Camille Sicat #26 3/16/16 Writing/Social Studies Power of the People: Athens vs. Rome Essential Question: Citizenship in Athens and Rome: Which Was the Better System? Prior to the idea of people being “citizens” of a nation, people were subjects, with no rights and forced to serve under the iron fist of their ruler. The idea of people having rights and responsibilities to their country originated in Athens, Greece circa 500 B.C. (Background Essay). Rome, however, far surpassed the Greeks in their social contract theory of citizenship (Background Essay) for the following reasons: 1) More people were considered citizens i.e. females and sons of freed slaves; 2)
Athens focuses significantly more on the arts and philosophy. In sparta they focus on military and physical fitness they also focus on responsibility. In athens everybody knows what they should do but they don’t. In sparta everybody knows what they should do so they do it. In sparta you are expected to be tough, brutal, and strong.
When in Rome Rome has a better system than Athens in my opinion. Athens citizens have more responsibility and rights then Rome. Rome has more of a family oriented style of citizenship. Athens and rome both honored citizenship in their own ways equally.
The Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens is truly a war like no other, pitting the two great super-powers of Greece against each other. When one looks at the resources and the experiences of both Sparta and Athens, it seems almost certain that Athens would come out victorious. However this would not be Athens’ outcome. To great Athenian surprise, the Spartans emerged victorious in 404 BC. There are many factors and intricacies that led to a Spartan victory.
I would like to educate the masses on a matter of frequent debate. This is none other then Athens vs Sparta, and I can say the thorough research and facts have lead me to concluded that Sparta is a much better city-state then Athens. Sparta is better then Athens because of its respect of women, more equal school system, integrity of government, treatment of slaves, and superior military. First of all, women were given far more rights than in Athens. First of all, Women in Sparta could own there own land, participate in politics and the olympics among other things.
To begin with, Spartans lacked advanced education. In document D it states, “The spartans learned to read and write for purely practical reasons: but all other forms of education they banned.” [The Spartans] thought education was a waste of time and they should be training instead. They also didn’t allow them to go abroad. Which limited their education even more because they couldn’t learn from other people.
Life in sparta was different than athens because sparta had no interest in art,music and education. Everything was centered in sparta was focused on the military. My opinion strengths did not outweighed the weakness of sparta education and I will explain how the strength was the most important than caring the weakness of sparta education.
The rivalry between Athens and Sparta, two of the Greek city-states greatly affected Ancient Greece and has now become legendary. Feuding between Sparta and Athens eventually led to a twenty-seven year long civil war called the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC which led to the decline of Greece. Historians use primary sources and secondary sources to identify causes for the rivalry between Sparta and Athens.
Aside from this, that is about the only thing Sparta had going for them. Meanwhile, Athens was busy focusing on creating democracy and making famous literary works, like it was no big deal. Sparta, not so much, they just wanted strong jocks. After a reviewing a few elements of Athenian culture, it is clear to see Athens was clearly better than Sparta.
The education of Sparta varied in strengths and in weaknesses. The Sparta’s were first located in southern Greece called the Peloponnese. In this colony, the Sparta’s only vision was bloodthirsty war and violence. At the age of seven, a young boy is removed from his family and is expected, from his 8th to his 21st year, become educated to a brutal military-like discipline. Therefore, regarding the education in Sparta, the weaknesses outweighed the strength because the Spartan’s didn’t value family morals, the basics of reading and writing were taught, and the upbringing of Spartan boys was cruel and painful.
Ancient Greece is a land of many city-states, called polies. Each polis had its own government, laws, rules and customs. The two city-states didn’t have many things in common, such as their religion and language. As a rule the city state, did not get along. They were always in a war against each other.
Society, Art, Architecture and Religion in Greek City-states Athens and Sparta, two prominent city-states of ancient Greece, exhibited significant social differences in various aspects. These contrasts can be observed in their treatment of slaves and helots, education systems, and the position of women. Slavery was a major component of the social system in Athens. Slaves worked as domestic help, laborers, and even tutors.
How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? People in Athens and Sparta obtained the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community in much different ways. Athens people participated in a democratic government with an open culture, whereas Sparta was a society of warriors that lead a life dedicated to the art or war. Spartan men were soldiers and woman had many children that would become soldiers. Spartans community decisions were made by an assembly.
For starters, the Spartans lived a frugal, non-luxurious lifestyle, devoting most of their time to the military, while the Athenians lived a more simple, peaceful lifestyle. The second difference between Spartans and Athenians are that Athenians focused on transforming the citizens into educated individuals while the Spartans focused on transforming the citizens into strong, courageous individuals. The third difference is that men only had to serve in the military for 2 years in Athens while men in Sparta basically served in the military for thirty years of their life, training as soldiers before they were even a teenager. The fourth and final difference is all about the rights women had at Sparta and Athens. At Sparta, women were a bit more independent.
Although Athens and Sparta rarely agreed on much, it is, in fact, possible to see similarities between their two forms of government. For instance, both believed that every person living within their jurisdiction was within the law, none were above it and none could escape it. They also both created a system of simple checks and balances by ensuring they had multiple people in power at any one time, rather than one distinct ruler. This ensured that no one leader would become a tyrant and take over everything these governments had worked so hard to
