In Ancient Greece, men and women were expected to have separate roles for a common good. However, due to the fact that Ancient Greece really was many separate city-states, each city-state had their own, separate roles. Despite this potential disconnect between the roles, both genders relied on the other to succeed, and the city-states could not have done as well as they did without the roles. Two of the most powerful city-states were Athens and Sparta. They had lots of power, both physical power, as well as the fact that they were very influential in the Mediterranean region. Each of the city states had their own roles for each gender, but they each had some similar traits and roles. Men had the public role in Athens. They did almost everything in the public eye, ranging from politics to fighting, to events. Any Athenian man had the opportunity of participating in the Athenian assembly, where any man could …show more content…
When humans were nomadic or hunter/ gatherers, the men tended to hunt and fight while the women gathered plants, herbs, and berries, and tended the youth. When these people settled down around the time of the Neolithic revolution in places like Jericho, for whatever reason these roles were upheld. Men would do the hunting, and generally the heavy work while women would raise the children. This carried on into places like Athens and Sparta many years later. Athens and Sparta did many things similarly pertaining to gender roles, but they also did things differently. One such example is that Athens was very restrictive in what they allowed women to do. Athens really put a taboo on women going outside, and doing hard labor. Sparta on the other hand, put an emphasis on women going out, being part of the community, and exercising. However, both Athens and Sparta believed that only men should get to fight in wars, and they both believed that only men should hold leadership
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.
Zareef Peeroo Tim Bailey October 15, 2014 Athenians vs. Spartans The differences between government, the role of women, and the education status of Athens and Sparta led to similar yet very different societies residing in the same area; therefor I will deconstruct these issues using an analytical comparative framework. In, Athens and Sparta, it shows all the differences between the Athenians and the Spartans. Although the two City States shared a common heritage, their differences grew so large in their own minds that they were ultimately willing to engage in a life-and-death struggle to support their separate realities (Spielvogel).
Both city-states were biased towards men. They believed that women should stay at home and care for the family. In Athens, women were allowed
Evidence in document D states, “ Spartan women were expected to protect the city from attacks when the men were not home, for this reason, they were also trained to fight in battle.” The quote supports the contrast between Athens and Sparta by explaining what the Spartan women do. Sparta and Athens have different thoughts on many things, including women's rights and the
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.
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.
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.
Sparta was about fitness, survival, and war while Athens was about public speaking, debate, and music. As you may see, Sparta and Athens may seem like two whole different worlds, and it’s clear that they deemed each value of theirs’ important, but which city-state would go to great length to preserve that value? Sparta was more committed to their cultural value than Athens. Spartans valued military power. For instance, “Their whole lives were about military training even after 30 the Spartan boys were required to serve the military until they were 60” (Document 2).
Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.
Women in Sparta had a much greater control of their destiny than did their sisters in Athens, while they were treated equally with each other and men in religious rituals that is where the equality
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.
In ancient times, there is a general sense that women were simply items and slaves to their husbands. Ancient Greece specifically has a renowned reputation of favoring men. Men possessed the dominant role in public affairs and events while most women were pressured to stay at home. Very few records extensively discuss women; the records focus mostly on men. Despite the lacking records, it is certain how ancient Greeks viewed their women and their relationships with their male counterparts.
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
Sparta vs. Athens To begin with, Athens and Sparta were both famous in antiquity for their legend, cultures and the character of the people. On the one hand, the two poleis share certain obvious affinities, such as language, geographical scope, a common Greek ancestry etc. On the other hand, they were polar opposites in many aspects, from social spheres, political structures, to military might, which I believe there are some hidden depths in these city-states. Hence, let’s look at how did their people obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community, and who held public office first.