This is my report on Sparta and Athens, two very important city-states in Greece. I don"t know that much about them, but I hope they are interesting so I can get through this report. So I guess I better get started. I"ll start with the one that sounds the coolest.
Sparta.
Sparta is my favorite of the two cities in my report because in my opinion they were the most interesting. The education system, the government, their way of life, all revolved around war. .
There is a story about a Spartan boy who stole a fox. In order to hide the fox he hid it under his cloak and let it gnaw at him rather than get caught, so he died of the wounds. If he had been caught, he wouldn"t get in trouble for stealing it, but for allowing it to be found. .
This is a good illustration of how their education worked, to produce perfect, brave, and willing soldiers. .
People/Social Classes.
There were three main social classes in ancient Sparta. They were the Spartiates, the Periokoi, and the Helots.
Spartiate is the term used for Spartan citizens who has gone through their military training. They were eligible to be kings and they were part of the assembly. These guys were tougher than tough. You"ll see why when I explain a Spartan's upbringing.
The Periokoi (or "dwellers around") were the free people of Sparta, mostly farmers and merchants who didn"t have the full citizenship of the Spartiates.
In 725 B.C., the Spartans realized they needed more fertile land for their increasing population, so they looked southwest to the land of Messenia. They conquered the Messenians and took their fertile plains. The Messenians revolted in 640 B.C., almost beating the Spartans, and almost destroying the whole city itself. So now, the Messenian population outnumbered their population ten to one! It wouldn"t be long before the Messenians would overrun their conquerors, so the Spartans did something as revolutionary as the Athenian democracy in the north.