Why Is Athens Better Than Sparta

The city-states Athens and Sparta were rivals in ancient Greece. Geographically the two were very close to each other, but they had a very different economy, cultural values, and way of governing. Both city-states had two very different ways of doing things. I will be highlighting the major differences.

Imagine you had to choose between two very, very risky places to live in. Well, that is what people had to do 7,000 years ago. The two places are called Sparta and Athens, both had very harsh and violent laws. Trust me we are all very lucky to live in the places we do now compare to these two places. Now on to having to choose between the two, the only reason on why I would choose this place is because of the different laws for the men. Obviously, I would say that because I am a boy. I would rather live in Athens because of how fair the laws are compared to Sparta. There are many laws in Athens that are better than Sparta. One of the laws includes how they rule their kingdom. In Ancient Athens, it was run by the people themselves in the city. All of the citizens in Athens were happy they had that they had that freedom. In Ancient Sparta, there was not much freedom from voting for their rulers. The only reason that is because only a small group of wealthy, powerful men could rule Sparta. There are many more reasons why I think that Athens is better/ fairer.

Athens had a better government in my opinion. I think Athens had a better government because they created a democracy. According to the Athens and Sparta Document Set, a democracy means “rule by the people”. The Athens also got to abolish politicians they did not like. Athens also had ten generals, meanwhile, Sparta has two kings. In my opinion, I think that having ten generals is better than two kings because they understand you more. Sadly not all Ancient Athens were citizens, but if a free male would be a citizen if his father was a citizen of Athens. Later on, they changed that law, it was then bothering the father and mother had to be a citizen for the child to be considered a citizen. Sadly the women didn’t get that many rights but they soon they got more status. The Athens also made it to where not only the wealthy can engage in the jury service. In the Athens, you have to be an 18-year-old man to complete military training. On the other hand, in Sparta, you have to be a 30-year-old to complete military training. Basically, I’m trying to say that the Athens had a better

During the Fifth century, Greece was controlled by two main powers; Athens and Sparta. These city-states were very different. Sparta was known for their strength, discipline, individuality, beauty, sports, and learning (Beck et al. 131). Athens was known for education, fitness, art, literature, and wealth. Not to overlook the rights of women, which were a little elevated in Sparta, the city that had an overall greater respect for human rights, would be Athens.

Athens was a much more superior polis compared to Sparta because the Athenians invented new ideas and creations that supported the people, such as democracy, the Athenians led the Delian League, and Sparta created the Peloponnesian League after the Athenians created their alliance, and the Athenians changed the ways of their government many times to suit the people, and the Spartans did not.

Athens and Sparta are two powerful city-states, different from each other in such way that

Athens was the warm welcoming city-state in Ancient Greece, most unlike the horrific neighboring city-state, Sparta. Athens was full of life and the people living there appreciated all of what others had to offer: arts, music, life, and new cultures. Athens offered many activities for all men, women, and children. Sparta was cruel, disgusting, and uninviting… each day would be a struggle to survive. Children were tortured to become “stronger”and all men would be fighting and stealing things just to survive. Women were forced to go through training to become strong, to male healthy babies, it was tough. When women were forced to produce offspring, many of the “weak” babies were left to die. Athens was more inviting and had many more fun things to do, which is why Athens is a better place to live.

Athens is superior towards Sparta throughout ancient Greek history. During the Archaic Age, Sparta was solely focused on fighting wars and training their children for these wars. Athens on the contrary, was a city that focused heavily on the arts and was a very relaxed and peaceful city to live in. In Athens, all men born to Athenian parents were citizens, in Sparta, only the wealthy were citizens. In 594 BCE, Salon, the new leader of Athens, he created a constitution that ended the political control of the wealthy. Unless someone was part of the 1 percent, Athens gave members of society more rights than Sparta. By 508 BCE, Cleisthenes came to power in Athens and creates a democratic constitution of all people. While this advancement occurred

Sparta had the geographic advantage above Athens. Sparta is better because, according to Document G, “The Eurotas River provided much-needed water, while the nearby plains allowed the ancient Spartans to grow all the food they needed.” Sparta was already provided with enough supplies on their own and didn’t have to trade things with other city-states. Having rivers, mountains, and rivers gave the Ancient Spartans the right environments to grow many things such as figs and wheat, the Ancient Spartans also had enough room to raise cows for meat, milk, and cheese. Another reason why Sparta has the geographic advantage is shown in Document F, which states, “Sparta thus came to control some 8,500 km² of territory making it the largest city state

Since Athenian citizens had the power to impact their government, their values were displayed in the decisions that were made. Athens enjoyed spreading their culture to different places, learning from others, and trading for expensive items, which is shown by this excerpt. “Then the greatness of our city brings it about that all the good things from all over the world flow into us, so that to us it seems just as natural to enjoy foreign goods as our own local products…” (Dale. Civilizations in History. Alternative Two. Pg. 92) Athens was a nation that was willing to adapt, whereas Sparta did not want to change whatsoever, which is clearly presented by this quotation. “They were suspicious of anything foreign, including trade, and they resisted change of any kind.” (Dale. Civilizations in History. Alternative One.) Sparta was solely focused on their military, and due to it being the basis of their society, they did not want to put it at risk. So, they kept to themselves. On the other hand, Athens wanted to experience different cultures,

Would Athens or sparta been a better place to live. In, “ Athens and Sparta” Mr. Duckworth states, “ Where they differed was that while the Spartans had militaristic values, Athenians were democratic” This shows that Athens would have been a better place to live because while the Spartans ruled by the few the Athenians were ruled by the people. Also Mr. Duckworth states, “ The Spartans emphasized only on their power and gaining control over other kingdoms while the Athenians also grew infrastructure wise in ancient times. However they understood the importance of such growth and concentrated on them besides only on military strength.” This shows that Athens would have been a better place to live because the people didn’t always pay attention to military strength like the spartans, but also education and growth.

The kids in Athens would learn, Math, Arts and Crafts, Reading, Writing, and Physical Education. On the other hand with Sparta, kids would train athletically, and do hard workout routines regularly. The kids didn’t learn to read, write, or have any fun. Which now to leads into my 3rd reason on why I wouldn’t live in Sparta, but instead live in Athens, is that the celebrations were drastically different. For one in Athens, they would have fun by having parties, epic poems, plays, and making arts and crafts for the public to join in. Sparta, on the other hand didn’t have as much fun and games as the people of Athens. When they weren't training athletically, or for military purposes, they were drinking heavy doses of alcohol and partying, or playing extremely dangerous party games, or just train for fun sometimes if they felt like it. Additionally, the way they treated guests were completely different. Athens were very adaptable to visitors, and were extremely open to the idea of new people, they didn’t mind change. They would greet them with parties, plays, and fresh food. Athens, though, were not very open to new people and change, as the way they treated guests

The greatest city-states of all time were the city-states of Sparta, and Athens from which we take many of our modern ways. Both cities, had the same governments, but they had a different ways of life. Sparta was similar to other Greek Cities. Athens men worked different jobs. They both have slaves to depend on. But, they are in different cities.

Beginning with contrasts in government, Sparta, was an Oligarchy where most of the power was shared between two kings. Athens, on the other hand, was a democracy after periods of monarchies and aristocracies. Sparta’s kings ruled until death or forcibly removed from office. Members of Spartan offices were also restricted to people who had very high social standing,

“Athens was a democracy which means “rule by the people” ” . This quote is showing that Athens lets people have the right to say what they believe on and vote on what they choose. Athens would be a better place to live in than sparta because boys are not forced to join the army, many people could learn and get a decent education, and most importantly everyone has a right to say their opinion because their a democracy.