Athens Vs Sparta Research Paper

In Sparta, a homosexual relationship between an older man and a young boy was to end when the boy’s beard began to grow. Sparta and Athens was located in Ancient Greece. Both city-states were populated with about 150,000 individuals. They flourished from 600 B.C.E till 600 C.E. Athens’s government was primarily a democracy, while Sparta was ran by a small group of people who had control over the entire city-state. These two city-states both depended on agriculture for its economy. Sparta was also a militaristic state that deeply relied on its army. Patriarchy was a widely common feature of these two societies. Culturally, both of these city-states spoke the Greek language and used the Greek Alphabet. They also both practiced the same

A common belief in these two city-states was that a woman’s main task in life was to reproduce males that will contribute to its society. Athens and Sparta also faced a common enemy, the Persians, for as Sparta fought in the battle of Thermopylae against Persia after its invasion from 480-479 B.C.E. This all leads to as which of these city-states was the better of the two. The better city-state was Sparta because woman were honored in the same level as men, marriage was equal, and finally woman were not secluded from public life.

The better city-state was Sparta because woman were honored in the same level as men. Early on, Sparta implicated a militaristic system. Boys were separated from their family at a young age in order to train for war, while woman stayed home and ran the household. Sparta conquered its neighbors, but as to a result helots became a permanent threat of rebellion. Helots were the slaves of Sparta. Spartans had to live with the mindset of always having to be ready for war. Men and woman had to work together in order to make sure the helots stayed in their place and did not attempt to rebel against Sparta and overpower it. This led to woman and men being seen as helpers to Sparta for which they were honored for.

Women are generally shunned upon from public life. They are told to stay inside their homes at all times which excluded them from ever having a public life. However, that was not the case in Sparta. In Sparta, women were allowed and sometimes even encouraged to participate in public activities. They could live a perfectly normal life. This allowed them to develop social skills that are essential to being able to survive in a society. If they were told that they could not have a public life, they would never learn how to properly communicate with others. That’s why most societies enforced this so that woman could remain inferior at all times. Sparta did not think in that mindset. As told by in “Ways of the World” by historian Robert W. Strayer, “At times, women and men alike competed in the nude before mixed audiences. Their education, like that of boys, was prescribed by the state, which also insisted that newly married woman cut their hair short, unlike adult Greek woman elsewhere. Thus Spartan women were not secluded or segregated, as were their Athenian counterparts.” (Strayer, 239). This shows that Sparta was a better city-state as it allowed its woman to interact with others. They allowed them to have a life. This is essential to human life. In order to survive, you must be able to cooperate with others. Athenian women were told to stay inside their homes at all times even the elite ones.