Athens vs. Sparta DBQ Athens and Sparta were two of the world's greatest ancient civilizations. Though they were both city-states in Greece they had their differences. Some of the largest contrasts were education, government, and the roles girls and women played in their societies. In Sparta the schools for children were very harsh and military based.
The role of the Athenian women was different compared to the role of a Spartan woman. In Athens, there were different classes of women; the women had very little choices open to them (Bailey). The women were not able to vote nor own/sell anything of great value (Bailey). The respectable women were not allowed to walk around town unless it was to a neighbor’s house or a religious service (Bailey). The women were at home and had to take care of the household and the children.
Ancient Greece is a land consisting of many city-states, called poleis. Each polis had its own government, set of laws, rulers, and customs. Two of the most famous and influential city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta is better than Athens because their army was powerful and protective, girls received some education and women had more freedom than in other poleis. There are many reasons why Sparta is more superior to Athens.
In this essay, I would like to answer and discuss the following questions: How did the people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How were two city-states similar in their governmental structures and how did they differ with each other? For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta.
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.
Where as in Athens women weren't even allowed to leave there houses in there own accord. Furthermore on average women were married of at the age 12 or
Athens was better than Sparta because, it had a better government, education system, and had more cultural achievements. One element of Athens that made it the better city-state was the government. While in Sparta they had an oligarchy, a form of government in which the government power resides in the hands of select few; however in Athens they had a direct government. Direct government is where all the citizens participate directly in the government, by voting on laws, placement of public works, etc. Instead of a few individuals having a say in what happens, everybody can be heard and have an equal say.
Due to geographical barriers preventing a united empire of Greece, city-states developed that differed in their values. For example, Athens and Sparta were set up based around very different ideals. Athenians valued education and thought, and put a lot of emphasis on philosophy, while Spartans valued military above all. These values were reflected in their education systems, as
Athens and Sparta, located between the Aegean and the Ionian Sea, allied with each other in the Greco-Persian war. Due to the advanced and powerful navy of Athens incorporation with the well-built army of Sparta, they gained victory over the Persian Empire. After the victory, Athens gained wealth and dominance over the other Greek societies causing tensions between Sparta. They both share similarities towards their cultural background but had different views in creating an ideal society in addition to their state’s place in the world. Moreover, they differ from the concepts of a well trained or educated society and a well built military, but share similarities in their government format.
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.
Citizenship : Why Athens was the Better System Athens was a small city compared to Rome that honored and protected citizenship. There was a constant importance of acknowledging all citizens hard work and participation. Athenians made it clear that the poor helped build the city 's power and not just the wealthy. They took politics very seriously and made sure that everyone had a voiced opinion. Hard work and equality is what makes a nation outstanding.
Although the two city-states of Greece carried different motives they were both thought of as thinkers who loved beauty and multiple forms of art. Culture is one thing the two city states seemed to differ in greatly. Athens was thought to be a more progressive city-state. It’s known for art, architecture, drama, science advancements, philosophy, as well as literature. Though they were advanced in all of these fields they were behind on the rights of women.
The Spartan women were able to own plots of land and run their own households, they even got an education. At Athens, got a little amount of formal education and had less
Clearly, Sparta and Hellenistic women had more freedom and social rights than Athens women. The reason of how this phenomena occurred might be that at that period of time, Athens had the largest population of Attica. This indicates that the in this male community in Athens, the males could carry on almost all of the responsibilities of a society while the women could just stay at home and serve the men while they took part in public life. However, in Sparta and the Hellenistic era which there were not so much people around, women’s role would be more than simply taking care of household and children, they would need to shoulder some responsibility for their society, which brought along freedom and rights for
Ancient Greek and ancient Rome are often confused with one another even though there are great differences between the two. Both countries are Mediterranean but have social class differences, different mythology, different life values and different architectural concepts. It is said that much of what Rome used in everyday life was taken from the ancient Greek civilization as the ancient Greek civilization started 5th century BC. And it was not till hundreds of years later that the roman civilization started. Cities in Ancient Greece were differentiated by hills.
