Risk Aversion

societies of athens and sparta essays

societies of athens and sparta essays Athens and Sparta, both important cities in ancient Greece, were very different and unique in their own way. While Athens focused more on farming and their status in society, Sparta was a military city, teaching every boy from a young age to become a soldier. Everybody has different opinions about which is better, but I believe Sparta would have been the city for me. It has many qualities that the city of Athens lacks, and also is fairer, especially to women. Athens first started out as a city-state ruled by a basileus, or king (Columbia encyclopedia). Unlike Sparta, Athens was not taken over by a neighbor city. This was because Athens was a very agriculturally rich city, which also had a harbor so trading was always an option. As the council of nobles, also called Areopagus from the name of the hill they met on, became more wealthy, the power of the basileus slowly faded. In eighth century BC, the nobles became unbelievable wealthy, mostly by growing cash crops which included wine and olive oil. They both require great wealth to get started (Cohen 49). Slowly, the nobles of the Areopagus took over and stripped the king of power until the Athenian government was only run by a few. The Areopagus, consisting of a number of members, elected nine archons, or rulers to run the state. The archons always had to verify everything with the Areopagus, and after their term were required to become members (MacDowell). This was unfair, because ult imately, that means the Areopagus ruled the country. The Spartans, however had a different idea of ruling. It all started in eighth century BC, when Sparta was a monarchy with limited government. In 725, the population was growing and they desperately needed land. To solve this problem, the Spartans marched over the Taygetus mountains and invaded all of Messenia. The Messenians had plenty of fertile land and the Spartans were satisfied. However, the Messenians were an ...