Plutarch's Expectations Of Athenian Youth

413 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Culture impact on behavior

Around 1200-350 B.C.E, ancient Greece was mostly dominated by the rivalry between the two city-states, Sparta and Athens. Athens was the birthplace of democracy, thus, was also the least rigid of the two. Athens contained the most sophisticated people in Greece whereas Sparta was comprised of unsophisticated people and were more militaristic. Spartans considered their youth to be property of the Spartan states, and trained them for military life from a young age. Athenians, however, had different expectations for their youth. They believed that their children should be honest, loyal, respectful, and should serve their community to the best of their abilities. The two texts, Plutarch’s Lives by John W. McFarland, Pleasant F. Graves, Jr. and Aubrey Graves and The Oath of Athenian Youth by Anonymous, describe the different expectations and behaviors the city-states of Sparta and Athens had for their respective youth. Because Sparta was a militaristic state, it needed to develop their youth for military life from a young age. According to Plutarch’s Lives, “children were actually considered to be the property of the Spartan state, the parents having little claim to them…”. This is important because if the youth were not treated …show more content…

They believed that their children should be honest, loyal, respectful, and should serve their community to the best of their abilities. As stated in The Oath of Athenian Youth, the youth “…will never bring disgrace to this, our community, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice”. They are expected to help their community by being honest and brave. The text also states “we will transmit this community, not only not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us”. This means that they expected to serve their community more than their community has served them. Those are some of the expectations and behavior the city-states of Athens had for their

Show More
Related

  • Spartan Society to the Battle of Leuctra

    1806 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...litary end even the women in Sparta would have been affected by the military ways of life almost as much as the young men. From childhood they were being primed to raise a family, they were taught in the ways of mid wifery, learning the correct manner in teaching the future young men of Sparta and keeping themselves fit to produce fit children.

    Read More

  • Dbq Compare And Contrast Sparta And Athens

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    “reach them to endure pain and conquer in battle.” (Document 11). Sparta was especially known for their strong army force. From age seven, all boys were trained not to express their pain and become great soldiers on the battlefield. Unlike Sparta, Athens’ main focus was not on the military. “For we are lovers of beauty, yet with no extravagance and lovers of wisdom, yet without weakness.” (Document 9). Athens was essentially based upon the arts and intelligence. Instead of boys going through years and years of military training, Athenians learned subjects like literature, art, and arithmetic.

    Read More

  • Comparing Patrick Henry's Speech To The Virginia Convention

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Politicians use many different ways to persuade the intended audience. The speech to the Berlin Wall, and the speech to the Virginia Convention were both similar in ways of impacting people and using the same form of persuasion, but different when it came to a sense of hope, time periods, and the reasoning. Reagan and Henry use different different modes of persuasion.

    Read More

  • Plutarch's Life Of Sparta

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main summary of the book is “Plutarch's vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of this remarkable Greek city-state between the sixth and third centuries BC.” “Through his Lives of Sparta's leaders and his recording of memorable Spartan Sayings he depicts a people who lived frugally and mastered their emotions in all aspects of life, who also disposed of unhealthy babies in a deep chasm, introduced a gruelling regime of military training for boys, and treated their serfs brutally. Rich in anecdote and detail, Plutarch's writing brings to life the personalities and achievements of Sparta with unparalleled flair and humanity.” This is only a small summary of

    Read More

  • Sparta: Infrastructure, Social Structure, and Superstructure

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Like most Greek states of the Archaic and Classical Era, the Spartan city-state was a militaristic one. Sparta, however, took the idea to its extreme. In order to become the best soldiers, Spartan citizens had to dedicate their entire lives to the occupation. In fact to be a soldier – a hoplite – was the full infrastructure of Spartan society. While most Greek city-states looked down on labor, physical work, and even working for profit, they still had to work for a living, produce something. “The Spartans a...

    Read More

  • Women in Sparta

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing Ancient Athens And Sparta

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sparta was a war-like Greek city-state that had 2 main ranks of society. There were the Spartans, who were citizens that would receive an education that emphasized self-control, courage, obedience, and discipline. They both have the upper class, which are the citizens of the city-state. They were usually wealthy, and they didn’t spend much time at home or around their families.

    Read More

  • Plutarch's Life

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plutarch was a well-known historian, biographer, and essayist. Also, Plutarch was a Greek scholar, and today is considered to be a Middle Protanist. Clyde Curry Smith, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, tells readers “Plutarch was born sometime around 46 A.D. in Chaeronea, Boeotia”(Smith). Plutarch was born “around the Roman imperial administration of Claudius I”(Smith). It is also believed that Plutarch died around the age of 74, “sometime after 120 c.e.”(Smith). Along with being a historian and essayist, Plutarch was also a priest, ambassador, mayor, and magistrate. Plutarch was born to a wealthy prominent family; he later married and is known to have at least two sons. During his time, Plutarch can be reflected as a celebrity due to his writings and lecture. Many of Plutarch’s writings are still existent, many that teach others about history, or other important times in history.

    Read More

  • Greek Cities: Athens vs Sparta Essay

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Sparta and Athens - Explain and Contrast

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. 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. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles: Athens Vs. Sparta

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, seemly should be the similar as they belong to the same region, but due geography, the city-states of Greece have vast similarities and differences across the entire civilization. Greece was stationed upon a mountainous peninsula that just out in the Mediterranean Sea and the land was useless, as it lacked any natural resources, so culture grew along the sea and climate. With the ocean they had access to travel and trade fro any resources and the climate allowed for a new type of living, outdoor living. With outdoor living came a new government, (limited) democracy, first seen in Athens around 500 BC and it created equilibrium between the rich and

    Read More

  • Aspects of Spartan Culture

    1595 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print. The. Sekunda, Nick. A. The Spartan Army.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Sparta And Athens

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Spartan Daily Life

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    A man's life in Sparta was lived in support of the State, every responsibility he had was directed to the benefit of Sparta. His purpose as a person was to defend and enlarge the nation as a warrior. His purpose as a husband and father was to strengthen the nation, "family life" was a tertiary concern at best, behind warrior status, warrior production and possibly even

    Read More

  • Greek Golden Age Essay

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Plutarch's Expectations Of Athenian Youth

Open Document