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 boy grew to a certain age he was inducted into a very strict training regime called “The Agoge”, they were taught to be the stealthiest and most brutal killing machines the world has ever seen. These warriors were so great that only a meager 300 of these soldiers held the pass of Thermopylae against a massive Persian host of 1 million men. That demonstration of power makes my decision very easy between where I would have wanted to live between Athens or Sparta. Sparta is the answer because I would know that as a Spartan I could protect my family from anything and everything, and if I could not do that personally I would have the reassurance that every other Spartan warrior was standing behind me ready for anything.
Athens was a city controlled by a very small group of aristocrats, the very wealthy of the city state and then they tried to call it democracy, a city of the people. This was a lie because not all of the people were heard and when you put a great deal of power in the hands of a few, especially when those few are the high class of society aka Aristocrats. They put themselves on a pedestal to the point where they believed that they were above the acts of trading and hard labor and instead devoted themselves to the arts such as philosophy and war, although not to the extent of Spartans. The leaders of a society should be familiar at least somewhat with the struggles of the working class because if you have never looked at life through the eyes of one of those people then how can you make laws that are fair and govern their lives.
Now Sparta on the other hand wasn’t a perfect place but out of the two I would have chosen to live their instead. Both my parents would have been Spartan so once I got to the proper age I would have commenced my training in the Agoge, my training to become one of the most lethal and powerful warriors on the planet! Throughout this training I would learn to survive in all types of conditions, become an expert in close quarters combat and stealth all to better my great state of Sparta. All around me would be other Spartan men who had gone through the exact same training regime as myself, live the same life I lived and basically was my equal. The only one man who I would not consider my equal would be my king. My king would govern us fairly and would look out for the good of Sparta as a whole and let’s not forget that he went through the Agoge as well so he has been through all the same hardships as I have and survived. I would feel more at home in Sparta than at Athens, surrounded by my equals not a bunch of rich Aristocrats thinking they know what is best for the people that they have never met or conversed with. Now in Sparta the king would roam the streets and interact with his subjects, all our city would love him because he would be one with the people.
Now speaking economically Athens was a much greater power due to its proximity to the coast and Mediterranean sea, a great many free thinking minds would land in Athens so all kinds of businesses pop up and they spend their money in the city trading and buying goods which increases the local economy because the city state as a whole wouldn’t have to trade with another city state and take any risks in the process. Sparta economy was next to none because all of the Spartan men were always training and fighting and keeping the city and her interests protected. All of the food and commerce that went on in Sparta was done by slaves named helots who were a conquered people that were basically the manpower for all of Sparta’s forges, farm, markets etc.
So between the two I believe I would be much happier as a Spartan man than an Athenian. I would be in the best physical condition I could be and at the same time I would be free to do as I please because all of the hard labor and trading and marketing that needed to be done around the city was done by the helots. I could do as I please and the only man I would have to answer to would be my king who I showed blind loyalty to. Lastly if we did end up going into battle I would relish the occasion because that is what I have been training my whole life for as a Spartan, I would find myself most at home in the chaos of battle looking for that one adversary that could grant me a glorious death.