Document Based Question

  Sparta and Athens differed in many way including government, the difference between citzen and not a citzen and also the treatment of their women; these differences  were so critical it caused them to continue to be enemies even after Sparta helped Athens in the Persian war.
    Athens is the reason why we have a democracy because they believe in a direct democracy meaning the people pick the way  Athens should be governed.  For example in document 2, Pericles says "Our adminstration places power in the hands of the many instead of the few : this is why it is called democracy ." They also believe that unlike in Sparta where if you were a slave then you were not involved in making decisions , you were able to have a voice too , Also in reference to document 2 where Pericles says "Nor  does poverty bar the way --if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his conditions." In Sparta  which is a militaristic state they believe that only the few who are appointed to make laws and run the state should run it and everybody else should be ready for battle.  For example in document 3 , Demaratus states" For though they are free men , they are not entirley free. They accept the Law as their master. And they respect this master more their your subject respect you."  Spartan had respect for the people who went to wars and their royal families. There were people in Athens that believed that the common people gave Athens its power so they should be respected for example in document 3 , it reads First it is the right that there the poor and common have advantages over the nobles and the rich;  for it the common who  row the ships and give the city its power .... than the armored troops (aristocrats ) and the gentry.
      These City-States also differed in who was a citzen and who was not. for example in document 8, Starbo said ," though the neighboring people were subject to the Spartans ,still they had equal rights, sharing both in the rights of citizenship and in the offices of state, they were called Helots." Corithian gave a speech that ask the people of Sparta " Have you ever thought out what... The Athenians are like or how vastly and indeed utterly , they differ from yourselves? I believes he is questioning the Spartans about do they think their running their city-states right? In Athens the people rich or poor make the city-state right.
   The last way Athens and Sparta differ is the way they treat their women. In Athens , there is a way that women should act and be but they are not like in Sparta where women are just sex objects use to make babies. For example in document 5 Xenophon says " In Athens , the girls who are destined to become mother and are brought up in the approved fashion, live on the very plainest fare, with a a most meager allowance of delicacies." He also say" But Lycurgus (of Sparta) thought the labor of slave women sufficent to supply clothing. He believed motherhood to be the most important function of  freeborn woman." Also In each city-states woman are not considered citizens because in document 6 the number of citizens in Athens 165,000 and in Sparta there are 32,000 and I am pretty sure they did not count the women.
   These differences between Athens and Sparta cause them to continue to be enemies.