Two of the most influential Greek city states in history are Athens and Sparta, dating all the way back to the archaic and classical periods, around 800-323 BCE (Brand, n.d.). The mighty Spartans were known for their powerful armies and dictatorship style government. While the city state of Athens, according to Brand (n.d), was a “cultural and economic powerhouse” with a democratic society. Even though both of these city states had such contrasting governments, they each dominated their own territories for many years.
Sparta
In the Spartan society, at the bottom of the political totem pole was the Helots. The Helots had no rights in Sparta, basically turning into slaves after losing their city states to the Spartans. The Helots came from Sparta’s conquests in the neighboring city states, primarily from Messenia. These “virtual slaves” made up the largest group of people residing in Sparta (p. 2). After years of abuse the Helots began to rebel against the Spartans, organizing massive uprisings against them, and eventually leading to the Spartans reorganization of their entire political system along military lines. This reorganization was the beginning
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The women in both societies were treated as inferior to the men, having no political rights whatsoever. Both, Sparta and Athens, participated in slavery. Although, Athens’ slaves were privately owned while Spartans’ belonged to the entire group of Spartan warriors. Both political systems had a form of voting. However, the Spartans’ only included a select few because they were way outnumbered by the helots, while Athens’ consisted of the majority since the demos had voting rights as well. These two completely different, yet similar, political systems were highly influential players to some of the most successful political systems that have evolved around the world