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Comparing the two great city-states of Ancient Greece

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Athens

Sparta

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Sparta and Athens were two of the most prominent city-states in Ancient Greece.

Athens was renowned as a center of wisdom and learning. The people of Athens were interested in arts, music, and intellectual pursuits.

Sparta was recognized for its military strength. A Spartan's life was centered on the state, because he lived and died to serve the state.

Although the competing city states of Sparta and Athens were different in many ways, they both managed to become dominating powers in Ancient Greece.

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The area around Athens has been inhabited since Neolithic times

By 1400 BC the settlement had become an important center of the Mycenaean civilization.

Unlike other Mycenaean centers, Athens was not sacked and abandoned at the time of the Doric invasion of about 1200 BC, and the Athenians always maintained that they were "pure" Ionians with no Doric element.

However, Athens lost most of its power and probably dwindled to a small hill fortress once again.

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By the 9th century BC Athens had re-emerged. Athens’ central location in the Greek world, its secure stronghold on the Acropolis and its access to the sea, gave it a natural advantage over potential rivals such as Thebes and Sparta. From early in the 1st millennium, Athens was a

sovereign city-state, ruled at first by kings.

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During this period Athens succeeded in bringing the other towns around it.

This process created the largest and wealthiest state on the Greek mainland, but it also created a larger class of people excluded from political life by the nobility.

By the 7th century BC social unrest had become widespread, and the Athenian court of justice appointed a leader named Draco to draft a strict new lawcode (hence "draconian").

When this failed, they appointed Solon, with a mandate to create a new constitution.

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In 594 B.C., seven years before the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple and took the Israelites into captivity, Athens became a democracy under the rule of Solon

In addition to eliminating serfdom, Solon altered the stringent laws of Draco, making murder the only crime punishable by death.

Under the democracy, Athens entered its golden age, becoming a center of wisdom and learning.

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Athens is in Attica, built near the the sea`on the southwest slope of Mount Lycabettus,

Surrounded by small rivers on the west, south and north which flowed through the town.

The walled city measured about 1.5 km (1 mile) in diameter, although at its peak the city had suburbs extending well beyond these walls.

The city was burned down in 480 BC, but was rebuilt under the administration of Themistocles, and was adorned with public buildings

Its beauty was chiefly due to its public buildings, for the private houses were mostly insignificant, and its streets badly laid out.

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Athens consisted of two distinct parts: The City, properly so called, divided into The

Upper City or Acropolis, and The Lower City, surrounded with walls by

Themistocles. Three harbour towns also surrounded

with walls by Themistocles, and connected with the city by means of the long walls, built under the administration of Pericles.

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Parthenon

Old Temple of Athena

Theatre Complex

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The Acropolis, also called Cecropia from its reputed founder, was a steep rock in the middle of the city, about 50 meters high, 350 meters long, and 150 meters wide; its sides were naturally scarped on all sides except the west end.

The top of the Acropolis was covered in temples, the largest of which was the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena

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By 431 BC, Athens had become the most populous city-state in Hellas. Some historians estimate the population to be as high as 300,000* at that time. 30,000 male citizens 46,000 non-citizen hired laborers 115,000 slaves 110,000 women and children

In 471 BC, scholars believe the approximate population within the actual walls of Athens was 140,000; Approximately 40,000 men were citizens; Approximately 40,000 were slaves. The rest were women, children and slaves

*The Population of Ancient Athens - A.W.Gomme - 1933 for the year 431 B.C.

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Athens was a limited democracy, ruled by all of its male citizens. Women did not participate in politics at all.

Athens had elected officials including 10 generals (strategos), magistrates (archons), and others.

A Council of 500 had both executive and administrative control. Members of this Council were chosen by lot every year, 10 from each of the 50 tribes Any male citizen over the age of thirty was eligible to be chosen.

An Assembly, made up of all male citizens, had veto power over the Council. In addition, the Assembly was the only branch of the government which could declare war.

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A soldier's rank was decided by his social or economic status before he entered the army.

Instituted by Solon in the 6th century B.C., four classes made up the Athenian social ladder. Defined by income, each class had a certain measure of political responsibility: The wealthiest class, called the "five-hundred-bushel

men", supplied the army with leaders. Called the hippeis or "horsemen", the second class

made up the Athenian cavalry. The third class, called the zeugitai, made up the foot

soldier, or hoplite section of the army. the poorest class, called the thetes, served either as

oarsmen for the Athenian fleet, or as archers on land.16

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In addition, while Spartan soldiers trained for thirteen years, Athenian soldiers only trained for two years.

Athenian military status was predetermined by the soldier's social class

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Because of the city’s proximity to the sea, Athens was known for its superior navy and navel strength

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Freemen were all male citizens: divided into numerous classes: at the top were aristocrats who had large estates and made up the cavalry or captained triremes; middle ranks were small farmers; lowest class was the thetes (urban craftsmen and trireme rowers).

Metics - those who came from outside the city; they were not allowed to own land, but could run industries and businesses.

Slaves were lowest class, but less harshly treated than in most other Greek cities. Slaves had no rights, and an owner could kill a slave. Slaves varied in status: some were given important roles in Athens, like policemen.

Women were rarely seen outside the home and had no rights in the Athenian democracy.

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Democratic values for citizens. They believed in participation in government as a civic responsibility.

Athenians believed in their cultural superiority and in their role in an empire and benefiting from trade.

Cultural legacy includes art, architecture, drama and literature, philosophy, science, medicine, and government (democracy, trial by jury) 19

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Boys: Schools taught reading, writing and mathematics,

music, poetry, sport and gymnastics. Based upon their birth and the wealth of their

parents, the length of education was from the age of 5 to 14, for the wealthier 5 - 18 and sometimes into a student's mid-twenties in an academy where they would also study philosophy, ethics, and rhetoric (the skill of persuasive public speaking).

Finally, the citizen boys entered a military training camp for two years, until the age of twenty.

Foreign metics and slaves were not expected to attain anything but a basic education in Greece, but were not excluded from it either.

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Girls: Girls received little

formal education (except perhaps in the aristocrats' homes through tutors);

They were generally kept at home and had no political power in Athens

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The education of a girl involved spinning, weaving, and other domestic art.

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Athenian women and girls were kept at home with no participation in sports or politics.

Wives were considered property of their husbands. They were were responsible for spinning, weaving and other domestic arts.

Some women held high posts in the ritual events and religious life of Athens

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Prostitutes and courtesans were not confined to thehouse. Some became influential