Michael Pudlin Professor E September 25, 2014 Athens or Sparta? Lover or fighter? These two incredible and ancient city states seemed to invent the saying "keep your friends close and your enemies even closer". These two competed in every aspect of life differing in things such as their religious beliefs, their economical everyday life and the way they ran their military. Just as every competition has a victor, Athens takes the gold. The Athenian way of life was better less stressful and has shaped the correct way to grow and shape a community. So Athens or Sparta? Athens is most definitely the city-state that withheld the standards of the best and most ideal institutions due to their religious beliefs, their economic…show more content… Martin a classic Greek expert. "The greatest difficulty for humans lay in anticipating what might offend a god. Fortunately, some of the gods' expectations were codified in a moral order with rules of behavior for human beings. For example, the Greeks believed that the gods demanded hospitality for strangers and proper burial for family members and that the gods punished human arrogance and murderous violence. Oracles, dreams, divination, and the prophecies of seers were all regarded as clues as to what humans might have done to anger the gods. Offenses could be forgetting a sacrifice, violating the sanctity of a temple area, or breaking an oath or sworn agreement made to another…show more content… Athens was very fortunate to be nearby the sea. Being located off the coast allowed them to easily trade with near-by city states. Athens was so dependent on their trade that their entire economy was based around it. The Athenians had their own Greek market place in Athens called the Agora. At the Agora most trades and transactions took place. Merchants would go to the Agora to sell their good and buy others wine, furniture, lamps, and jewelry. Athens would trade away their own goods such as honey, olive oil, silver and painted pottery. Two main products that Athens would usually acquire from trades were grain and