...The Spartan constitution created by Lycurgus was a distinct way to run a society of people. “ This theory of government was adopted by Plato, Diogenes, Zeno and all those who are praised for their attempts to make some statement about these matters… (Plut. Lyc. 31).” When looking at Plato’s Republic there are many similarities to the unique Spartan city-state. Ideas that were similar included, elimination of wealth, the ideas about woman, children, and marriage, and the training for the military soldiers. Another aspect that could have aided Plato’s Republic from the Spartan society was the council of Elders that represented the people. This system would allow the people to become more involved in the government and create a more secure system of checks and balances. The similarities between the Spartan society and the Republic made Plato’s ideal city stronger because it allowed the people to be closer in equality then previous systems of government and because of the acceptance of their social classes. The elimination of wealth in the Spartan society was implemented in Plato’s Republic. Both government ideals about erasing currency, trade, and unnecessary luxuries from the societies, personified people as being more accepting of their social classes. The citizens would not flaunt their riches to others because they did not possess more then they needed to be happy within their social classes. “…they are only fed, and not paid in addition to their food, like other men: and therefore...
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...also held their own, and were trained just as hard as the men. Spartan girls were not brought up to perform such tasks as spinning and weaving – these tasks were fit only for slaves – but partook in a certain amount of physical training with the boys (although they were excluded from military training), took part in various singing and dancing competitions, played instruments and recited poetry.[1] Spartan women were very unique in the ancient world, particularly in the areas of education and training, their roles and positions in Spartan society and their place in public life. EDUCATION AND TRAINING The women of Sparta were highly valued and respected, particularly for their roles as mothers and nurses. Spartan women also had a reputation for fitness, physical beauty and a strong, independent character. The purpose of a girl’s education in Sparta was to produce healthy bodies, so that, according to Lycurgus, ‘the fruit they conceived might take firmer root and find better growth, so that they, with this greater vigour, might be more able to undergo with the pains of childbearing’.[2] According to Plutarch, the girls were organised into bands, similar to the boys groups. He also states that they sometimes exercised together in a large group, participating in such sports as running and wrestling. The girls exercised with the boys to not only increase their physical resilience and make them tougher, but also to encourage competitiveness and equality, and to promote...
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...was fought by the Greek city states of Athens and Sparta, and lasted between 431 BC to 404 BC. Before the war between the two had started they had agreed to a thirty year peace. They didn’t want to fight while recovering from the Persian War. Throughout this time Athens grew powerful and Sparta grew jealous and no longer trusted Athens. In 431 BC Sparta and Athens were on different sides of a conflict over the city, Corinth. Sparta declared war on Athens. The first war is sometimes called the Archidamian War after Sparta's King Archidamus II. This war lasted a good ten years. During the war the Spartans declared the land as Athens did the sea. Athens built long walls from the city to its seaport. The wall made it possible for them to stay inside the city and still have access to trade and supplies from their ships. Spartans never breached the walls of Athens during this war, however many people died due to plague including the general of Athens, Pericles. After ten years in 421 BC they agreed to a truce called Peace of Nicias. In 415 BC, Athens decided to help one of their allies on the island of Sicily. They sent a large force there to attack the city of Syracuse. Athens lost the battle horribly and Sparta decided to retaliate starting the Second Peloponnesian War. In 415 BC, Athens helped one of their allies on the island of Sicily. They sent a large force there to attack the city of Syracuse. Athens lost the battle and Sparta decided to start the Second Peloponnesian War. The...
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...Sparta is located in the southern part of ancient greece. But now it is located in Laconia, Greece. Sparta was surrounded by three rugged mountains and rough terrain. Spartan’s used a Oligarchy type of government, in fact they were the only city-state that use an oligarchy type of government. Sparta was ruled by two kings that shared power. A group of oligarch’s declares military force for taxes so people pay their taxes. That means if people pay their taxes they will be guarded with military force. The role of men in sparta was going out in war or training for war. Women in sparta were famous for having more freedom than any other greek city-state, They also had a reputation for promiscuity controlling their husbands. They also had to...
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...History of Sparta Sparta was an ancient Greek city-state founded by Lacedaemon, son of Zeus and Taygete. The population of Sparta is composed of three different groups; the Spartans, Helots and Periodic. The word Spartan means self restrained, and Spartans, also known as Spartiates, were considered to be full citizens. Helots, who were known as serfs or slaves, is the word given to the captives. While the Periodic which meant dwellers-around, were craftsmen and traders who built weapons for the Spartan military. When the Spartans would conquer a city-state, the inhabitants would become Helots. Helots were Greeks from Laconia and Messiness, who were conquered by the Spartans and turned into slaves. The society of Sparta and their way of life could not be possible without the Helots. They handled all the day to day tasks that kept society functioning. The Helots were nurses, servants, farmers and military attendants. When the city-state of Laconia and Messiness was conquered, they out numbered the Spartans. To prevent an uprising the Spartans would treat the Helots brutally. In some cases, Helots would be killed if they displayed to be more smarter and stronger than Spartans. Unlike the surrounding city-states, Sparta’s way of life was engulfed in war. The Spartans were known for their bravery and war tactics. The warrior culture is what the Sparta society embraced. Sparta had one of the most powerful armies...
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...Some city-states don’t always succeed. This city-state is called Sparta. Sparta was a city-state on the pennesula on Greece thats main focus was military stregths. Sparta had many weaknesses that outwieghed it’s strengths. They abused children, took children away and lacked education. All they cared about was war stregths. Would you rather get whipped to get stronger or learn to have a bright long future? Sparta lacked education. Education is a very important thing. It helps you gain knowledge to become smarter and then have a brigth future. The Spartans did not care about that all they cared about was their military. According to document D it states “[The Sprtans] learned to read and write for purely practicly reasons: but all other forms...
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...Freedom is an ambiguous concept that has different meanings to various citizens; however, most people expect a certain level of security to be provided by their country. Freedom is defined as the right power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity. As citizens of the United States, we have fought several wars to complete our unique experience of practicing democracy; the mission of our Founding Fathers. Immigrants still risk their lives by scaling fences, swimming brisk waterways, and leaving their families to participate in this ambiguous concept called “freedom”. In order to protect freedom, someone has to pay the toll; subsequently it is the soldiers that often pick up the checks. I believe all men should support the military by serving two years (minimum) as a rite of passage, career exploration, and for the privilege of voting. Presently, we need soldiers all over the world, thus the need for manpower is uninterrupted. In fact, a show of numbers is an important strategy in deterring global conflict. Many cultures practice a metaphysical ceremony to acknowledge a conversion into adulthood. For example, the Spartans had what they called Helot Killing. In the Spartan society, all males had to go through fighter training. Spartan boys were ripped from their mothers at the age of seven, and attended warrior training until they were seventeen. When they turned eighteen, they would be sent off into the...
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...The women of Sparta had to shave their heads when preparing to get married. Even after they married the women had to keep their hair short. Since the men under thirty were required to live in communal barracks, married couples typically lived apart and husbands could only see their wives by sneaking away at night. Like most Greeks, Spartans fought Hoplite style. They wore a bronze helm, protecting their head, bronze greaves to protect their legs and carried a large round shield. The shield was made of wood, bronze covered the front of it, while the back was hollowed out with a shield stand attached. This would keep the shield upright and ready to use at a moment’s notice. The soldiers would each go into battle with a xiphos, which was a short leaf bladed sword made for close combat, and an eight foot long spear. Since arrows had little effect in Spartan warfare, Archers were not very common, but some were still brought on. Calvary was also an uncommon use to the Spartans. The Spartans had a very honorable policy during wartime. They would not loot the bodies of the defeated armies nor will they pursue them. Similar to how today’s armies have dog tags, the Spartan warriors would bring two wooden sticks with their names carved into them. They would leave one stick in a bowl before...
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...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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...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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...Sparta had more equality between both genders, giving both its men and women education and opportunities in politics. While many Greek city-states at that time gave girls limited education compared to those of boys, Sparta trained both their boys and girls to be physically fit. As Plutarch, a scholar from the first century AD, stated, girls trained to exercise and run. There were even races in Sparta hosted by magistrates in which girls participated in. Furthermore, Sparta allowed their women in politics, differing from city states such as Athens, whose women were restricted in the household weaving. In the fourth century BC, Aristotle, a famous scholar who spent most of his life in Athens, stated in Politics, “This was exemplified among the...
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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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...Introduction: The period of Greek history from the last years of the Persian Wars until the beginning of the first Peloponnesian War, the strong influence of Sparta started to decline while Athens was gaining popularity and influence amongst Greece. Athens was a place that had heavy emphasis on arts, architecture, and literature. The Athenians are responsible for building thousands of temples and statues that embodied their culture and style of art. The economy of Athens was also very productive based upon farming, manufacturing and trade. Athens made a lot of wealth in the trade of wool, grapes, olive oil and wheat with the other Geek city-states. And where there is trade there is a need for shipbuilding and finances, this led to Athens becoming a spotlight for financial business such as loans and investments. The role and wealth increase of the trade market led to the change of the Athenian society and politics. Slaves became a big part of Athenian life; slaves were found everywhere usually made up of non – Greek foreigners captured in...
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...There is a reason Sparta is still known for their military dominates today. Sparta made up the formation called the phalanx. The phalanx consisted of a tight group of soldiers each holding a shield that interlocked with his neighbor’s, each man carrying a short sword and a thrusting spear. Sparta also focused on their military, the boys left their families at the age of seven to twenty-first year of training. The strengths of Sparta outweigh the weaknesses because they respected authority, they had an advanced military, and because the women were respected. To begin, with the Spartans respected authority. In document it says, “The young men were required not only to respect their own fathers and to be obedient to them, but to have regard for all the older men.” How could Spartans be loyal to others if they didn’t respect authority? People should respect authority because now of days people go visit the elderly, and if we didn’t...
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