Essay On Differences Between Athens And Sparta

Throughout its existence, Ancient Greece did not know a single centralized power, despite of numerous attempts of its establishing. Relatively stable associations emerged in the Ancient Greece during wars with Persia. They were headed by two most powerful city-states – Athens and Sparta, which formed two centers of Greek civilization, and each of them had its own, drastically different way of historical development. History of Athens – this is primarily the story of the formation and the victory of ancient democracy, while Sparta is considered to be militaristic, even “policeman”, highly conservative state. The rivalry of these two policies has led to decades of civil war.
These two ancient state entities have a lot in common. Sparta, as well as Athens, had its own system of state administration. They both entered into alliances with their neighbors, took part in military campaigns. They both formed their own principles of development that were supported by their populations.
However, the principles of their development and way of statecraft of these state units were completely different. Athens was a model of democracy, where all decisions were approved by the assembly of its people. In Sparta, state power belonged to two kings who acted ultimately. In Athens, people possessed their personal freedom: both demos and aristocrats. There were slaves, but few, and mostly they were successors of the peoples defeated in wars. In Sparta, on the other hand, all the people were divided into slaves (helots) and warriors, when the last had the freedom. Athens enriched the world with such innovations as the Olympic Games, philosophy, rhetoric, poetry. Sparta was notorious for artificial rejection of these “excesses”.