Athens and Sparta, although similar in some ways, showed major differences in geography, government, and ways of life. While Athens is a peninsula surrounded by four mountains, Sparta, also a peninsula, has a mountain on one side and a valley on the other. As for government, Athens favored a rule of people while Sparta preferred the rule of nobles. Finally, Athens preferred to accept people as they were and promote creativity and commercial endeavors while Sparta harshly raised warriors and only accepted the strong, healthy people. Overall, the rivalry of these two great city-states led to the Peloponnesian War, which Sparta won, although the taxing nature of war took its toll on both locations. Their bitter rivalry ended in disaster, for both
