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.
Discussion:
In Sparta, only citizens could be members of the assembly. Sparta’s assembly was not a democracy it was a dictatorship. Sparta was a unique dual kingship, one king went to war and the other king stayed home. I would venture to describe them more like Generals
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It is amazing that the leaders of Athens would trust their citizens, albeit a select few, to make decisions and choices about their life style. It is also incredible to contemplate the discipline required to establish a military force when Sparta had no physical infrastructure to fortify their city-state. It is important to respect our past and learn from it. However, we also must recognize the limitations and not romanticize the past to the point we ignore its shortcomings and not forget that it took nearly 2000 years to abolish slavery. These ancient city-states neglected a large number of their people, and approved of slavery and the subjugation of women. As long as one class dominates and discriminates against another, as a world society, we still have work to do to ensure peace and basic freedoms for all of
The governments of these two city-states were not alike in many ways. “It is true that our government is called a democracy, because its administration is in the hands, not of the few, but of the many,” (Document 3). Athens’ government was what we would consider today a direct democracy. This means that their government was run by the people, or in other words “the many”, rather than a couple government officials, or “the few”. Although Athens was running their city as a government by the people, Sparta had a different form of government. “it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy,
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.
The spartan laws, created by Lycurgus, caused obedience to be of the utmost importance and a source of pride for the Spartans. It was one of the defining characteristics of the Spartan ethos; any disobedience to the law was punished severely and without hesitation. The Spartan political system showed great insight by Lycurgus, as it was a mixed government, consisting of kingship, aristocracy, and democracy and provided stability to Spartan politics. “The first and of greatest importance was the establishment of the senate, which, having a power equal to the kings.” (Plut. 5) Spartan citizens are equal under the laws of Lycurgus. Although Kings are considered demi gods and the old revered, their privileges are no greater than a normal Spartan. Spartans, essentially, do not have political equality to the Ephori, the senate, or the Spartan kings, to whom they must remain totally obedient. They are equal in that they are all subject to the law. The senate can counteract the kings giving stability to the commonwealth, the ephori are the supreme power in Sparta, bu...
Within different civilizations of the Greek City-States and the Hellenistic World, there were different values, power structures, and politics that made the societies powerful and successful. In the Greek City-States there was Sparta and Athens and in the Hellenistic World, there was different views and ideas for the few rulers of the Hellenistic society. Sparta was focused on the strength of the state and on their military readiness and discipline. Athens was a democratic state focused on the rights of individuals. The main differences between Sparta and Athens are their style and system of government, and their societal values. In the Hellenistic world, the most famous ruler, Alexander was focused on unifying the people and giving them a sense religion and morality. Under the rule of Antiochus, who took the kingdom when Seleucid died, they wanted people to focus on the Greek way of life. These
In today’s world there are many people that believe that the domain we live in today has flourished in wealth, and come a long way since the early ages. In the book “From the Tigris to the Tiber” Jones goes through the Roman, Greek and Egyptian Empires. He feels that if the these empires would admire the opportunities we have today and that they most likely would have taken better advantage of it than we do. In this paper, I will be discussing the Riverine Civilizations, the Mesopotamian civilizations, the beliefs, cultures, and developments of the Egyptians, and the advances of the Roman Empire.
Sparta was a war-like Greek city-state that had 2 main ranks of society. There were the Spartans, who were citizens that
This article is credible and reliable; it offers two sets of information for the reader. It is also suitable for any age group. This site is helpful for those wanting to compare Athens and Sparta or simply read about one or the other.
Compare and contrast a prominent political and cultural element of the Athenian and Spartan poleis and how this was reflected by the Athenian Army at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and the 300 Spartan hoplites at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Athens’ assembly consists of five hundred members that are all chosen randomly. Whereas Sparta’s Council, only had twenty-eight men, that had to be older than sixty, and were elected for life. Their social rankings are somewhat similar because they have three different rankings, but the Spartan’s lowest class, the Helots, are treated better than the Athen’s slaves. The two city states are very different.
The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy.
Sparta contained a four branch government system that was considered among the most unique in all of Greece. Unlike the democracy of Athens, Sparta was based on an oligarchy structure. The diarchy, which consisted of two kings, was the first division of this government. These figures held little influence over the state and served more as a symbol of royal heritage (Kennell 83). The second branch was the Gerousia council which acted as an advising body and hel...
Athens was a much more superior polis compared to Sparta because the Athenians invented new ideas and creations that supported the people, such as democracy, the Athenians led the Delian League, and Sparta created the Peloponnesian League after the Athenians created their alliance, and the Athenians changed the ways of their government many times to suit the people, and the Spartans did not.
The Athens practice direct democracy, while Sparta practice Oligarchies system of government. Athens has no king, Sparta has two kings from two different royal families.
Sparta was a city-state based on strict military ruling, at the age of seven a young Spartan would start out training and be trained into killing machines. When a Spartan baby is born, high elite Spartan soldiers would observe the baby to see if it was healthy and strong, if not the baby was ill and weak so it would be taken up a mountain and left there to die. This is just one example that shows how Sparta only wants a strong army and doesn't care about anything else. Strict rules of the government made it so that every Sp...
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.