Compare And Contrast Athens And Sparta

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In the era of Ancient Greece, numerous city-states emerged throughout the country. Among the seven-hundred individual communities, two stood out the most: Athens and Sparta. Since both cities were created from the same initial idea, they had several similarities between the two from speaking the same language, to practicing the same religion. However, because each community was its own entity, there were many differences between Athens and Sparta as the two did not see eye-to-eye on most matters. This included government types, treatment of citizens, and even the fate of each inhabitant’s life work. What follows is an attempt to describe a fraction of the characteristics between Athens and Sparta that make them both so unique, yet still somewhat the same. As mentioned before, Athens and Sparta were established from the same core of Greek values. Because of this, several of these values are shared between the city-states. In terms of religion, both societies agreed that there were numerous gods and goddesses – what is known as a polytheistic religion. Greek religion involved gods that were interactive with their mortal followers and …show more content…

Athens’ main concern was the status of the individual person. They believed that education of the mind was what mattered most and that citizens should be allowed to gain knowledge in any field of their choosing and pursue a career in what they’re passionate about. Sparta did not feel the same way, instead they were more concerned about the group as a whole. These mindsets created quite the gap between the two cultures; Athens was about learning and craftsmanship, but Sparta only cared about warfare. Because of these ideas, Athens became a city that valued family life unlike its neighbor who saw procreation as only a means of building a better military of

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