Sparta Vs Athens

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Two Poleis The two poleis, Athens and Sparta, are dissimilar in many aspects but share some of the same principles. Sparta and Athens have differences in their political standpoints, in how they oversee their government, to social and economic aspects. They share similarities in that both heavily rely on trade, speak the same language, and had the same beliefs system. Also, have the same perspective on different punishments and rules. Spartan’s type of government is considered to be a mixed constitution. In that it is combined with aspects from different political systems. The political systems Sparta follows is an monarchy, ruled by two kings, or two royal families. Sparta’s government was also, considered to be open and exclusive in…show more content…
Athens government started out as an oligarchy and an aristocracy (book). Then the government shifted into a democracy. Athenian democracy was separated into three sections, the ekklesia, the boule, and the dikasteria (history channel).The ekklesia, or the assembly made decisions about war and foreign policy. Wrote and revised laws, and or approved or condemned the conduct of public officials. Consisted of five thousand people and they attended every assembly. Made decisions by majority vote (history channel). The second section consists of the boule. The boule is the council of five hundred people. Fifty of the five hundred were selected from ten Athenian tribes. All five hundred serve on the council for one year. Their role was to supervise the government workers and dealt with the army horses and navy ships. Also, dictate how the entire democracy would run by dealing with the ambassadors and representatives from other city states. To be able to be apart of the boule, they had to be elected by lot voting (history channel). The final section of the Athenian government is dikasteria, or the popular court. Every day more than five hundred jurors were elected from a pool of male citizens above the age thirty. They had the ultimate power. There were no such thing as police. So the demos brought cases, argued for the defense and prosecution and delivered the verdict by popular vote. The elected officials met at the…show more content…
Social differences in lifestyle, education, gender equality, classification, and appearance. Spartan’s way of life is exemplified by militaristic values. Meaning that they had the greatest military power of all the city states. With having the greatest military power, this played an significant role in Sparta’s education, educating the boys about war and battles. The intentions were to keep building a strong army. That included teaching them about physical training and fitness. Reading and writing was temporarily used but it was taught. The main objective was only for message purposes. They were also, taught how to lie, cheat, and steal. Always getting away with it. At age six years old, Sparta boys attended military school. Military school was raucous. The boys were often famished and beaten.They also, slept away from home, in barracks. In Sparta there was gender equality. The women and men were treated equally. Girls did not participate in war but they had to be involved in physical activities. They knew how to wrestle, hold weapons, and fist fight. In Sparta, the Spartans believed that strong women produced strong babies, or soldiers.The women who lived in Sparta were granted more indepency than any other women of the other city states because they had a tremendous amount of respect from the Spartan community (education, greece). Spartans were either classified as a Helot or Perieci.

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