ATHENS vs.

SPARTA
Greek city-states

location

Laconia & Attica

MILITARY
The

Spartan warrior
was the most feared
soldier in Greece

Athenian trireme
allowed the navy to
protect the Athenian
way of life

The

Social structure
ATHENS

FREEMEN
ARISTOCRATS
SMALL

FARMERS
URBAN CRAFTSMEN &
TRIREME ROWERS

METICS CAME FROM

OUTSIDE ATHENS; NOT
ALLOWED TO OWN
LAND
SLAVES LOWEST
CLASS, NO RIGHTS,
PROPERTY OF
MASTERS

SPARTA

SPARTIATES
MILITARY
PROFESSIONALS/
CITIZENS
OUTSIDERS
FREEMEN; ARTISANS,
CRAFTSMEN,
MERCHANTS
HELOTS
CONQUERED PEOPLES;
TREATED LIKE SLAVES;
OWED 50% OF
PRODUCE TO
SPARTIATES

Womens roles
Athenian:

sequestered in the
home
not educated
responsible for
handicrafts and textiles
Spartan:

Controlled home and

land when husbands
were fighting
Come back with your
shield, or on it.

EDUCATION
Athens

No formal education for

girls
Boys learned rhetoric,
mathematics, reading
writing, poetry, music,
gymnastics
Sparta

Military school at age 7

for boys
Lived in barracks and
stole to survive
Girls learned athletics

SPARTAS LEGACY
Military

contributions
The Phalanx (shown in
the picture)
Training and fighting
styles
Plato viewed Sparta as
the first attempt at
forming an ideal
community
Simple lifestyle
Laconic of few words
Spartan frugal,
simple, plain

Athenian legacy Philosophy,

architecture, drama, art

Athens birthplace of
democracy
Adult

male citizens
directly participated in
affairs of the state
Trial by a jury selected
by lot
Ostracism people
could be banished
from Athens by vote
Council of 500, the
Assembly