Comparison of Athens and Sparta

Athens vs. Sparta: Political Differences

Athens was a democracy, while Sparta was a monarchy with two kings sharing power, intended to promote egalitarianism.

Social Distinctions and Equality

In Sparta, citizens were discouraged from flaunting wealth to promote equality. However, Athens afforded greater freedoms than Sparta.

Conservatism in Sparta was evident in the discouragement of flaunting wealth or exploiting one's position.

Treatment of Women

In Athens, women faced heavy discrimination, were kept secluded, and excluded from public spaces. In contrast, Spartan women enjoyed more freedom and were expected to be as tough as men and were present in public due to men being away for military training, managing businesses and farms.

Similarities: Childbearing Expectations

Both Athenian and Spartan women were expected to bear children every two years to maintain population levels.

Military and Naval Power

Athens was a naval power reliant on horsemen, while Sparta was a military power reliant on infantry. Socrates was a member of the Athenian infantry.

Military Training for Boys

Both Athenian and Spartan boys underwent military training. However, Spartan boys faced harsher treatment, being taken from their parents at age 12 and living in barracks until age 30.

Spartan Barracks Life and Marriage

Spartan men lived in barracks from age 12 to 30. At 28, they were allowed to marry but had to sneak out of the barracks to do so. Even after moving out at 30, they were expected to take every meal with their comrades.

Spartan Women's Physical Training

Spartan girls participated in physical competitions, such as jumping and hitting their buttocks with their heels, to develop rhythm for phalanx formations where rhythm was crucial for success in battle.

Naval Warfare Tactics

Naval warfare involved iron rams on ships, boarding, and hand-to-hand combat with swords. Ballistas and bows and arrows were also used. A coxswain kept the beat for the oarsmen.

The main strategy was to ram the opponent's boat on the side to break it in half.

Spartan Warriors vs. Persian Immortals

Spartan warriors were considered tougher than Persian Immortals due to better diet and physical build.

Gunpowder

Gunpowder was not used in naval warfare at this time because it had not yet been introduced from China. The Chinese first used gunpowder for firecrackers before realizing its potential as a weapon.

Gunpowder came to Europe and the New World through Marco Polo's travels.

Slavery in Athens and Sparta

Slavery was essential in both Athens and Sparta. In Athens, it freed men from heavy labor considered beneath them.

In Sparta, slaves, known as helots, performed heavy labor on farms and construction sites due to men being occupied with military training. The Spartans feared helot uprisings and implemented strategies to keep them in line.

Origins of Slavery

Slaves were often captured in war. The Spartans enslaved people from other Greek city-states, which caused tension as other city-states felt Sparta overstepped its boundaries by enslaving Greeks.

Racism

Racism did not become a significant factor in Europe until after 1492. Before the African slave trade, indentured servants, often Irish and Welsh, sold themselves to ship captains to pay for their passage to the New World. These servants were often brutally mistreated but could blend in and escape, unlike African slaves.

The shift to African slavery was partly driven by the inability of indentured servants to be easily identified if they ran away.

Victorious armies would often put the men to the sword and keep the women.

Darwin and Racism

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," particularly the phrase "preservation of favored races in the struggle for life," contributed to racism by implying the existence of unfavored races. This justified European colonization and led to the pseudoscience of eugenics.

Eugenics and Hereditary Courts

Eugenics is the selective breeding of humanity. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many countries established hereditary courts based on eugenic theory to prevent people with undesirable genes from reproducing through measures like castration.

The last hereditary court in Europe was shut down in Sweden in the mid-1980s.

Nazi society was a eugenicist society.