Location
The city of Sparta was a city in ancient Greece between 650 B.C. and 362 B.C. during the Greco-Persian Wars, situated in the southern part of the Peloponnese.
The area around the town of Sparta, the Plateau east of the Taygetos mountains, was generally referred as Lakonia which term was sometimes used for all the regions under direct Spartan control, including Messenia. |
Government and Hierarchy |
The Spartan government followed the principle that every citizen of the state has to live for the state and their life completely belongs to the state. They also followed one more principle that only physically fit infants have the right to survive. Spartans followed quite unusual system as the division of people in classes was completely dependent on their physical strength and no-one by birth belonged to a certain class.The classes included Kings and the Council of Elders, Aristocrats, Perioeci Class, and Helots.
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Military |
The Spartan military was known throughout Greece and the ancient world as fearsome soldiers, Spartan culture revolved around military training and war. Within Sparta, the warriors were treated with honor and men were not considerede to be a man unless he was a soldier. The highest honor for a Spartan man was to die as a soldier fighting for their country. Most city-states within Greece had Hoplite solders that were foot solders that fought with swords and spears.
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Sparta vs Athens |
Both Athens and Sparta hold value for Greece and the world. Athens is the capital and the largest city of Greece. It is a center for economic, political, financial and culture life in Greece. Athens is the symbol of freedom, art, and democracy in the civilized world. Athens took its name from the goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge.
Sparta, a town near the river Evrotas, is located in the center of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. Sparta was the Greek military state, considered as the protector of Greece as it was providing large army to Greece for many years. At present, Sparta is the administrative capital of the prefecture of Laconia. Overall, Sparta was more militaristic and Athens was focused more on society, culture, and their people. |
Peloponnesian War |
The Peloponnesian war was a conflict between Athens and Sparta that broke out in 431 B.C. and continued with an interruption, until 404 B.C. Athens was forced to dismantle its empire. The war however, was not decisive, because within a decade, the defeated city had regained its strength. The significance of the conflict is that the divided Greeks could not prevent the Persian Empire from recovering their Asian possessions. Besides, this violent quarter of a century had important social, economic, and cultural consequences. When Athens ended an alliance with Corfu in 433 and started to besiege Potidaea, it threatened the position of Corinth. Sparta also feared that Athens was becoming too powerful.
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