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Sparta and Athens disadvantages and advantages
5 reasons why Sparta is better than Athens
+what re the geographical differences between sparta and athens greece
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In Greece, Athens undoubtedly had the geographic advantage over Sparta. Even though Sparta does have fertile soil to conduct much farming, Athens has trade to fall back on. For example, “Athens was at the center of an efficient trading system with other Greek city states. Trade was incredibly important for Athens, as it did not have the agricultural conditions to cultivate enough grain for its population” (Doc B). In this case, the location of Athens enabled them to trade often and also that they were in the middle of a reliable and efficient trade route, which let them get their grain that they needed. Another reason that Athens had so good trade along with a good education was that people came from all of greece to study and trade, for example,
Imagine two countries, so different from each other, that conflicts were inevitable. Athens and Sparta were not countries, however, they were city-states of Greece with many contrasting values. Athens was the city of the arts, reading, and writing. Meanwhile, military was the only thing the on the Spartans’ minds. Athens and Sparta differ in many ways due to their governments, economies, and cultures.
The effects of this go far beyond the imbalance of military power between Athens and her tributaries, however. The Old Oligarch lists four main areas where the existence of the Empire benefits the common people of Athens, thus giving impetus to radicalize democracy and justify the expansion and strengthening of the Empire, and giving is reason to find an ongoing justification for its existence. The first is the building of the disproportionately large Athenian navy. Second is the overall flattening of the Athenian social pyramid, raising the relative status of the lowest classes of society, and exemplified by the way that Athens becomes a magnet for aliens to live and work, and gives unusual freedom and opportunity to slaves. Third is that the allies are compelled to have their court cases tried in Athenian courts, bringing both prestige and financial reward to Athens. Finally, the centralizing effect of these things, and the obvious maritime nature of the Empire, make Athens a trading center, m...
Spartan culture is a great example of how a society’s infrastructure will directly affect both, its social structure and superstructure. It also serves as a warning that any society that becomes too rigid in its structure and too static in its values will not last long when confronted with more agile and adaptable cultures. This paper will explore why Sparta became the Hellenic army par excellence, how this worked to create a very specific social structure founded on martial values, and, finally, how that social structure would ultimately be the undoing of the culture.
One of those traits is that although Athenian citizens and soldiers live a more leisurely life and are not trained as rigorously as the Spartans in land warfare, Athenians’ natural courage makes up for that (Thucydides pg. 42). Athens was definitely the dominant naval power in Greece at the time, but the Athenians’ devaluing of land warfare led to a stalemate in the first phase of the Peloponnesian War before the Peace of Nicias in which Sparta ravaged Athens’ countryside and forced its citizens to be holed up in the city walls and to live in close quarters, making them susceptible to the plague. Another trait of Athens that can be argued as not a positive factor is its institution of democracy. Athenian democracy was quite limited in the modern sense since its citizenry only included ethnic Athenian males over the age of 20, but it was remarkable in the ancient world for the amount of civic participation it allowed of those that it considered citizens. The Athenians prided themselves on including people of lower economic status into the citizenry, but this trait may be not as positive as Pericles proclaimed (Thucydides pg. 40). In an oligarchic system such as Sparta’s, if the city-state was to win a war, it
Imagine if you were a young girl, would you want to live in Athens or Sparta? In Athens you had education and spent time with your family. In Sparta you were strong and had rights. Athens was a better city to live in. The reason why I didn’t choose Sparta is because if you had a baby boy you would have to give him away to the army.
Rome had the better system of living than Athens because many people could be citizens and had little restrictions to be one, government was a republic and was usually fair, lastly territory token over was treated like their own.
Both Sparta and Athens were Greek city-states. Sparta was a strict military ruled city-state where the people established themselves as a military power early. However Athens was more of a political city-state that was more involved with their economical stature than their military forces. Still changes from the Persian wars would change the powers of the city-state and somewhat unite them.
In the years following the Persian Wars in 479 B.C., Athens had come out on top being the most dominantly powerful of any Greek city with a navy that had superior strength that increased day by day. The Athenians “ruled with heavy-handed, even brutal force as well as with reason” (Kagan 2). This was due largely to the fact that Athens had a stable and effective government, which only increased their advantage in proving themselv...
Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Classical Greece. While Athens embraced democracy, Sparta was a dictatorial fierce warrior state. Sparta was a militaristic community, Athens was a freethinking, and commerce minded city-state. Modern societies have modeled their government organizational structure and military discipline practices from lessons learned of these ancient city-states. There is much is to be praised regarding Classical Greece for their courage, their progressive thinking and the birth of democracy. However, I think it is important to remember that in both cases, Athens and Sparta were able to sustain their lifestyle on the backs of countless slaves, non-citizens and women and that there is a darker and less romantic side to the past.
In Ancient Greece they use many of their geography to help them be the civilization that they wanted to be. The mountains help them be isolated and separate from other city-state making them more independent. They use the Mediterranean Sea to provide farming to provide additional crops, but they became master sailors and developed a large trading network to be able to trade with others. The climate was always hot and dry, which sometimes affected the growth of the crops for that season.
Ancient Greece today is most known for the culture: the gods, the dramas, how people lived. What most people do not realize is that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different civilizations spread throughout Greece that all had different forms of government. The three main ones were Athens, Sparta, and Miletus. Each was very different from the other. The most powerful out of all three was Sparta: a military based society. The Spartan government had a strong foundation that was all torn down by one bad leader.
Although generally famous for it’s accomplishments in the arts and sciences, different parts of Ancient Greece varied based on their values, lifestyles, and cultures. Due to the mountainous regions in the area, many parts of Ancient Greece were secluded from one another, therefore forcing the regions to form their own city-states with completely opposite views, cultures, and values; as was the case with Athens and Sparta. After the foundation of their city-state, Athenians focused on the arts and philosophy, while their Spartan counterparts based their entire lives around the subject of military, considering it was one of the main aspects of every Spartan’s life.
“As an Athenian, one could get a good education, Spartan people were not open to education.” Mr. Duckworth states. Athens would have been a better city to live in because in Athens people had rights to vote, education was more important than military school, and they had good progressing infostructure.
Athens and Sparta were two rivaling city states in Greece. Athens was known for its artists and philosophy while Sparta was known for its military prowess. Athens had a direct democracy which was made up of elected official, a council and an assembly. Sparta had an oligarchy made up of two kings, five overseers, a council and an assembly. In Athens you were either free or a slave, and women basically had no rights. In Sparta there were three social classes and women were more free than anywhere else in Greece. Overall Athens was more focused on having a rich culture full of beauty and art and Sparta was more structured and did everything to better the military. There would be positives and negatives to living in both city states. Athens at
Because of the tranquil times, the civilization’s society had more time to focus on writing, math, astronomy, and artistic fields, as well as trade and metallurgy. Out of all the city-states of Greece, two excelled over all the rest, Sparta and Athens. Even though they were the most advanced and strong civilizations, they were bitter enemies. While Athens focused mainly on the people’s democracy and citizen rights, Sparta were ferocious and enslaved its original inhabitants, making them unable to leave and kept under a close eye to prevent insurgence (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece). Additionally, Sparta had strict and trained soldiers that underwent intense physical exercising and instruction.