preview

Sparta Strengths And Weaknesses

Decent Essays

Sparta is considered by many people as the greatest and most powerful city in Greece for its great strength and power among the other city-states on the Peloponnese peninsula. When you look at Sparta compared to its rival city-states, is it really as great as we think it is? After all, it only lasted 300 years. Sparta’s weaknesses definitely outweighed its strengths. There are many factors to support how Sparta dug its own grave, but the main reasons are because of their lack of education, abusive ways, and their overpopulation of helots (Slaves). To start, Sparta had horrible education. They were taken from their families at the age of seven to a war school called an agoge. The children were only taught reading and writing for practical reasons. Document A states that ‘All other forms of education they banned from the country, books and treatises being included.’This prevented them from learning about the world and creating things like Italy and Rome. Foreign teachers weren’t able to visit to teach people either without a reason. Defending authors state that they did it to prevent any kind of destruction from strangers, but if Sparta had a secret group called a krypteia defending the outside with trained people defending the inside, how can someone do anything without being noticed? The teachers will be busy teaching like they came there to do anyways. Children probably wouldn’t even be able to get into the agoge since elders have to decide that they are ‘worthy’. If

Get Access