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Sparta and Athens were two of the greatest societies in ancient Greece, having a commanding amount of influence on Greece as a whole as well as history. Both civilizations held up well in war and had successful societies. I will discuss these two great nations and how they differed on training techniques, social structure, their military preference and how each civilization met its end. Spartans Focused heavily on creating elite soldiers and prided themselves on survived hardships. According to sikyon.com. The selection process for allowing newborns to live was harsh…… Allowing no deformities, odd skin pigmentation or sickly infants. Those that where deemed flawed where left out to die from exposure. Those of the children who were allowed …show more content…
According to History.com the young boys were trained in warfare, stealth, hunting and athletics. At age 12, initiates were deprived of all clothing except for a red cloak, then the young boys were forced to survive the elements, failure meant death. To ready them for a life in the field, the boy soldiers were also encouraged to scavenge and even steal their food, though if detected they were punished with severe beatings not for the action itself but for being caught. In their teen years the Spartan boys were taught how to use weapons as well as battle movements, marching and singing. And despite the idea that Spartans were only brutes, the boys even attended schools were they would learn to read and wright as well as the history of their …show more content…
Next there were the free non-citizens who were mainly craftsman, merchants and sailors, they were free to come and go but were unable to own land or gain citizenship. Then at the very top there were the Spartiates who were full-fledged citizens who have completed their training and were given land as well as Helots to preform duties. Females also had a place in Spartan society and had a surprising amount of rights for woman in that era, being able to divorce, and keep custody of the child and remarry as they see fit, without ridicule. In a way they were far less discriminatory than most nations of
“reach them to endure pain and conquer in battle.” (Document 11). Sparta was especially known for their strong army force. From age seven, all boys were trained not to express their pain and become great soldiers on the battlefield. Unlike Sparta, Athens’ main focus was not on the military. “For we are lovers of beauty, yet with no extravagance and lovers of wisdom, yet without weakness.” (Document 9). Athens was essentially based upon the arts and intelligence. Instead of boys going through years and years of military training, Athenians learned subjects like literature, art, and arithmetic.
To look at this epistemologically, there is an understanding that almost every aspect involved in this culture was derived for the good of the polis. This seemed to be a very proud and arrogant people. A city with no walls, and in almost certainty, only natural born were allowed to earn citizenship. To even be called a Spartan meant years of fighting, service and status. Tyrtaeus states this argument best in the last line of his work. “Thus a man should endeavor to reach this high place of courage with all his heart, and, so trying, never be backward in war.” These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion.
Ancient Greece today is most known for the culture: the gods, the dramas, how people lived. What most people do not realize is that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different civilizations spread throughout Greece that all had different forms of government. The three main ones were Athens, Sparta, and Miletus. Each was very different from the other. The most powerful out of all three was Sparta: a military based society. The Spartan government had a strong foundation that was all torn down by one bad leader.
Like most Greek states of the Archaic and Classical Era, the Spartan city-state was a militaristic one. Sparta, however, took the idea to its extreme. In order to become the best soldiers, Spartan citizens had to dedicate their entire lives to the occupation. In fact to be a soldier – a hoplite – was the full infrastructure of Spartan society. While most Greek city-states looked down on labor, physical work, and even working for profit, they still had to work for a living, produce something. “The Spartans a...
The lifestyle and in some occasions their occupations were chosen from the time they were born. For example, when a Spartan women gave birth to a boy, soldiers went to the place where the baby was born and examined it to determine the strength of the child. Uniquely then the baby is placed into a bath, but not a bathed in water, but wine to see its reaction (“Spartans”). If the baby squirmed and cried a lot then it would be taken away from the parents to become a helot, or a slave. If the child took the bath well, then it would one day become a soldier in the Spartan army (“Spartans”). The Spartans were particularly picky about their children, so much that infanticide was a major problem (“Spartans”). Children had a hard role to fill in Spartans society, because not only was the fate of the child determined by the family but also by the city-state in which the child lived. So if you were not as strong or as intelligent as others you were looked down upon (“Spartans”). The boys that were strong and intelligent though, were taking from their family at age 7 and h...
Sparta trained its people to serve under strict rules at all times to create a nation of powerful people from birth. Infants were inspected and thrown off of Mount Taygetus if they had illnesses or deformities (Richard 26). At the age of seven, girls were trained athletically so they would have healthier babies (Richard 26). Accordingly, seven year old boys learned to read and trained for battle (Richard 26). The Spartans focused so heavily on being resilience that boys were not taught lyric poetry or philosophy; those subjects
Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.
The Spartan boys and girls started this education at the age of seven. The children were taught to read, write, and learn the Spartan ways. The boys did not fight for themselves or their family,nor did they live for themselves or family. The Spartans lived for the state, they lived for the people. They were all living like war heroes, putting those who they were fighting for far before themselves. Honor was so very important in the Spartan society. Before a Spartan mother sent her son to battle she told him “Son, either with this or on this.” ( Sayings of Sparta). This was a very strong phrase. It meant that the mother wished her son to return with his shield after fighting and winning, or that he would fight to his death. But if he returned without his shield after he had fled from a fight he would become an outcast. But unlike some cultures whose soldiers went to fight expecting death, the Spartans fought to protect other Spartans, doing everything in their power to stay alive and protect their
In ancient Greece during the 7th and 8th centuries, different armies and cities were fighting for control of land and power. During this time period, it was very gruesome and many people died because different states wanted to expand their control over new territories so they could gain more power. With all the different armies and militaries fighting for control, there was one that stood out as the elite of all militaries, Sparta. Quickly Sparta became known throughout Greece as the most highly disciplined and coordinated militaries in the world.
Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Classical Greece. While Athens embraced democracy, Sparta was a dictatorial fierce warrior state. Sparta was a militaristic community, Athens was a freethinking, and commerce minded city-state. Modern societies have modeled their government organizational structure and military discipline practices from lessons learned of these ancient city-states. There is much is to be praised regarding Classical Greece for their courage, their progressive thinking and the birth of democracy. However, I think it is important to remember that in both cases, Athens and Sparta were able to sustain their lifestyle on the backs of countless slaves, non-citizens and women and that there is a darker and less romantic side to the past.
But the road to courage was much harder and darker. Spartans had a very military way of life, with marching, weaponry, and barracks for the boys to sleep in. What made them feared, hated, and, most importantly, respected by the world? How did they become the fearsome killing machines of Ancient Greece? The children were abused, starved, and tortured. But they were also strengthened and prepared for war. This is why Spartan childhood training was what made the Spartans so successful in the Ancient Greek Classical Age. They used harsh, but effective training methods, used well trained and educated warriors and trainers, taught successfully developed weapons and tactics, and put to use the training they were given as children in their daily lives.
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.
One of the greatest responsibilities a woman had in Classical Sparta was giving birth to the Spartan males. Through physical training when a young teen with the Spartan boys, the women needed to be healthy and strong to produce healthy children capable of going through the agoge training. “…By athleticism they made sure that their children would be up to the standard of physical fitness demanded by the Spartan system.” (H.Michell, Sparta). The Spartan mother would prepare the young Spartans prior to the agoge; she would have minimal interaction and supply minimal clothing and
Sparta was a city-state based on strict military ruling, at the age of seven a young Spartan would start out training and be trained into killing machines. When a Spartan baby is born, high elite Spartan soldiers would observe the baby to see if it was healthy and strong, if not the baby was ill and weak so it would be taken up a mountain and left there to die. This is just one example that shows how Sparta only wants a strong army and doesn't care about anything else. Strict rules of the government made it so that every Sp...
Like the Athenians, women were expected to bear sons. Boys were taken away from their mothers at the age of seven and put under the control of Spartan leaders. The boys were taken to live in military camps and were “subjected to harsh discipline to make them tough and given an education that stressed military training and obedience to authority”. For most of the Spartan men’s lives, they lived in these camps, and trained for battle. Once the males turned 30, they were allowed to vote in an assembly. They were able to marry and live in their own homes, but had to remain in military service until the age of 60. Spartan women, unlike Athenian women had more control and power in society. Woman like men contributed in physical activities because it was “thought that is both parents were strong their children would be more