Essay About Athens And Sparta

Comparing Sparta and Athens

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Sparta:

Sparta was a polis that valued physical courage, strength and bravery in war. The Spartans gave their complete loyalty to the polis. Seven year old Spartan boys left their homes to train as soldiers in military camps. Spartan men lived and trained together. When a man married, he would continue to live with his fellow soldiers until he was about 30 years old. Both men and women in Sparta participated in athletic contests to make them strong. Spartan laws discouraged anything that would distract people from their disciplined military life. Sparta did not welcome visitors from other cities and Spartans were not allowed
to travel. The Spartans were not interested in other ways of life and did not want to bring new ideas to their polis. Sparta is on the Peloponnesus, a hilly, rocky area at the southern end of the Greek peninsula. The Spartans conquered many people in the region and forced them to work as slaves. They developed their disciplined society because they were outnumbers by slaves and needs to always be prepared for a slave revolt.

Athens:

Athens was a polis on the southeastern part of the Greek mainland.
The Athenian people valued reading, writing, and music. The Athens leaders allowed the people born in their polis to visit other places to learn new ideas. The people of Athens created a democracy, a government ruled by the people instead of a king. Every adult male born in Athens became a citizen and a member of the assembly. The assembly voted on how the polis was governed. To ensure equal opportunity for every citizen, Athens chose it’s leaders by lot rather than by holding elections. The elected officials served for one year. At the end of the year, the leaders were called before the assembly to account for their work. Not everyone participated in Athenian democracy. Athens encouraged outsiders to move to the ir polis, but did not allow them to vote. Women could own land, but could not actively participate in the assembly. The members of the assembly accounted for only about one-sixteenth of the total population of Athens. About one in four people were slaves. The slaves did most of the work in the polis, making it possible for the members of the assembly to spend more time on public affairs. Athenian democracy was limited, but it gave some people the opportunity to make decisions about how they were governed.

Further comparison: Visit the link below to learn more about the differences between Sparta and
Athens.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/worksheets/spartans/worksheet1.html

Use the information presented to help you answer the following questions:

What did Sparta value? The Spartan’s valued physical courage, strength and bravery in war.
Why did Sparta:
Not allow boys to remain with their families? They required them to go to a military camp at age 7.
Not welcome visitors from other cities? Spartan laws discouraged anything that would distract from their disciplined military life. The Spartans were not interested in other ways of life and did not want to bring new ideas to their polis.
What were some advantages to living in Sparta? They had many warriors so they often conquered many people and forced them to work as slaves.
What did Athens value? The Athen’s people valued reading, writing, and music.
Is the United States a democracy? Defend your answer. Yes we are. The definition of “democracy” is, “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives” We are this.
Did the Assembly represent the wishes of all of the people of Athens? Defend your answer.
Double-bubble Thinking Map comparing and contrasting the Ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta.

8. Would you have preferred to live in Sparta or Athens? Defend your answer. Athens because everyone had more freedom and I like music.