Compare and Contrast: Pericles and Lycurgus
Throughout history there have been leaders who greatly impacted their civilization. Pericles and Lycurgus’ leadership abilities, compared and contrasted as the two corresponded in the leading of their city-states of Athens and Sparta. As well as their impact on them politically and socially. When comparing Pericles and Lycurgus, the two leaders from rivaling city-states, related in multiple ways. To begin, both leaders impacted their city-states tremendously. For Athens, Pericles created a democracy that spread throughout the Greece Empire. For Sparta, Lycurgus created a system of laws based primarily on military strength to prevent future revolts that had occurred in the past. Another similarity …show more content…
For one, Lycurgus created a law, making Sparta a closed city-state that did not allow any foreigners in (Thayer, Bill. “The Ancient Customs of the Spartans,” Bill Thayer’s Website). Athens, on the other hand, with Pericles in charge invited the world to visit the “most beautiful city in the ancient world” for which he is known for transforming the city-state into (Smith, Charles Forster. “Pericles’ Funeral Oration.” HistoryWiz). The Spartan government was ruled by two kings and the citizens within Sparta had no word on what rules were enforced. So, for Spartans this meant that when Lycurgus distinguished new laws based on their freedom and interaction, they had no say on any of it. On the other hand, Athens was a democratic society and Pericles was thoughtful of the citizens’ ideas. He believed that they were not to “over exaggerate wealth and not shame poorness”, but for the wealthy to help the poor and interact (Smith, Charles Forster. “Pericles’ Funeral Oration.” HistoryWiz). Another significant difference is the education received by the citizens of both city-states. In Sparta, the education was limited to the “learning of military tactics and obedience to authority” (Thayer, Bill. “The Ancient Customs of the Spartans,” Bill Thayer’s Website). At a young age for boys in Sparta, they would be taken from their moms and trained vigorously until retirement at about thirty years later. As for Athenians,
Throughout history there have been leaders who greatly impacted their civilization. Pericles and Lycurgus’ leadership abilities, compared and contrasted as the two corresponded in the leading of their city-states of Athens and Sparta. As well as their impact on them politically and socially. When comparing Pericles and Lycurgus, the two leaders from rivaling city-states, related in multiple ways. To begin, both leaders impacted their city-states tremendously. For Athens, Pericles created a democracy that spread throughout the Greece Empire. For Sparta, Lycurgus created a system of laws based primarily on military strength to prevent future revolts that had occurred in the past. Another similarity …show more content…
For one, Lycurgus created a law, making Sparta a closed city-state that did not allow any foreigners in (Thayer, Bill. “The Ancient Customs of the Spartans,” Bill Thayer’s Website). Athens, on the other hand, with Pericles in charge invited the world to visit the “most beautiful city in the ancient world” for which he is known for transforming the city-state into (Smith, Charles Forster. “Pericles’ Funeral Oration.” HistoryWiz). The Spartan government was ruled by two kings and the citizens within Sparta had no word on what rules were enforced. So, for Spartans this meant that when Lycurgus distinguished new laws based on their freedom and interaction, they had no say on any of it. On the other hand, Athens was a democratic society and Pericles was thoughtful of the citizens’ ideas. He believed that they were not to “over exaggerate wealth and not shame poorness”, but for the wealthy to help the poor and interact (Smith, Charles Forster. “Pericles’ Funeral Oration.” HistoryWiz). Another significant difference is the education received by the citizens of both city-states. In Sparta, the education was limited to the “learning of military tactics and obedience to authority” (Thayer, Bill. “The Ancient Customs of the Spartans,” Bill Thayer’s Website). At a young age for boys in Sparta, they would be taken from their moms and trained vigorously until retirement at about thirty years later. As for Athenians,