Many civilizations have formed overtime due to cultural differences. Ancient Greece was a prime example of two very different city-states, Sparta and Athens. While Greece had a number of civilizations the two that ended up being the most contradictory were Athens and Sparta. While both Athens and Sparta had sophisticated governments Athens involved women less in their society and traded. While Sparta involved women in their society and became a more isolated city-state. The governments of both Athens and Sparta were structured to fit the needs of their individual societies. Athens had the Council of 500 which were free male citizens () and Sparta had an assembly of free male citizens. Sparta slightly differed in that it had rank of government, at the lowest level was the Assembly then the elders and then on top of they would have overseers such as those that carried out laws and two …show more content…
kings that ran the military and served as priests, all these government levels in Sparta allowed Sparta to have a very strict government. Sparta required strict guidelines because of their militaristic state whereas Athens needed a government that would help more with the day to day lives of citizens such as laws on robbery and other crimes or the regulation of currency within the state. Both city-states however had the same requirements to be a government official, men had to be free and citizens of that city-state. Due to the fact that both city-states were run very differently they required different levels of government to maintain order thus requiring an organized government. Athens needed a government that would do more simplistic things in state and the people in Athens were educated enough to want a direct say in their government (). Sparta had an oligarchy government which allowed certain people to stay in power to help keep balance. Due to this both city-states had little anarchy within because citizens understood the rules and how the government worked and that allowed both Athens and Sparta chances to develop within their city-state. Even though Athens and Sparta had similar ideas on how to maintain order within government they differed in their ideas of women and what their role in society should be.
Women in Sparta and Athens had vastly different roles which greatly affected their society. Athenian people thought that a woman’s role was to care for the children and look after the house. Athenian women were not allowed to go outside unless they were going to a funeral or visiting a friend otherwise they were not to be seen or heard. Spartan citizens thought that women should be able to hold their own. Spartan women had to be able to hunt, wrestle, and provide for the family. Spartan women could own property and did go to school unlike Athenian women who would stay at home and cook (). Athens used women less in society which made it harder for Athens to evolve because women could have helped further a society with new ideas or perspectives. Sparta was able to advance because Spartan women were able to get many rights, allowing them to have more of a say and start the road to female
independence. Another difference in Athens and Sparta was their difference in how they got their economic profit. Geography had a major impact economically on both city-states. Athens was located close to the sea which allowed them to earn their major income from trading while Sparta was further inland so they had little access to the sea making them rely heavily on agriculture. Due to the fact that Athens was close to the sea and traded with different people, they realized that everyone else had a common currency so Athens created a common currency as well to put a limit on the amount of good someone could buy (). Sparta was inland and had a common currency to make buying and selling goods. Athens was a main importer of goods. Countries would store their goods in Athens for a price and because of this Athens was able to experience new cultures, form relations with these new people and advance their city-state. Athens was able to see what the rest of the world’s standards were, allowing them to adopt some of the same standards. Sparta being isolated from the world made it harder for them to advance because of their lack of experience to the world around them. Due to this Athens was able to become more economically stable due to the access to goods while Sparta had to fight for land and food at times. Athens and Sparta, both city-states that had cultural and physical differences. While Athens involved women less in society and profited though their geographical location, Sparta involved women and became more isolated because of them being so inland. However, both had structured governments fitted for their societies. Both city-states thought how to better themselves, while one was set on achieving greatness through money and unification, the other tried to achieve greatness through war and battle. All these differences were due to the difference in the people of both city-states and where they wanted their city-state to end up. Even though they had many differences both had one ultimate goal which was glory.
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.
Spartan women were allowed to own and control land. “Yet it does seem to be the case that Spartan daughters received as dowries one-half the amount of their parents’ property that their brothers received as inheritance.” (Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. "Becoming a Spartan Woman." Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 143. Print) Whereas Athenian women only received one-sixth the amount that their brothers inherited. Spartan women inherited three times as more than their Athenian sisters. Spartan women were also allowed and even encouraged to be educated, whereas the education of Athenian girls was almost nonexistent. In Athens the majority of girls “… received merely a basic training in how to run the household, generally from their mothers. Girls may even have been discouraged from becoming literate in order to keep them “unspoiled.”( Garland, Robert. "The People." Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. 103. Print.) Whereas in Sparta the girls were educated at the state’s expense. “Specific lines of development were prescribed for Spartan girls as much as they were for boys. The educational system for girls was also organized according to age classes. (Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. "Becoming a Spartan Woman." Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 141. Print) Spartan women were also allowed more freedoms in the way that they dressed than their Athenian counterparts. “In earlier times Athenian women wore the peplos, a long heavy woolen garment which revealed little of the figure beneath. In the middle of the sixth century B.C., the peplos was replaced by a lighter and finer garment made of linen called
In class we discussed in detail the historical background of the male dominated society of both Athens and Sparta. The Athenian society was an over populated cosmopolitan colony who grew by trading goods (crafts, fabrics, pottery) in exchange of raw materials. Women where seen as just another piece of property legally under control of their guardian, Kyrio. It was noted that women should not be seen in the day or night. Selectiveness was shown when a child was born. The Spartan society operated on very different terms. The whole community was considered military members. Marriage was not a big deal, no ownership of women, reproduction important and if a woman was a mother they would receive government benefits.
Athens and Sparta were all very big, successful city-states in the ancient world that conquered many lands and won many battles. Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta seem similar; they have very different functioning societies. Athens was known for its impressive art and culture while Sparta was a very war-like city-state and their society was completely based on having a great military. The thing they had in common was that social status and the jobs that each rank of society had was very important. The social status was crucial to Sparta and Athens because, without it, both Greek city-states would not be able to function.
There isn’t enough literature from this time period from the lower and middle classes of society, and the view of women we have comes from writings of the upper class males. As much of an enigma that the women of Athens were, it is clear that “women were for the most part legal nonentities,” (O’Neal 117) that were denied any association and participation in the intellectual life of their city. The women were not involved in getting an education, and never learned to read or write. O’Neal writes, “The principal spokesmen of fifth century Athens, Pericles and Thucydides, disdained Athenian women.” (O’Neal 117) Based on their writing, and on surmountable evidence, it can be assumed that women had only two roles in Athens - a wife, or a mother. A girl was ideally married at 14 or 15 years of age, and there was necessity that the bride was a virgin, otherwise she was shamed and sold into
Spartan women were considered fundamentally more advanced than other women of Athens, due to the way that Spartan women were reared. Spartan women were treated equally to men, and given freedom like the men were. They were given the opportunity to train with men, and were even slightly more educated than their male cohorts. Spartan women were exceptionally more advanced than other women during this age due to these factors, and are a great example of strong women within past civilizations.
Unlike other Greek city states, women played an integral role in Spartan society as they were the backbone of the Spartan economic system of inheritance and marriage dowry and they were relied upon to fulfill their main responsibility of producing Spartan warrior sons. These principle economic systems affected wealth distribution among Spartan citizens especially among the Spartan elite class. Spartan women led a completely different life than women in most other ancient Greek city states, as they were depended upon to maintain Spartan social systems. In a society where the state is more involved in home life women had freedom of movement and they were permitted to communicate with men who were not their husbands. Women had domestic responsibilities including the maintenance of homes and farms when the men were on campaign, while the typical Greek female responsibilities such as weaving were delegated to slaves. Girls were raised much like Spartan boys as they were made to go through physical training insuring their success in fulfilling their most important role in society, child-bearing. The few primary sources on Sparta and Spartiate women, namely Aristotle, Plutarch, Herodotus and Xenophon were historians who lived after the prominence of ancient Sparta; therefore, the facts regarding the women’s influence in social, economic and political issues must be carefully interpreted and analysed with help from secondary sources.
Women in the ancient world had few rights, they differed from country to country or, in the case of the women of Athens and Sparta, from city-state to the city-state. The women of the city-states of Athens and Sparta had profound differences in their roles in the political and the daily lives of their families and their cities. When it came to the difference in levels of power and the rights of women, Sparta was a leader in its time. At the same time, their rights as citizens were almost the same. While they did not take an active part in politics, they had opinions and ideas like women all over the world. Their thoughts, deeds, and opinions rarely recorded or if they were, the male historians or philosophers of the time recorded them. What were roles did the women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Were they citizens, did they have personal freedoms? On the other hand, did they in a time when the beginnings of democracy were happening were they less than a second-class citizen? The misogyny and patriarchal societies continued throughout the ancient and classical periods only beginning to change in the Hellenistic era.
Athens and Sparta are both infamous Greek city states. Both could not be more different, yet similar in the way they governed their own city state. Another, main difference was the women’s rights and roles in the system. Athenian and Spartan women both were considered to be second to their male counterparts. Spartan women had more rights than Athenian women. Through, research realizing that the Spartan women were slightly greater role than Athenian women.
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.
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 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.
For the most part, women in today's society hold a position equal to that of a man;
In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.
Euripides, one of Ancient Greece’s most famous playwrights, could be considered as one of the earliest supporters of women’s rights. With plays such as Alcestis and Medea, he clearly puts an emphasis on the condition of women, and even integrates them in the Chorus of the latter play, a feat that was not often done in Ancient Greece. Throughout the years, it has been argued that the two central characters in each of those plays offer conflicting representations of women in those times, and I can safely say that I agree with that argument. I will expand on my view by pointing out an important similarity between Alcestis and Medea, followed by a key difference, and will finish it off by contrasting them with the Ancient Greek depiction of an “ideal woman.”