The Difference between the Athenians and the Spartans

Both the Athenians and the Spartans are city-states located in Greece. Despite the fact that they were part of the same country they were bitter rivals. This was because that in Greece when the city-states formed they became little individual governments in itself. However at times the Greek people will work together to save their country against greater powers. There are many differences between the two city-states; Sparta is more known for being brutal, strong, and powerful. On the other hand the Athenians were more interested in the intellectual side of Greece. (Meiggs,Pomeroy)


Today when we look at the Spartans we see that practically all the books explain them as ruthless and brutal. This point of view is for the current time however and the Spartans would not have been as extremely ruthless in the time they were at. Their armies and tactics were extremely strong but their culture, economics, and politics were however stagnant. The people of Sparta were very hard even down to the fact of what they ate was more brutal than the others of that time. Source(Pomeroy)


The women of Sparta alone were tuff, they had to be able to let their little boys leave the house as early as age seven to prepare them for battle. The wives would not get to see their husbands very often and they would not even live together till at least the husband turned thirty; this because all the men would stay and sleep together. (this is why many of the Spartan men were gay) The wives would also have to prepare for the death of their husbands. In Sparta there was not marriage from love it came from the need to multiply. Another thing that the Spartans did that was extremely hard was that they would take their babies to a cliff and if it was too skinny they would throw it off. (Pomeroy)


The Athenians are not as extreme as the Spartans are, they have more influence on the intelligent side to things. They had a huge part to the start of philosophy and most Greek art and architecture came from them. Another part of the Athenian's society that was strong was their government. They were the first society to introduce the prospect of democracy this has a big influnence on the future (today). Their rulers were strong and successfull, along with their generals. (Meiggs)


The Athenians had a much more normal and less extreme way of living compared to the Spartans. This could have caused rivalry between them because each of them had their strong suits. Because they each were powerful in their own ways they made Greece stronger when they worked all together. Source


Book Sources:


Meiggs, Russell. The Athenian Empire. Oxford University Press; New York: 1979.


Pomeroy, Sarah B. Acient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Oxford University Press; USA: 2007.