The landscape of Ancient Greece was dotted with many city-states. Of these, Sparta and Athens stand out as opposite examples of functioning societies, each with different forms of government, long-term aspirations, and differing patterns of everyday life. Sparta was a closed, militaristic society, a monarchy led by two kings. Athens, although experimenting with various form of early government, is most closely identified with direct democracy. Comparing Sparta and Athens is a study in how environment affects different cultural and social paths.
The City State of Sparta
Sparta is only 155 miles from Athens. Despite this close proximity, Sparta developed along different values than did Athens. Located at the southern tip of the Peloponnesus, Sparta was a closed society with no foreign policy ambitions. Spartans were outnumbered by slaves or helots. The military institution that produced the finest warriors in Sparta was created to keep the slaves from revolting.
The emphasis on militarism favored the birth of male children. City-state elders, called ephors, inspected every birth. Unwanted children were flung into a ravine while healthy males began the arduous process of being turned into warriors. Serious training began with entrance to the Agoge. After years of intense training, the fledgling warriors were admitted to a “mess” and allowed to marry.
Marriage was, however, designed to produce more future warriors. The warrior was closest to his male mess-mate, an older, veteran warrior. As part of the Spartan phalanx, these warriors represented the finest fighting force in the ancient world, aptly demonstrated in 480 BCE at Thermopylae. Yet once the Persian threat ended, Sparta returned to its inward policies, leaving Athens to dominate.
The City State of Athens
Both Sparta and Athens had an Assembly, made up of free men that heard appeals and addressed pertinent issues. But in the case of Athens, the notion of political discourse and citizen participation followed a path that began with tyranny and ended with an early form of direct democracy. Still, only 10% of all Athenians were citizens and could participate. Like Sparta, slavery existed in Athens but posed no internal social threat.
Located in Attica, Athens had a long history that included fierce resistance of the Dorians prior to the Archaic period. The Acropolis at Athens was one of the finest. Athens was a commercial city. The port city of Piraeus carried on trade with every major civilization along the Mediterranean. The presence of foreign deities, like Isis, demonstrated a foreign influence inspired by a vast network of commerce.
After defeating the Persians, Athens took the reigns of leadership and, forming the Delian League, inaugurated an imperial period. Athens was considered an educational center, attracting students from all parts of the ancient world. The city-state was identified with Socrates and Plato’s Academy. Athena, the patron goddess of both Sparta and Athens, blessed the city-state with prosperity.
The End of Spartan and Athenian Hegemony
The Peloponnesian Wars, beginning in ca 465 BCE, resulted in the near destruction of Athens and the severe weakening of the Spartan militaristic system. Neither city-state would again see the glories of the past. Intermittent warfare, the presence of mercenary armies, and the sapping of vulnerable resources created a power vacuum in Greece that would be exploited by Macedonia.
Sparta and Athens represented the two most powerful city-states in Ancient Greece. Vastly different, each played significant roles during the early years of Greek formation and prosperity. Additionally, each example highlights the overall diversity found in the many other city-states that, taken together, comprised Ancient Greece.
Sources:
- Michael Grant, The Ancient Mediterranean (New York: History Book Club by arrangement with Penguin Putnam, 2002)
- Sarah B. Pomeroy and others, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History (Oxford University Press, 1999)
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