Essay On Athens And Sparta

Athens and Sparta were two city-states in the land of Ancient Greece. In fact, they were the largest of them all. Athens was a very calm and creative city who was known for thriving in politics and economy. They were also very laid back. In Athens, you could get a good education and major in whichever subject you chose. Focusing on scholastics, they allowed serving in the military to be a choice, not a requirement. However, Sparta was a very strict city that is remembered especially for their military strategies and power. They were focused on producing strong military soldiers and conquering other regions, not having academic intelligence. Athens and Sparta were two cities who hated each other. They were often in strife with one another. Even …show more content…
Every citizen having equality allowed the people to feel free, which made them exuberant about their government. Furthermore, their democracy contributed to the social structure of the Athenians. Life differed depending on the ranking of the citizen. The Athenian society consisted of four main social rankings which were citizens(free men), metics, women and slaves. Having been born in Athens, every free male was an Athenian citizen. The citizens were allowed to vote, participate in politics, own land, and much more. Living with freedom, the daily lives of men in Athens was normally outside of their house, which mainly consisted of going to the market, meeting with friends, exercising at the gymnasium, shopping, getting involved in politics, taking care of their property, and worshipping gods. In addition, the men were exposed to a very good education and allowed to pursue almost any art or science. Metics were foreigners who settled in the city of Athens rather than their own homeland. The Metics of Athens were given no citizen rights. A large tax was required to be paid by each Metic, or else they would become slaves. In addition, Metics were not allowed to own land or a house in Athens. Not treated as well …show more content…
This civilization was located in the region of Laconia. Differing from many city-states, Sparta had an unusual variation of government. Some viewed it as an oligarchy, in which the power rests on multiple people. The Spartan government-founded by Lacedaemon-was based on a belief of everyone who is born in Sparta is automatically belonging to the state; however, every citizen was given the equal chance to participate in the government. Their government contained four branches. Largest in size, the Apella-also known as the Assembly-included all citizens of Sparta, which were males over the age of thirty. The Apella met monthly to complete their task of electing citizens for the other governmental positions, and deciding on laws and proposals. Creation of the Assembly allowed all male citizens to be equal. The Gerousia contained both the Co-Kings and the Council of Elders, both very important to the government. The Co-Kings, consisted of two kings who both came from different family lines, which were the Eurypontids and the Agiads. One king would be the commander of the military, chosen by the people. Being worshipped by the citizens, kings were high religious figures who also took care of the public roads, commanded foreign policies, and performed judicial roles. On the other hand, the Council of Elders(Also known as the supreme court) was a group of