Athens and Sparta Compare and Contrast

Athens and Sparta Athens and Sparta were two of the mightiest, most prominent, and famous city-states in Ancient Greece. Within these two city-states there were very many similarities and differences whether that is culturally, politically, or generally. The main similarities and differences between Athens and Sparta are in their military, the role of males and females in society, and their type of government. One of the biggest differences between Athens and Sparta was their military and their war strategies. In Athens the males were mostly part time soldiers, while in Sparta they started training from the age of 7 and that was their main focus. Athens mostly relied on building walls around their city and on hit-and-run tactics. In Athens the military power was a navy in which males served in at the age of 18 for only 2 years, while in Sparta the military power was an army with very experienced soldiers and males. In Sparta the army is what mattered to them above all. Males and females both had aspects in common and ones that were different in Athens and Sparta. In Athens males attended school and education was very important in their society. They studied subjects such as literature, arithmetic, philosophy, and even astronomy. Athenian males were sent to the military at the age of 18 and served for 2 years. On the other hand, in Sparta the males started military training at the age of 7; military training was more focused on than education. These males learned the brutality of war at a young age which gave them lots of experience. In Sparta the female and male babies were determined by the city state if they were strong enough to be Spartan citizens, if not then they were abandoned to die. Spartan males were taught discipline, athletics, survival skills, hunting, weapons training, and how to endure pain. There are a lot of similarities for the roles of women in Athens and Sparta. In both of these city-states, women had very little freedom and hardly ever