Classical Athens Vs Sparta

When you think of a city-state you think of probably big buildings and politics, well you are right. A city-state is in independent city, which sometimes has its own surrounding lands or villages, which have their own government. Some city-states in America are New York, Arizona and Seattle. In Europe they also have city-states like Athens and Sparta. Athens is a city named after the Greek goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom and military strategy. Sparta had only two kings that ruled Athens is the best place to live in because 1. It’s not as military based as Sparta. 2. It is the center for economic, political, financial and culture life in Greece. 3. Athens gave slaves more freedom, opportunities and rights.

Athens is the capital and largest

The Spartan government was called Oligarchy. The Oligarchy consisted of twenty-six to thirty year old men plus two kings; they were called the “Council of Elders.” They made decisions for the city. One of the most popular jobs in Sparta was being in the military. This job showed that Sparta was based on the military; it is as though they had no tolerance for peace. In Sparta women were taught, with the knowledge of arts, music, philosophy and much more. In Sparta women were allowed the rights that no other women in Greece had. At the age of 18 women in Sparta had to take/ pass a physical test to be granted full citizenship. This citizenship gave her the right to get married. Women in Sparta didn’t really have real jobs, all that they were needed for was to produce children (boys mostly), but they would also cook and clean. If women were to have a girl the girl would not fight in war, but instead took part in physical activities because Spartans believed fit and strong women would have healthy babies that would be good soldiers. For education Sparta didn’t really have the teaching of reading or writing. In a Spartan child’s education physical training and fitness was considered to be very important. At the age of 7 boys would be sent away to live at an army barracks. All of these things were important to the Spartan people because they believed that they would build a strong and immortal army. Like any other city-state in Greece there was slavery. Sparta happened to be the harshest in punishment along with Thessaly, and Sicily. In Sparta slaves had no rights, they could be mistreated and the owner and the government didn’t care. Spartan slaves were called helots. Sometimes the government would let the slaves fight for their freedom in the army. This was a trap. The Spartans killed the two thousand men that were chosen. The Spartans weren’t entirely cruel though, Helots had a few rights.