Compare And Contrast Essay: Athens vs. Sparta

The great Athens and Spartians are some of the most famous Early life Greek Civilizations are by far the most advanced early lifes forms in Greek.  Both were very successful civilizations but both were formed so much more differently than the other yet were from the same time erra. How was this possible? Many people may wonder,  Geography was something that formed Athens society.  Athens was based on trading systems and Sparta was more conquering and agriculture.  The reason Athens was formed around this is because their society was formed around the ocean which led to the easy transportation of goods.  Sparta was very large in agriculture because they had very good and perfect soil for planting crops and farming.  From these two civilizations we use lots of their early inventions to help function in our modern socioty every single day.

Athens was the great civilization that was by far the more calm and laid back civilization, they were way less violent, more neat all around way more calm.  Seems too good to be true, It was an almost non violent society who wouldn’t want to live here.  Women would not want to live here, as they live with almost little no no rights or freedom.  The women were not even allowed to leave their houses during the day because the men feared their daughter’s or wife would sleep with other men so if they did leave the house it was with a chaperone or someone to supervise.  The men of Athens were allowed a normal education with equal opportunities while women had more of a single purpose life and didn’t have any choices.  Instead of learning typical subjects and classes women were taught how to do chores, sewing, and cleaning.  The typical Athens soldier was called a Hoplite or “one who provides his armor” this is from Greek men expected to provide themselves with their own armor.  The weapons a typical soldier had were an oval shield suspended by the shoulder belt and wielded by a handle. They had bronze breast and back plate and helmet, along with a bronze greave (spear that's about 6 feet long).  A lot of the time the soldiers had a slave to help them carry their armor to and from the battlefield.  The slaves of Athens had almost no rights just like most other slaves but there were laws put in place for slaves so therefore they were treated in a more humane way than other places.  The rule was that a master cannot kill a slave just because why not and if so the master or owner would be punished.  Slaves were allowed to go to festivals and places in the city with their masters' will and could even buy back their freedom if they saved up enough money.

The life of a Spartan tends to differ from Athens,  basically Sparta is a military superpower compared to Athens being more focused and surrounded by arts, education, and those sorts of things.  Of course they are both from the same time so they are still going to still have some similar traits such as their military.  Sparta's military soldiers were quite similar to the Athens soldiers with the same ideas of having oval shields that would have a satchule around the soldiers neck.  The shield had a handle to hold when needed and also had the bronze armor around the breast and back.  Also carrying a bronze spear along with a short sword and the same idea of having a slave to help assist with transportation of equipment.   The education of Sparta differs from Athens slightly because Sparta kids are taught military skills and weaponry.  As early as the age of six students are taught how to use a sword,  and are taught to steal but if caught they are punished because they got caught not over the fact of them stealing.  Probably the most major difference is the treatment of women in Sparta,  women are raised in the same classrooms and taught the same skills.  The reason for this is because of Sparta being such a high combat city there is a higher likelihood of the men dying in battle so therefore the wifes need to be able to hold their own. Women had the right to leave the houses whenever they wanted without any supervision and or monitoring, also women weren’t forced to wear certain clothing.  The slavery part of Sparta was the more normal with no rules for the slaves if you own it, it’s you're property.  Slaves came to Greece from the Barbarian Nations and sold to the Greeks.  Some of the slaves came from a Greek city state conquering another and taking its able bodied women and children. The slave market in Sparta was so good that even the poorest man had 1-2 slaves and that really says something.

Now of course living in either Sparta or Athens would be a huge advantage being that those were two biggest cities in Greece.  With Sparta being a huge military superpower and Athens being a huge arts and knowledgeable city.  I personally would want to be in Athens as a male I believe Athens would be my best bet of survival and making a living.  Gender seems like it plays the biggest role for a person to choose which city they would live in.  I believe most women would not prefer to live in Athens and choose Sparta where males most likely would choose Athens over Sparta.  I strongly believe more in the idea of being more peaceful and well minded than crazy war people.  By choosing to live in Athens my survival likelihood goes way up compared to living in Sparta where you're basically guaranteed to die so of course you   would want to live as long a life as possible.

The great Greek states of Athens and Sparta of course were huge influences on ancient Greece in many ways and forms.  The cities of Sparta and Athens were very big role models to other smaller city states all around Greece.  Because of all the states when they trade different materials or items it becomes a part of all the other places where it is traded.  For example someone in Sparta invents a sword made of a new material,  the people of Sparta can trade this new sword for other new items so all the city states influenced each other.