. Spartans were the pinnacle and prime example of the Warrior. Every Spartan dreams of a glorious death in battle and to them dying any other way would have been seen as cowardly or weak. Once a Spartan...
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...Our culture has derived from the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta. We unknowingly have seen many considerable things about these city-states most of our life. Our movies, clothing, political system, and even our academic have all been inspired by Athens and Sparta. These two city-states were geographically close, shared few similarities, but differed in many ways. Though Hollywood takes historical events and fictionalized the story for an exceptional, the movie 300 showed a clear description to how Spartans lived. Spartans were laconic, yet always ready for battle. The movie showed how the army was very selective about the young men that fought for Sparta. Only the well trained, with sons were allowed to fight in the battle. Spartans...
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...Classical Age: Historical Inquiry: Athens vs. Sparta Research Template: (Please complete the template below in order to complete the questions at the end of the document) General Resources: For each concept below, provide a one to two sentence summary of each key resource. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/kv9gr2h General Resources: Greek Citizenship: Since Greece was not a unified country traditions and laws about citizenship varied. In most city-states, male citizens were involved in such shared civic responsibilities as jury duty or military service in time of war. Every polis had resident aliens, foreign merchants, and others, and on occasion, those people would be made citizens; however, that eventuality was rare. Some women might’ve...
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...and told me to look at the shiny beam and always think of my life as such. That was a nice gesture. Friends are sometimes hard to come by. I struggled with the issue of feeling free. A lot of my people feel we should be free as long as we follow the laws of Greece. Not to mention in 508 BC we became one of the first cities to establish democracy. Thinking back over how I arrived at the time in life I am, I think back to my ancestors. I have been told they originated as early as 5000BCE. Maybe even 7000BCE. I know my life is little in comparison to theirs but not much has changed. Due to our location, the soil was not setup for large agriculture so my people had to rely heavily on trade. Thank goodness my husband was and original Athens. That affords us the luxury of not having to pay those darn taxes. He is a metal maker, who helped make weapons. But the thing that makes me mad is he gets to go out and vote and yet I am stuck here mainly in the house. And not to mention he gets to go to the Olympic Games. Always saying he wishes he were in the house with me. Yeah right, I see the look of glee on his face when he leaves to go to the games. As well as when he entertains guests, I am not to be seen. But since that is not lady like, I will take all that anger to my grave. My only child went off to become a soldier. Well quite honestly, that is one of the biggest things they promote here so no surprise he went into that life. He was...
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...Athens v. Sparta Geographical Showdown Although they pursued different cultural paths, Sparta and Athens were both strongly shaped by their geographical circumstances. After the fall of the Mycenaean Empire many local institutions called poleis took the lead in restoring Greece. Many of these city-states grew independently, adapting to their physical surroundings. The two most famous of these poleis were Athens and Sparta. For example, Athens adapted to its access to the Mediterranean Sea by basing its economy on maritime trade. Sparta on the other hand was founded on a fertile region in center of Peloponnesus, which made them very xenophobic and military based. The geography was a key aspect that affected the Athenian and Spartan economy, foreign relationships, and social structure. Athens and Sparta definitely based their economies on their surroundings. Athens was located relatively near the coast of the Mediterranean, next to Attica. The land they were located on was very arid and rock. Therefore, their soil was not fertile and unfit to live off of, yet did supply the polis a surplus of silver. Because of this, the Athenian economy was based on maritime trade of silver to Persia and other around the region of the Mediterranean. Their economy flourished due to this generous resource. Sparta on the other hand was situated in a fertile region near the center of Peloponnesus. As their population and economy grew, the Spartans progressively began extending...
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...Women in Athens and Sparta When it comes to comparing women from different nationalities, you will no doubt find obvious differences that set them apart. Personally I think that Athens and Sparta women are the best nationalities when it comes to the best contrasting. They seem so similar but when you look into their lives deeper, you realize they couldn’t be more contrary. The lifestyle of the Athenian and Spartan wife where similar but different. Both of them had to bare and have children. Both women’s place was in the household (but outside as well for the Spartan), but not exactly alike. Athenian women where known for being more obedient and passive. They had to stay home, taking care of children and educating them, they had to prepare every meal, spinning and weaving the wool, making sure the home was always tidy, and takes care of servants when they were ill. Spartan women, where not like this very much. However...
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...Comparing Athens and Sparta: Where Would You Rather Live, and Why? Source: PBS.org | ATHENS | SPARTA | Population & Map | Approximately 140,000; Approximately 40,000 men were citizens; and slaves (about 40,000). By 432 BC, Athens had become the most populous city-state in Hellas. In Athens and Attica, there were at least 150,000 Athenians, around 50,000 aliens, and more than 100,000 slaves. | Approximately 8,000 Spartiates (adult male citizens) ruled over a population of 100,000 enslaved and semi-enslaved people. | Government & Political organizations | Athenian GovernmentUsually classified as a "direct democracy" (because everyone, not just politicians attended the Assembly), Athens claims to be the "birthplace of democracy".Elected officials including 10 generals (strategos), magistrates (archons), and others.Council of 500 was charged with administering decisions made by the Assembly.The Assembly open to all citizens (all citizens were eligible to attend such meetings and speak up). They passed laws and made policy decisions. The Assembly met on the Hill of the Pnyx at the foot of the Acropolis.During time of Pericles citizens were paid for jury service so not only the wealthy could participate.Women did not participate in the political life of Athens. | Spartan Government:Usually classified as an "oligarchy" (rule by a few), but it had elements of monarchy (rule by kings), democracy (through the election of council/senators), and aristocracy (rule by the...
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...unit we have focused on two main Greek civilizations, Sparta and Athens. Each one was very different despite having the same language, religion, and race. (e.t.c.) The spartans were a strong military collective, they were fanatically disciplined and removed the use of money from their internal economic system. Instead various jobs were completed and in return Sparta gave the spartans what they needed. The Athens on the other hand where a Democratic Oligarchy as two Archons were elected to rule the polis. Both have positive and negatives but if I had to choose one I’d choose Athens. Even though the Spartans have a strong military and “equal” society it enslaves all people in the system whether they realize it or not. Also individuality is done away with creating a bland culture....
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...different political institution, with its own dialect, culture, economy form and identity. In general this society was constituted by the citizen a rich elite and the slaves. We know that some of the important city states were Athen and Sparta the most influencer in the development of Greek society and culture. Athen in fact was considered the birthplace of Democracies were governments that allowed citizens to participate in making decision through the vote....
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...As we read Athens and Sparta by Mr.Duckworth we learned about if you would rather live in Sparta or Athens I chose Sparta. Sparta thought of themselves as the best at anything, which was partly true thanks to a lot of their victories. I believe Sparta is a better place to live than Athens because of women’s rights. Sparta also had/has great land for farming crops. In Sparta women were given freedom and rights other Greek women didn’t. Why the women had these right was because they were the only ones who could birth sons for the army, they were also known famous for this reason.Young women were also made to be fit and healthy and the women even had their own chariot race. Sparta was a great place to live because they had artificial...
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...I believe that Athens is a much better, well rounded city-state than Sparta. There are many aspects of Athenian society that are superior to that of Sparta's. Athens government was a direct democracy, meaning that the people are the ones making the decisions. All citizens are welcome at the Athens assembly and were all welcomed to speak their voice and share ideas. Sparta's government is an oligarchy. There are 2 kings and various assemblies of very wealthy "elected officials" who are Spartiates, or the highest class in the Spartan society. Athens government is clearly better in this aspect as the people are the ones making choices for their society, rather than being controlled by kings and high-ups. Another main reason why Athens is superior to Sparta is in their education system. In Athens, boys studied music, math, arts, grammar and poetry. Also, they received a mandatory 2 years of military service from ages 18-20. In Sparta, boys live in military barracks from ages 7-60, with no education other than athletics and combat. Athenians believe that boys should...
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...One of the most historical wars was the Peloponnesian war. Fought between Athens and Sparta, the two leading city-states. From 431-404 BC. The fighting covered the entire Greek world. Although Athens and Sparta were at war for numerous years they have many similarities and differences. One of the similarities is women were oppressed in both societies. An example is women weren’t allowed to take part in government. Both also had Polytheistic religion. They worshipped gods of nature and emotions such as Zeus, Athena, Hades, Aphrodite, and Poseidon. They both held an event we still enjoy today, the Olympic games. Many events were held, including pentathlon, running, jumping, wrestling, boxing, pankration, equestrian events, and discus throwing....
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