Athens vs. Sparta

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         During Greece’s Classical Age, Greece flourished in wealth, security, and power.  Among the success, only two city-states stood out from the rest: Athens and Sparta.  While both cities were powerful, they were quite different from each other, regarding their social, political, and cultural characteristics.

        Athens social lifestyle was different from that of Sparta.  Athens’ society was based on its land, which was divided into ten tribes.  Under the rule of Cleisthenes, Athens was divided up into three large sections.  Each large section would be divided up into ten units, creating thirty units in total.  Three units would be combined to make one tribe creating ten tribes.  This played into the political system because fifty citizens from each tribe would be selected to participate in the government.  While Athens’ society was based on land distribution, Sparta actually had a social hierarchy.  Sparta’s society had three social rankings: the Spartiates, the Perioikoi, and the Helots.  The Spartiates were the upper class, who consisted of military warriors who were part of the army.  Unlike Athens where all the citizens had political power, only Sparta’s upper class had political power.  The middle class, the Perioikoi, consisted of merchants and traders.  They did not have any political power, yet they were the only ones who could leave the city for trading purposes.  The lowest class were the Helots, who were slaves captured on previous Spartan military campaigns.  They did not have any political power and were even targets for murder by the Spartiates as a part of the warriors’ training.

        Both city-states had different political systems.  Athens was a democracy where the people ruled.  Each citizen belonged to one of ten different tribes.  Every year, fifty men of each tribe would be randomly selected to be part of the boule, or a council of five hundred men.  Each month, one tribe would rule and one military leader (a Strategos) would become the supreme ruler for a year.  The council would discuss any sort of issue regarding the state of Athens and everyone had a chance to speak (excluding women, children, slaves, and those who sis not own any land).  Sparta’s government was completely different.  They had an oligarchy, which is the rule of very few.  Unlike Athens, only a few men actually controlled the government.  Sparta had two kings who ruled together.  They also had a senate-like body called the Gerousia, who were a group of old Spartan warriors who advised the kings about certain decisions.  First, only those from the upper class (Spartiates) could ever be considered for government positions.  Also, those who had lived to the age of sixty after all the training and warfare, could actually particupare in the Gerousia.  Unlike the Athenians where everybody could vote even if they were inexperienced, the Spartans only had those who became experienced in battle and survived play the center roles in the society.

        Athens and Sparta both differed in regards to their cultural lifestyle.  The Athenians had a diverse culture, where they supported the pursuit of knowledge, sports and competition, poetry, and much more.  They had many festivals celebrating the different aspects of their culture.  More famously, the Dionysia was one of the festivals, celebrating theater and acting.  Many philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle taught many about the meaning of life and how to live a happy life.  They even had public recitations of Homer (introduced by Pisistratus).  Sculptures of famous figures were found everywhere in the city, and new architectural buildings such as the Parthenon were built, many of which were temples to the gods, usually to Athena.  The Spartans had a more conservative culture.  Their main focus on life was not how to live a happy life (like in Athens), but how to become the strongest and well-trained warrior.  Their entire culture revolved around creating the strongest warriors, and thus the strongest army.  They did have festivals, although they were more serious, more competitive, and more violent.  They did not focus on philosophy or any sort of intellectual knowledge (unless it played a role in battle and warfare, such as strategy).  Also, they did not even write anything down about how their lifestyle or training, or military strategies.  All in all, the Spartans did not like any new ideas and had a very traditional attitude about how to live their lives regarding culture.

        In conclusion, both Athens and Sparta have different social, political, and cultural systems.  Athens’ society is divided up into ten tribes, while Sparta is divided into three classes.  Athens’ government is a democracy, where every citizen could participate, while the Spartans had an oligarchy, ruled by two kings and a council that only the upper class could participate in.  Finally, the Athenians encouraged the pursuit of knowledge, many fun festivals, and much more.  The Spartans only focused on how to create the most deadly and diligent soldier, and did not regard for anything else.  The differences would eventually lead to a rivalry between the two city-states that eventually resulted in the Peloponnesian War.