Athens vs. Sparta
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Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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So now that we've completed Lesson two and part of
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Lesson three about the city state of Athens and Sparta,
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we are going to compare and contrast the two city
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states. So in this video I'll be going over the
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similarities and differences, and I will explain what the interactive
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activity is for this lesson.
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So let's take a look at the service text comparing
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Sparta and Athens.
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The discipline and training of Spartan life created a powerful
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army and a stable government, but Spartan society feared individual
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differences and change.
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The Spartans valued people who fit in, not those who
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stood out.
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Unlike the Spartans, the Athenians valued individual expression and new
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ideas. Athenian democracy evolved over time, Sparta's rigid oligarchy and
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society changed very little.
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These differences lead the Greek historian through see through cities
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to describe the Athenians as addicted to innovation.
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In contrast, he viewed the Spartans as having a genius
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for keeping what you have got.
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The opposing values of Athens and Sparta helped create tensions
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between the two city states.
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Economically, Sparta and Athens were very different because of their
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lack of natural resources.
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Neither city state was able to produce enough food to
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feed its growing population.
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Athens, however, had vast amounts of silver and relied on
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trade. To obtain food for its citizens, Sparta relied on
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conquest and slave labor in the conquered territories to obtain
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its food.
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When food was scarce, the Athenians traded with others to
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get what they needed, while the Spartans conquered more territory.
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So you can even tell through the actions of each
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the Athenians and Spartans, when food was scarce or when
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there was a lack of food resources.
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What Athens would do is intelligently use the resource they
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had, like silver to trade with other civilizations, whereas Sparta
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would just conquer more and more territory.
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So this action alone shows you that Athens thought about
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innovation a little bit more, was creative, had a little
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bit more compassion, whereas Sparta's values are very rigid, aggressive
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and a little bit violent.
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Athenian leader Pericles believed that Athenian democracy was far superior
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than life in Sparta.
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Pericles was the leader of Athens during the Peloponnesian War
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against Farda.
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We talked a little bit about him in less than
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two. He tried to raise morale by contrasting the two
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cities in his famous funeral oration.
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Okay, here we have a table that lists the differences
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between Athens and Sparta, so Athens, its main political body,
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is a large assembly.
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Members of smaller council, chosen at random to serve one
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year terms assembly is made up of free males and
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large citizen Juries.
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Grand Court systems now government Sparta was led by two
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Kings. That's why we call it an oligarchy smaller and
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less powerful assembly than in Athens.
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Council made up of free adult males.
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Council members were elected for life, and F four is
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monitor both kings and council.
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So you can tell there was a lot of differences
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in terms of government in these two city states.
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Okay, let's take a look at the interactive activity.
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You can find this on the you See Page and
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on your book as well, basically were given two sides.
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We have Athens.
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We have sparred on the right, and there's a little
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blue button with writing in it in the center, and
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we have to move it into the right category.
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Is it referring to Athens, or is he referring to
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Sparta? So the first one says women don't have a
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say in political life.
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They have no say in political life.
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That would be Athens.
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So I'll put it on the left side.
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It gives me a green button.
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It's correct.
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This one says My city state is ruled by two
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kings. We know that Sparta is an oligarchy, meaning it
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is ruled by two kings.
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Next, women can run a family's estate.
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We know that is not possible in Athens, so it
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must be sparred up.
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Only boys study poetry and citizenship in spite of girls
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actually do receive an education as well.
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So that would be Athens next.
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I began preparing for war when I was seven.
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This one is very hard to forget that it is
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sparred up.
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It's something that, personally I find very shocking that at
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the age of seven, they begin their military training.
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Next, I was a student of Socrates.
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That would be Athens.
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Women have the right to inherit property.
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That would be Sparta.
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As you can see, Sparta has a little bit more
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gender equality than Athens did.
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And lastly, I live in a democracy.
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Probably the biggest way to distinguish between Athens and Sparta
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is the fact that Athens was a democracy.
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So there we go.
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We got all of them correct.
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You can try doing this in your own time and
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that is it for today's lesson.
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You can check out the lesson check questions and the
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self assessments on this You see page as well, just
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to make sure everything is clear.