07/01/2009
Period 4
Western Civ
Athenian Democracy vs. Spartan Military
Ancient Greece was comprised of many city-states known as poleis (Perry, p45). Among them, Athens and Sparta were two of ancient Greece’s most successful and dominant poleis. Both poleis were filled with ambition, determination, passion and the will to be the best. Amidst all these similarities, however, were numerous differences (Perry, p47). Athens and Sparta possessed the same qualities to strive to be the best, but they both went about achieving this in completely different manners. While Athens and Sparta both valued a powerful military, they differentiated in their form of government and emphasis on the way to lead one’s life (Perry, p47).
Athens and Sparta were similar in that they both put a lot of importance and focus in their militaristic development. Athens was located on the peninsula of Attica, by the coast and was in control of a grand navy (Perry, p 47). Sparta on the other hand was located in the middle of the Peloponnesus (Perry, p51) and the people trained in the arts of soldiering on land (Perry, p47). The military was equally as fundamental to the Athenians who taught that courage and loyalty was what they needed to rely on, rather than secret weapons, in war (Thucydides, p66). The Spartans took security of the state seriously, going as far as, conducting periodical deportations in order to prevent people from finding or observing secrets of a militaristic kind that belonged to the state (Thucydides, p66). For the Athenians, planning ahead was crucial. They strategically planned their battles; even down to how much money each member of the Delian league should contribute to the allied effort, when they led it (Mckay, pg 81). The Spartans learned only the craft of soldiering and were pressed to fight and die bravely for their city (Perry, p47). Matching the Spartan vigour, the Athenians relied on strategy by dividing missions between their troops on land and their vast navy and believed that a natural courage is as strong as a state-induced one, without all the training (Thucydides, p67). Military training for Spartan boys began at the tender age of seven. They were taught to endure physical hardships, survive at all costs and develop physical strength more than anything else (Perry, p47). If the elders of the tribe found a young boy to not own a healthy and strong body, they deemed him weak and found it better for itself and for the state that he should not live at all. The wisest, bravest and fiercest men would be chosen as leader in the state (Weber, p47). Similarly, the Athenians did not settle with ruling softly. Pericles proclaimed that even though the Spartans undertook laborious training in courage, the Athenians “are just as ready to face the same dangers as they are” (Thucydides, p66). Athens expanded their empire by using force, power and aggression to rule conquered land (Mckay, pg 82). Athens had plenty of brilliant, charming and popular aristocratic politicians who pioneered the Athenian democracy (Mckay, pg 83).
