Life in Sparta was vastly different from life in Athens. Located in the southern part of Greece on the Peloponnisos peninsula, the city-state of Sparta developed a militaristic society ruled by two kings and an oligarchy, or small group that exercised political control. ... A Spartan baby had to be hardy and healthy.
What Made Ancient Sparta So Different from Other City-States
Posted on February 25, 2020
Frieze of Greek hoplites fighting, from Nereid Monument at Xanthos in Lycia, ca. 390–380 BCE. On display at the British Museum, London. / AHE, Creative Commons
At school, we have all studied the amazing history of the two most important city-states in Greece, Athens and Sparta. Even after 2500 years, one of the most widely discussed war topics at academic institutions is the Peloponnesian War that broke out between the two. When I was given the task to write my assignment at the end of college to obtain my degree, this was the topic I chose.
Of course, I still needed some help seeing how I didn’t know how to write an introduction for an assignment that explores such an important topic. But, I’ll discuss that a bit later.
Every war is different in its own way, but this specific war is especially good to research due to the fact that the two city-states are extremely different. They had different forms of government, culture, not to mention their location.
Athens was located near the sea and walled from its surrounding. Inside those walls, it had the most talented sculptors and potters known in the history. The wealthiest of all Athenians constantly strolled the busy marketplace with their slaves.
On the other hand, we have Sparta. Spread across a fertile farming area without any walls to surround the city, Sparta was a closed society. With much simpler buildings and soldiers with stern expressions, you could see people marching in columns across the streets of this city-state.
There are simply too many differences between the two, making this topic one of the most interesting you can explore. I hope that my short explanation of them will be of assistance.
In the beginning, Sparta started as a city-state of farmers. Soon after this, their population grew and they needed more land to do their work. This is when Sparta invaded the Messenians, their neighbors. After what seemed like a war that would never end, they conquered the land of Messenia and made its people their slaves. Interestingly, the Messenians outnumbered the Spartans by a lot – 10 to 1. And since they were treated terribly, they rose in revolt that took the Spartans 30 years to put down.
Without a doubt, this revolt brought huge changes for Sparta. To control their slaves, they built an extraordinary army, asking all Spartans to join. Their army was constantly filled with people who were bred to be soldiers and had to go through lifetime training.
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