From approximately the eighth century BCE to approximately 359 BCE, Classical Greece was in its “Golden Age”. This was time in which Greece made many artistic and political contributions so history as well as the time that the both Sparta and Athens were dominant city-states of Greece. Though they existed at the same time, both Athens and Sparta had their share of similarities and differences. Athens and Sparta were similar in the political aspect due to both having centralized governments with a select population dominating, they were also similar in their economic structure as they both used trade as a main factor of their economy, but they were different in the social aspect due to the rights and treatment of women.
Athens and Sparta were similar in their political structure, as they both had centralized governments with a select population that was dominant. Athens went from an aristocracy to a direct democracy but both aristocracies and direct democracies are centralized. Even though Athens had a direct democracy, only a small population of its citizens (adult male citizens) had the power to vote therefore, a small population of the people dominated most of the government. Sparta on the other hand had a military oligarchy, which was both centralized and controlled by the aristocrats. Both Athens and Sparta had centralized governments that were dominated by a small population because, it allowed for efficient ruling at the time, also it allowed the population, even thought it was a small percentage, to have a say in the law and government.
Economically, both Athens and Sparta were similar in that they both had a large slave population for labor and both were dependent on trade. Athens had an extensive trade network that their economy was dependent on as well as a slave population that they were dependent on for mining the silver mines. Sparta had a not as extensive trade system but it was still important to the economy, and was