Athens vs. Sparta

A detailed Summary of Athens vs. Sparta

Athens and Sparta were both City-states in Greece in ancient times, yet they had no social similarities. They were constantly at war, and at one time at a stalemate. They existed in the same time and place, but had totally different views on life and lifestyles. There were differences in the family life of people and paradigm of Athenians and Spartans.

Sparta was Drastically unlike Athens and all other city-states in this aspect. In Sparta the men were full time soldiers. Even though there were few Spartans, there well-trained warriors were feared by other city-states. The way Spartans should act was based on keeping the slaves (also known as serfs or heliots) from revolting becuase heliots vastly outnumbered Spartans. Citizens were taught to think alike to keep from fighting because this might encourage heliots to attack. Boys lived in barracks and had the same education. As well, drunken soldiers would make it easier for heliots to revolt so prohibition was practiced in Sparta. Family Life was almost nonexistent. Sparta resembled more an army camp. Males of all ages were kept together and spent a lot of time with each other. This was meant to make them grow similar in character as well as devoted to each

Schofield, Louise. Ancient Greece. New South Whales: Weldon Owen Pty Limited, 1997.

In Athens there was a family life, but it was often separated by genders. In a wealthy family, husband and wife lived in almost different worlds. He was outdoors in the community with the other men. The wife stayed indoors with her daughters and other female relatives. Neither did housework or shopping. Slaves took care of that. In a rich house their were different place to live for men and women. The Husband and wife would not converse very much. Another reason for separation was the age difference. The man was often married in his thirties and the women was in her teens. They never had much in common at first so most women had young boyfriends near their age. This way of life was common, but in poorer houses life was different under the circumstances. Poverty forced husbands and wives to live together because of small quarters. Women and children would do the work in these houses. Sometimes young girls would go out into the market to shop. Poor Athenians often married young and for love spite tradition common in richer houses. Sometimes men would not marry until they were over thirty which caused problems in the house. The child of thirty would want independence as an adult but the father still wanted to maintain his reign over his household. This caused a lot of fighting between father and son in Athenian households. Women in Athens were not respected. They were not seen to have any opinions on anything, and were better seen and not heard. They were weak and were controlled by their husbands. If a women had a child, she could be a little relaxed becuase the man was then less like

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Approximate Word count = 1133
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History