Athens Vs Spartan Politics

Well, first of all the Spartans made decisions by their power. The Spartans were constantly in battle. They obviously took advantage of the Helots and made them their slaves. They were in control and had a higher power in Sparta. The Athenians were democratic. Sparta had set up two Kings for Polis. Although the Spartans were strong, the Gerousia and Ephors were positions they needed to uphold to become political to create any change in society. Yes, the Spartan had a strong military which made for powerful soldiers, but the real control was in the hands of becoming an Ephor, for the non-aristocratic Spartans, (Brand, n.d.). This was the only way those Spartans could be involved in politics. Aristocratic Spartans were Gerousia. This was how

To be specific about the actual rights of the citizens of Athens we need to recognize that they would contribute in politics through demos. This would separate a higher order of people which would disrupt inequality. Depending on how much money you had was the position that could participate in. The Thetes were the wealthy minority in Athens, (Brand, n.d.). Some position that Thetes could obtain were that of a voter, ship rowers, or on a jury, (Brand, n.d.). Athenians and Spartans were known to take advantage of slaves. Most of the times the Spartans and Athenians were blind to the social injustices that occurred in their power. The differences between Athenian slaves and Spartan slaves was that the Spartan slaves were “public property” and the Athenian slaves were “private property”, (Brand, n.d.). When Spartans had slaves they were usually skilled like craftsmen, while it was the same case with Athenian slaves which were also skilled the like, (Brand n.d.). One huge separation with the Spartans and outsiders was that they were instantly considered Helots, while Athens had Metics, or non-free citizens, (Brand n.d.). Athens actually allowed citizens into Athens that were outsiders which were not usually the case with the Spartans. Both Athens and Sparta did not allow their women to be involved in politics. Athens had it’s 10 generals and allowed the poor into governments affairs. This was their democracy. Athens may have been seen as arrogant while holding on to democracy, (Brand n.d.), but Sparta was also known to be ruthless through its dictatorship. Sparta seemed to be more prepared for battle as was the case with Leonidas that the difference in Athens and Sparta is that when Athens was defeated it felt a sense of darkness and gloominess, which could be a direct cause of their system of democracy, (Brand, n.d.). It’s strange that the Spartan dictatorship was recognized in a better