Download SPARTA AND ATHENS

ONE POLIS VERSUS ANOTHER
 At
the end of the Dark Age nobles who
acquired land had seized power from the
kings.
 Many farmers borrowed money from
nobles that they couldn’t repay and lost
their lands.
 By 650 B.C. farmers demanded a change
in the power structure.
 Growing unhappiness led to the rise of
tyrants.
 Tyrants
overthrew the nobles with the
backing of the common people.
 Tyrants made themselves popular by
building marketplaces, temples, and
walls to protect the city.
 Although tyrants helped change the
power structure of Greece, rule by one
person is not what Greek people wanted.
 Once
tyrants had fallen out of favor, most
city-states in Greece became
democracies or an oligarchy.
 Sparta became an oligarchy and Athens
became a democracy. These were the
two most powerful governments in
Greece.
Founded
by the Dorians during the
Dark Age.
Sparta expanded their territory
through vicious conquest.
Spartans enslaved their conquered
and called them helots.
The military was of the utmost importance to
Sparta.
 At age seven, boys left their families to live in
barracks and were harshly treated in order to
make them tough.
 Sparta males lived in barracks as soldiers until
age thirty. Then they were allowed to live at
home, but had to remain in the military until age
sixty.
 Spartan soldiers only ate twice a day and ate a
vile dish called black broth which consisted of
pork boiled in animal blood and vinegar.

 The
government of Sparta was an
oligarchy with two kings and a council of
elders.
 All men over 30 could vote on who would
be ephors (enforce laws).
 Spartans did not allow outsiders to enter
Sparta, banned foreign travel abroad,
and discouraged its citizens from study
literature and the arts.
 Women
in Sparta were trained in sports,
running, wrestling and throwing.
 Wives lived at home while husbands
lived away at Army barracks.
 Because their husbands were away,
Spartan women were freer than other
Greek women and were able to own
property.
 Athens
was vastly different than Sparta.
 Athenian boys went to school to learn
how to read, write and arithmetic.
 Boys were also able to participate in
sports and learn how to play instrument
in school.
 At age 18, boys graduated from school
and became citizens.
 Athenian
girls stayed at home and
learned how to sew and perform other
household duties.
 The role of a women in Athens was to
learn how to take care of a family and
children. Women in Athens could not
become citizens.
 Early
Athens was ruled by landowning
nobles.
 Many farmer had sold themselves into
debt in order to pay for lands they
bought from the nobles.
 A noble named Solon negotiated an
agreement that freed the farmers from
noblemen’s control and this made him
very popular among the common
people.
 The
common people pressed Solon to
give away the wealthy noble’s land, but
he refused.
 A tyrant named Peisistratus seized power
from Solon and divided up large estates
among the poor, loaned them money and
gave them jobs.
 Once Peisistratus died, he was replaced
by Cleisthenes who reorganized
government in Athens.