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Athens
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Sparta
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Athens: Source Documents
Document 1: _____________________________________________________
“Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a
democracy…
As for social standing, advancement is open to everyone, according to ability. While every
citizen has equal opportunity to serve the public, we reward our most distinguished citizens
by asking them to make our political decisions. Nor do we discriminate against the poor. Any
man may serve his country no matter how low his position on the social scale.”
An excerpt from Pericles’ Funeral Oration, given to Athenians in about 430 B.C.
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) What type of government was Pericles describing?
3) What were the expectations of citizens under this type of government?
Document 2: _____________________________________________________
“Athens in the 4th to 5th century BCE had an extraordinary system of government, whereby
all male citizens had equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to
participate directly in the political arena. This system was democracy. Further, not only did
citizens participate in a direct democracy whereby they themselves made the decisions by
which they lived, but they also actively served in the institutions that governed them, and so
they directly controlled all parts of the political process.”
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) Who was granted citizenship?
3) What rights were given to citizens?
NAME_________________________________
Document 3/4: _____________________________________________________
“Since human reason is the most godlike part of human nature, a life guided by human
reason is superior to any other…For man, this is the life of reason, since the faculty of reason
is the distinguishing characteristic of human beings”
A quotation from Aristotle, who lived in Greece from 384 to 322 B.C.
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
A quotation from Socrates, who lived from about 470 to about 399 B.C.
1) Are these primary or secondary sources?
2) Based on these passages, what can be suggested about the values of Athenians? Why do you
think that?
Document 5: _____________________________________________________
“Let him submit to me! Only the god of death is so relentless, Death submits to no one—so
mortals hate him most of all the gods. Let him bow down to me! I am the greater king, I am
the elder-born, I claim—the greater man.”
― Homer, The Iliad
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) What does this piece of literature say about religious beliefs in Athens?
NAME_________________________________
Document 6: _____________________________________________________
Marriage was a contract between two men, the bride's father and her groom. Although
most Athenian women were married in their in their mid-teens it was usual for the groom to
be a man in his thirties.
A wife's primary purpose was the production of legitimate heirs. To claim citizenship
under the laws of Pericles, an Athenian had to prove both parents were astoi. For a man
being astos meant he was a citizen, but for a women being astos simply meant she
transmitted citizenship to her sons, and that her daughters could be breeders of citizens.
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) According to the text, what is the significance of women being citizens?
NAME_________________________________
Sparta: Source Documents
Document 1: _____________________________________________________
They learned to read and write for purely practical reasons; but all other forms of education
they banned from the country, books and treatises being included in this quite as much as
men. All their education was directed toward prompt obedience to authority, stout
endurance of hardship, and victory or death in battle.
Cf. Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, chap. xvi (50B); Isocrates, Panathenaicus
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) Based on this source, what are three things highly valued by the Spartans?
Document 2: _____________________________________________________
Women also did physical exercises and training. They were taught dancing, music, wrestling,
running, discus and javelin. They could also ride chariots and horses, even competing in their
very own female-only Spartan version of the Olympics. The aim of their training was so they
could produce healthy Spartan children and protect Sparta if they had to whilst the men were
away.
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) Based on this source, what can be said about gender roles in Sparta?
Document 3: _____________________________________________________
All Spartan citizens were theoretically equal in status. To maintain this equality Spartans wore
simple clothing and no jewelry, nor did they accumulate possessions. Their houses were
equally unadorned, and their lifestyle overall was frugal and austere. Distinctions among
citizens were based on athletic prowess and military talent, and the Spartan educational
system prepared boys, starting at age seven, to be soldiers.
AP World History: An Essential Course book. Ethel Wood. WoodYard Publications. 2008. (p. 84)
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) What does this source tell you about the social order/social class in Sparta? Support your
answer with evidence.
NAME_________________________________
Document 4: _____________________________________________________
Sparta was different from the rest of Greece because it focused almost exclusively on military
training and excellence. Sparta was also an oligarchy, meaning it was ruled by two kings.
Both kings inherited their thrones and were said to be descendants of Heracles, also known
as Hercules. Not all who lived in Sparta were considered citizens. To be a citizen, one had to
undertake the Spartan education process known as agoge. To be eligible for the agoge, one
would have had to be able to trace their ancestry back to the original inhabitants of the city.
1) Is this a primary or secondary source?
2) What type of government did Sparta have?
3) How did they determine who could be a citizen?
Document 5/6: _____________________________________________________
During the Ancient Greek symposium (“to drink together”) the leader of the event,
called a symposiarch, would dilute the wine and determine how strong it would be. If
people got out of hand and became intoxicated, they were the talk of the town and
not looked favorably upon. It was a social event.
“For sensible men I prepare only three kraters [what the wine was served in]: one for
health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for
sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine
any more – it belongs to bad behavior; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for
rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture;
the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness.”
-A fragment from Eubulus’s play Semele or Dionysus written in 375 BC
1) Label each document as a primary or secondary source.
2) What do these sources suggest about Spartans way of life?
3) What does it say about their values?