The Spartiates were the military leaders who ruled the barracks. Only these males that served in the military could vote. The Perioeci were the artisans, craftsmen, and merchants. Even though these males were in the army, they could not vote. The helots were serfs that consisted of people that were overtaken by Spartans military victories.
Athens was more worried about the comfort and culture during the time of the military battles. The oligarchy in Sparta put a war like attitude as it's first priority and it met the needs of Ancient Greece. Athens did not have the best form of government because it did not give the citizens of Greece more freedom. The Athenian democracy can not be called a true democracy because there was several flaws in the governement and how it worked. Only the
A Spartan's life was centered on the state, because they lived and died to serve the state. Although the competing city-states of Sparta and Athens were individually different as well as governmentally diverse, they both managed to become dominating powers in Ancient Greece. The political power of Athens is based on economic power. Democracy is based on middle class economic power. In slow evolution towards democracy, as their trade increased, Athenian craftsmen and merchants had enough money to purchase their own weapons.
The Spartans were really close to them on the other hand, this led to them having an open shot to Athens with little in their way. The Athenians had ships, but that didn’t stop Lysander from get into Athens and ending the war. xxii. The conflict after the war was mainly caused by the amount of power that the Spartans had. It caused Persia to help Athens for freedom and it also caused the city-states to revolt from Spartan control.
), the political and economic differences between them would make one think they were on opposite corners of the globe. Politically Athens formed into the first ever recorded example Democracy, whereas Sparta, though it contained democratic components, was primarily ruled as a Monarchial/Oligarchical society. Economically, Athens position on the coast made it a prime spot for trade with the other City-states of Greece, as well as with foreign lands with whom trade would be impossible otherwise. Athenian Marketplaces, called the Agora, were integral to everyday life for the citizens of Athens. If they weren't merchant class workers who peddled their wares at the Agora, any goods they required would be bought there.
One of the bigger differences between Sparta and Athens was there systems of government. Sparta was an Oligarchy which meant ruled by a few. There were many features of a Spartan government, Ephors, two kings, a council of 28 elders called the geurosia and the apella the assembly of spartiates over the age of 30. There were two kings so when the Spartans went to war one stayed back and the other went and fought. The reason Sparta had so many levels of government was because they had to control and limit the kings in case they got too much power.
The Spartan King ruled supremacy over his one hundred Spartan bodyguards. In fact, being part of the Kings squad held great honor and meant that they were as what they would call a true Spartan. During a war, only one of the kings went into battle while the other stayed in Sparta. This is evidently told by Herodotus as he states that this ‘conflict between Kings Cleomenes and Demaratus is what finalized this decision in a time around 507 BC. Following on, the King would generalize and plan out military campaigns.
These slaves where known as Helot, and were owned by the Sparta state. They were basically doing all the things Spartan where suppose to do because male Sparta were always at war. The Helot were usually farming their own farmland and giving the proceeds to their Spartan master of which the Helot weren’t happy with, because of this, Spartan males where always on alert in case of Helot uprising. The never move to far from home for fear of the Helot fighting back. ATHENS Just like Sparta, Athens is a state in Greece with a system of government somewhat different from that of Sparta.
After defeating the Persians for the second time, the Greeks decided that they needed to form a league to promote the mutual protection of Greece. All members who joined the League were to pay a fee to help defray costs. The treasury of the League was located on the island of Delos, for which the league was named. At the time of the Greeks were so determined to make the defensive alliance work, that they sealed the pact by throwing a piece of iron into the sea, and pledged to support each other until it rose back to the surface. Pericles was the most prominent politician in Athens from 461 until 429 BC.
There were many poleis during the 5th century in Greece, but there were only two of which were the main dominant powers: democratic Athens and the military oligarchy of Sparta. Greek culture achieved prominence through these two poleis. Athens and Sparta desired to be a strong nation and achieved that through very different ways of life. The Spartans’ focus was directed towards the military, while the Athenians were more interested in their wellbeing and culture. The US constitution can be compared to government models of Athens and Sparta.