Living In Athens Vs Sparta

The book “Spartan Women” by Sarah B. Pomeroy seeks to reconstruct the lives and the world of the Sparta's women; including how their legal status changed over time and how the women held on to their amazing autonomy. Susan B. Pomeroy generally analyzes ancient texts and to construct the world of most noticed females. Sarah B. Pomeroy is a Classist author in the twenty-first century. Throughout this paper, what will be discussed is: the author credentials, the book’s main aim, the book’s evidence, and the author writing style of the book. Spartan Women would be a powerful credible source to learn the life the Spartan women endured during their time.

Do you want to be abandoned because you weren 't strong and healthy baby? This would happen if you lived in Sparta. Sparta was never big it was located on peloponnesus peninsula in greece. Sparta government was ruled by two kings and three Ephors, and a Council of Elders this government was called oligarchy meaning it’s ruled by a small group. 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.

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. 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

Ancient greece was the homeland of many city-states. each city-state had its own government, laws, rules, and customs, although they did have certain things in common such as language and religion. as a rule though the city-states did not get along. Two of the most famous and influential city-states were sparta and athens. I am about to tell you why sparta was the better city-state. SParta is superior to athens because its army was fierce and protective, women received some education and had more freedom than any other city state.

Today, many of the world’s government structures were based on the principle of one of Greece’s city-states. Greece became a country advancing well before its time, strong in both military and brain power. This country was able to produce two city-states that became foundations to advancing the rest of the world. The first city-state, Athens, is thought to be the first to implement a democratic government while Sparta became known for their military power. While Athens and Sparta provide the world with advancements they differ in the ways of government structures, social motivations, and cultural differences. Athens and Sparta have proven to provide strong governmental structure to help lead to each city-state’s success.

Sparta’s women were known for their promiscuity and boldness . On account of Sparta’s strict militaristic lifestyle, their lives were very different compared to regular women in most city-states of Greece. Although their main job is still child-bearing, this job held much more honor and respect because in theory, a Spartan women gave birth to strong, Spartan boys who would in turn become strong and successful soldiers for Sparta’s renowned military . Just as boys were trained to become soldiers from a young age, girls were taught to be the mothers a militant Sparta

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.

In Sparta, women were needed to live at home, while their husbands remained in military barracks until the age thirty. Because of this separation, Spartan women had greater freedom to move around more. Permitted to own and inherit land, Spartan women had more power in the household than what was common for women elsewhere in Greece, and they could even supervise large estates. They were encouraged to exercise and remain fit to bear and raise healthy children. Like the man, Spartan women engaged in athletic exercises in the nude.

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.

These were all older men who had great wealth. In his Republic, Plato also criticizes oligarchy, saying of Sparta’s government, “A government resting on a valuation of property, in which the rich have power and the poor man is deprived of it…And then one, seeing another grow rich, seeks to rival him, and thus the great mass of the citizens become lovers of money.” In order to keep control of their economy while maintaining a strong military, the Spartans relied heavily on slaves. These slaves had no rights, and even the poor had very little say in their lives. All was given to the freedom of the fatherland, leaving very few free themselves. However, as Plutarch notes, this lack of freedom to live by one’s whims is not a lack of excellence, but rather a more pure and base form of excellence. The Spartan’s may not have valued true freedom as arete, but instead found arete in the practical, which in turn, made them into a great city that was to be

What are two Greek city-states that you know? I know two popular city-states of Ancient Greece: Sparta and Athens. Sparta and Athens are known as city-state with many contrasting beliefs. Sparta was a strict military society while Athens was a free democracy. Sparta prohibited any new ideas while Athens accepted it. 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.

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?

Some of them also co-existed in that governance embodied elements of more than one form. For example, Sparta had dual monarchs but also a direct democratic Assembly of Spartan citizens whose powers were limited because their agenda was set and decisions subject to veto by executive bodies, the most influential of which (the Gerousia) was populated by senior aristocrats (Brand, n.d.). Similarly, Macedonian governance also featured an Assembly – albeit weak - as well as monarchy. More importantly, the monarchs generally required aristocratic support in order to rule effectively (Martin,

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. Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally.

An oligarchy system was adopted in Sparta. In the oligarchy system, few people has the power to rule. Sparta also had an assembly just like Athens, but the main decisions were taken by the “Council of Elders” with two kings and twenty-eight other men as its members. The two kings where born within the royal family while the twenty-eight man where elected by the assembly. For men to be elected to the Council of Elders, they had to be at least 60 years old and approaching from a noble family. The Council of Elders had a magnificent and immense power within the Sparta’s. It prepared the laws for the assembly to vote on, and it had the power to eradicate any unwanted law. Furthermore, once the laws were elected and confirmed, they served for life. The Ephors, a group of officials, decided on criminal cases with the council of elders .