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White, Athena
World History
Mr. Corbett
October 12, 2009
Athens And Sparta
(Struggles. Similarities. Differences.)
In Ancient Greece there were two main types of government, Oligarchy and
Democracy. An Oligarchy is when a small group of upper classed citizens rule a nation
revolved around the military. A Democracy is a government by the people, ruled by the
people. Which city-state was which? Well, Athens was more free spirited you could
say, so Athens was the Democracy. Sparta was the war-crazed nation so, that leaves the
Oligarchy for the Spartans ( go figure ).
Like I said before, Athens was a more free spirited than Sparta. The
Athenians had a choice of how the wanted to grow up. They could pursue a job of their
choice. Athens could care less about war and fighting. Athenians cared more about art,
literature, and knowledge more then anything. You COULD join the Military or the
Navy, but you didnt have to if you didnt want to.
Sparta and Athens are basically polar opposites ( even though they were part of
the same country ). If you lived in Sparta during Ancient times, life would be very
restricted for you. If you were a healthy male, at the age of seven you would be taken
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from home to train to be a warrior for Sparta. After that you would go to serve in battle.
If you survived that you would most likely be around the age of sixty and only then
would you really be a loud to be released to go back home to your family.
If you were female, you would run the household while your husband was
away and do most of the chores on your own, unless you had a daughter. Or if you were
wealthy you would most likely have servants to take care of that for you. You would also
have to worry about the birth of your children if you were pregnant. If your child was in
anyway imperfect he or she would be killed in the name of Sparta.
Since Athens and Sparta were so different, they didnt take to each other so
kindly. Because of this hate for each other a thirty-year was war waged against the two.
Everything started fine, a fair fight you could say. But, during the third year a huge
epidemic flew threw the city of Athens. The Plague. It killed more than half of its
people, including its leader, Pericles. It had killed all of the strong young men as well.
Athens was not looking so good as far as battle goes. Athens needed someone to take
control of the war. That was when Alcibiades came along to take hold of the reins of this
problem. He suggested that they raided Sparta in Sicily. Everything was set. They were
ready to go, but he got into a little trouble in a street fight and was forced to leave. So that
plan didnt work so well as it was hoped. The city of Athens was in shambles.
They later waved their little white flag of surrender in April of 404 B.C.E.
Even though Athens had lost this great battle, you still have to think highly of
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the Athenians. They went through so much during the war and still did not give up.
Athens had big hope. The biggest thing was the plague and they STILL didnt fall down
on their knees to Sparta. It took thirty whole years of failure to give up to the Spartans.
They did win to be worthy allies to Sparta. During the war, Athens attacked
the Spartans with a fleet of at least Three hundred battle ships. But this only ceased their
problems for a small period of time, instead of just solving the problem between the two
city-states. In this attack Athens captured many prisoners to have executed in name of
the war.
In the beginning Athens showed great potential of wining. They had several
outstanding organized attacks against the blood thirsty Spartans. However, not all of
these attacks worked. You must remember that Sparta had the best army by far out of all
of the Ancient world.
This was yet another difference between the two. Athens wasnt so keen on the
idea of fighting, while Sparta on the other hand was. Athens was always ready to fight
if need be, but I dont think anyone would be prepared for a fight against the great nation
of Sparta. For centuries Sparta came to the aid of defense in Greece. In battles like,
the Battle of Thermopylae, the Battle of Plataea, and the Persian Wars.
This seems like a lot of work, but Athens also provided many things.
Athens helped put an end to the Dark Ages by providing knowledge and learning.
Tons of inventions used today were inspired by simple research that Athenian scholars
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have done in their time.
A surprising difference between Athens and Sparta was how it got along with
other Greek nations. You would think that Athens would be friendly to its neighbors
and Sparta to be rude vagabonds to their neighboring nations. But, that is in fact, wrong.
Sparta was kind to all who needed help , in Greece , and Athens wanted to control and
take over of all the land around them.
Ironic or not to you Athens and Sparta were both great nations with many more
similarities than differences, even though they were close on a map.
Bibliography
n/a, . "Athens and Sparta: Different Yet the Same ." Social Studies for
Kids . 06/Sep/2009. Social Studies for kids , Web. 10 Oct 2009.
<
[link].htm>
n/a, . "Sparta Vs Athens." Study World. 10/Oct/2009. Test Prep Resource Center , Web.
10 Oct 2009.
<
[link]ens.htm>
van Loon, Hendrik. The Story Of Mankind. Yellow Springs: Authorama, Print.
Hanson, Victor . "Why did Athens lose?." The misery of war . Random House , 2005.
Print.
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