The ideal citizen was viewed as one that helped its city survive in the way the city and culture saw best for itself.
The city state of Sparta was a great example of a city that needed to fight in order to survive. The Spartans were outnumbered by Messenians 10 to 1. This means that the only way the Spartans could possibly retain power and order was to close this power gap through thorough and rigorous military training. This kind of drive and motivation for military power embedded itself deep into Sparta’s culture and way of life.
Arete is a concept in ancient Greece that refers to excellence of any kind or moral virtue. To be Arete in Sparta was very simple, you had to be a courageous Spartan fighter. Sparta was not the only city state
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For Sparta freedom meant preserving the independence of the Fatherland. To do so did not require cultural flourishing, only a flourishing military and that’s exactly what they had.
Sparta pulled the average boy away from his family at the age of only 7 years old. This was done to train them into strong and fierce Spartan warriors, ones that would help preserve Sparta and keep it alive. These were the kind of men that Sparta needed and admired as these were the men Sparta relied on. To be a loyal and disciplined warrior was exactly what Sparta needed and it’s what Sparta was built on. This was the basis of their concept of Arete.
The women of Sparta also had their own expectations from Sparta. They were the ones who were to bear the children that would be trained. This could be seen as their central task, as it was of huge importance to strengthen civilization. The women were even encouraged to take part in sporting events such as running, discus and even driving chariots, all in order to strengthen their body for
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In the democratic government only allowed wealthy and well borne men to vote or hold public office. But as time passed this began to change and more and more individuals gained the right to vote. Athenian democracy was called a direct democracy, this meant that only citizens voted and debated on the issues. For an Athenian citizen to be ideal he must be voting with the right intention and making the right decisions for his community as he has the power to do so. Here we have the Athenian concept of Arete. Arete placed a heavy emphasis on the good citizen, one that was greatly concerned with his community, so much so that it outweighed his goals and aspirations. These ideal citizens were expected to devote a great deal of time and energy to civic matters. These were the kind of people that Athens needed and wanted, and it is reflected very clearly on their concept of Arete. In such a democratic civilization where any citizen could vote and held the power to change laws and virtually all aspects of Athenian life, any such citizen was expected to be very involved in civic and community matters that benefited the society he lived
The Spartans reverence to Lycurgus’s laws help set up a society base on militarism and conservative values. They as a society denying full social and political equality to all men, who allowed females, have social equality. The system in which Lycurgus left the Spartans denied both a democracy and a chance of a tyrant to gain control over the Spartans.
Education in Sparta: Did the Strengths Outweigh the Weaknesses? By: Korbyn Tietjen Would you want to be abandoned or be left outside to die because you ⚔ weren't strong enough?Or get pulled away from your family when your 7 years old or get whipped when you got caught stealing cause you were stealing terribly?Well this was the fate of a Spartan child. Sparta was located on a large in Southern Greece
Sparta was a society in which war was at its center. This militaristic lifestyle translated into the role of women being higher than that of other Greek women such as the Athenians. When a fellow Greek women asked the Spartan queen Gorgo, “Why is it that only Spartan women can rule men?” she replied, “Because we are the only women who give birth to men.”
Any society that enslaves others deserves to crumble. Sparta was an ancient Greek city-state that valued military strength above anything else. They did not teach academics, farming, or anything else besides military tactics. The weaknesses of Spartan education outweighed the strengths because the Spartans were isolated, they forced families to separate, and they abused their children.
The Spartan society realized that without any form of gender discrimination, people had a responsibility to serve in the Spartan military. Nevertheless, Athens was the largest and powerful Greece city-state at the time. It was the heart of political, economic, culture and financial life in Greece. Sparta was a Greece city-state that was well recognized run through a monarchy. In the book, Spartan women by Sarah B. Pomeroy, the author aims at reconstructing the world and lives of the women of Sparta including having been stuck on their surprising autonomy and the change of their legal status over a given period.
In Sparta, boys from ages 7-30 were trained and only received basic education. Sparta was a well-known city-state in Greece for their military strength, their courage, their determination, their obedience, and their self-discipline. Unlike their rival, Athens, who favored intelligence, open-mindedness, and
The role men played in the polis starting at a very young age, going all the way up until their death was a major factor as to why they were as powerful as they were. Sparta raised children in a very unique way compared to other Greek
Spartan women were known as the most independent, fearless, educated women in Greece. Just because they did not take part in military, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t hold any power. These women were given a formal education, but separated from boys. Not only were they educated, they took part in athletic competitions, which would include such sports as javelin-throwing and wrestling. Women could also sing and dance competitively.
In this essay, I would like to answer and discuss the following questions: How did the people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How were two city-states similar in their governmental structures and how did they differ with each other? For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta.
Introduction: The ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta were renowned for their distinctive governmental structures. Although both cities were part of Greek civilization, they exhibited significant differences in their political systems and the participation of individuals in public life. This paper aims to explore the contrasting government structures of Athens and Sparta, focusing on how people obtained the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting their communities. Body: I. Participation in Public Life and Decision Making
Even to this day, we still use Athens and Sparta’s societal systems and structures because they were so revolutionary. Athens even introduced the idea of democracy, and Sparta had a strong military culture. Although Athens and Sparta were close together, Athens focused on leadership and education while Sparta focused on the military and war. However, due to their different governments and cultures, each has their strengths and weaknesses. However, because Athens focuses on its future leaders, Athens is the better model for a society.
Firstly, Sparta had harsh military training for their children. In Sparta, you were taken away at the age of 8 and you would stay in training until you are 21. When you leave for training, you go into an agoge, which is a state controlled education. While in the agoge, you have a troop leader who is an older soldier.
This along with the harsh training tactics such as lack of food and dealing with changes in temperature further helped young Spartans acquire the basic elements of military for their fighting. The Spartans were fully invested in being militarily dominant. Like the Roman legions, Spartans had an undying loyalty to their country and fellow soldiers. Both Roman and Spartan soldiers would rather die than concede their honor by
Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally. Equally, hard workers have brought Athens power just as much as hereditary leaders. According to Document B all citizens should be allowed to speak their opinion and have a share in election because of the hard work they do to make the city powerful. Athenians allowed poor and common men to win a position in government which was a transition from the wealthy having power to everyone having power.
Sparta’s women were known for their promiscuity and boldness . On account of Sparta’s strict militaristic lifestyle, their lives were very different compared to regular women in most city-states of Greece. Although their main job is still child-bearing, this job held much more honor and respect because in theory, a Spartan women gave birth to strong, Spartan boys who would in turn become strong and successful soldiers for Sparta’s renowned military . Just as boys were trained to become soldiers from a young age, girls were taught to be the mothers a militant Sparta