Athens obtained the right to participate in public life and made decisions affecting the community because they were the backbone of Greece 's democracy. Athens was the great teacher to all of Greece. They were able to build Greece into a marvelous country. Money flowed through Athens and they were able to use it to create monuments, places of learning and other great buildings. They also had in their army their unstoppable triremes, ships used to ram other ships. This naval army consisted of over 200 of these ships and they were undefeated at the time (Brand, n.d.: 24). Even outnumbered by Xerxes the Persian King, the Athenian naval stood firm against a force that outnumbered them (Brand, n.d.: 26).
Athens’s democracy was controlled only by
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There were two kings who were part of a council, known as the Ephors. The Ephors and Kings made sure that Sparta stood together. “Their duties included judicial affairs, military organization and foreign relations.” the Gerousia was an elite elder council that was comprised of 30 men as old as 60 years of age and above, besides the kings. Then last there is the assembly which comprises “all recognized free male citizens of Sparta.”
Athens and Sparta are similar in a way. They both require that the men are born in their respective lands. They both have an excessive force that can dominate anyone on land or sea. They both keep slaves for work. As for the government they both hold the same areas of government: a judicial, an executive, a legislative and an assembly.
Though they seem that they are one and the same that is not true. Sparta gives women more rights than any other Greek city-state. Athens may have an unstoppable force, but it is Sparta that can beat them. Athens is a city of knowledge that contains poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, etc. Sparta is mainly a military state with no use for anything else. Athens accepts their slaves and even allows them to buy their own freedom. Sparta lives in constant fear of a revolt from their slaves known as the Helots. Last, Athens holds itself with democracy, while Sparta holds itself with trust and