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Western Civilization I page. |
I. EARLY GREECE - (CA 3000 B.C. - 1100 B.C.)
CRETAN CIVILIZATION
- THE FIRST IMPORTANT SOCIETY IN THE GREEK WORLD WAS BASED ON THE LARGE ISLAND OF CRETE. THE PEOPLE OF CRETE WERE NOT GREEK (PROBABLY FROM ASIA MINOR) BUT THEIR INFLUENCE ON GREEK CULTURE WAS VERY SIGNIFICANT.
- THE LEADING CITY OF ANCIENT CRETE WAS KNOSSOS WHICH WAS DISCOVERED, AFTER HAVING DISAPPEARED FOR MANY CENTURIES, IN 1900 A.D. BY THE ENGLISH ARCHAEOLOGIST SIR ARTHUR EVANS.
- THE CIVILIZATION FOUND ON CRETE WAS CALLED MINOAN.
- BY 2000 B.C., THE MINOANS BEGAN CONSTRUCTION OF A VAST PALACE IN KNOSSOS. THIS PALACE INDICATED THAT THE MINOANS WERE GREAT TECHNICAL BUILDERS USING A RATHER SOPHISTICATED PLUMBING SYSTEM.
- MINOANS ACHIEVED THEIR GREATEST DISTINCTION, HOWEVER, IN THE GRACE AND BEAUTY OF THEIR ART. THEIR ART VALUED STYLE AND ELEGANCE AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE GREAT PALACE OF KNOSSOS. THEIR POTTERY WAS HIGHLY DECORATIVE AND SHOWED MUCH SOPHISTICATION.
- THE MINOANS WERE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN A PEACEFUL PEOPLE WHO DID NOT BUILD FORTIFICATIONS.
- WOMEN PLAYED A PROMINENT ROLE IN MINOAN SOCIETY AND THE RELIGION WAS MATRIARCHAL.
- BECAUSE OF THEIR STRATEGIC GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION BETWEEN GREECE AND EGYPT, MINOANIANS BECAME GREAT TRADERS. THERE WAS MUCH INTERACTION WITH THE GREEK MAINLAND, AND EARLY MAINLAND GREEK ART, ARCHITECTURE AND RELIGION REVEAL MINOAN INFLUENCE.
- THERE IS STILL DISAGREEMENT AS TO THE FATE OF MINOAN CIVILIZATION WHICH FELL AROUND 1380 B.C.
GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE
- THE GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SHAPING ITS CULTURE:
- GREECE IS VERY MOUNTAINOUS, HAS MANY SMALL VALLEYS, AND POOR QUALITY SOIL.
- THIS FACT AIDED THE GROWTH OF SMALL, INDEPENDENT, CITY-STATES.
- IT ALSO MADE THEM DEPEND ON OUTSIDE SOURCES FOR FOOD.
- GREECE LIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA.
- THIS NEARNESS TO THE SEA MADE MANY OF ITS PEOPLE NATURAL SAILORS.
- THIS ALSO HELPED THE GREEKS TO DEVELOP IN ISOLATION TO OTHER PEOPLES, WHO THEY REGARDED AS BARBARIANS.
- THE SOUTHERN MOST PART OF GREECE, THE PELOPONNESUS, HAD FERTILE SOIL.
- THIS FACT ENABLED THE SPARTANS TO LIVE ISOLATED BECAUSE THEY WERE SELF-SUFFICIENT.
MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION - THE FIRST GREEK MAINLAND CIVILIZATION (CA. 1600 - 1100 B.C.)
- THE ANCIENT GREEKS WERE MEMBERS OF THE INDO-EUROPEANS WHO SETTLED GREECE FROM THE BALKAN AREA TO THE NORTH.
- THE MYCENAEANS SETTLED IN THE PELOPONNESUS.
- REFERRED TO THEMSELVES AS HELLENES AND THEIR COUNTRY AS HELLAS.
- ELABORATE FORTIFICATIONS AND LARGE NUMBERS OF WEAPONS SHOW THAT THE MYCENAEANS WERE MUCH MORE WARLIKE THAN THE MINOANS.
- BETWEEN 1400 B.C. AND 1200 B.C., MYCENAE, A MAJOR CITY OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION, REACHED ITS GREATEST HEIGHT. MASSIVE FORTIFICATIONS WERE BUILT AROUND THE CITY AT THIS TIME.
- EACH OF THE CITIES DURING THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD ARE THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER AND RULED BY POWERFUL SEPARATE KINGS WHO WERE PROBABLY THE CHIEF RELIGIOUS OFFICER.
- THE ONLY TIME THE EARLY GREEK CITIES APPEARED TO HAVE UNITED WAS DURING THE WAR AGAINST TROY, A PROSPEROUS CITY IN ASIA MINOR. THIS WAR AGAINST TROY WAS ROMANTICIZED IN HOMER'S ILIAD.
- THE WAR AGAINST TROY WAS THE LAST FEAT OF THE MYCENAEAN AGE. NEAR 1100 B.C., MYCENAE WAS OVERRUN. THE TRADITIONAL VIEW IS THAT ATTACKS ON MYCENAEAN TOWNS CAME FROM THE DORIC INVASION. IT IS STILL NOT CLEAR WHO THESE DORIANS WERE.
DARK AGE OF GREECE (1100 - 800 B.C.)
- THERE WAS A SHARP CULTURAL DECLINE DURING THIS PERIOD. THE ART OF WRITING VANISHED AND CONSTRUCTION OF MASSIVE BUILDINGS CEASED.
- THE DORIANS (THOSE WHO SPOKE DORIC GREEK) PLAYED A MAJOR PART IN ENDING MYCENAEAN DOMINATION WHICH IS LOOKED UPON BY MANY HISTORIANS NOW AS A LIBERATION, i.e., THE DOMINATION OF THE PALACE-CENTERED KINGS WAS ENDED THUS ENABLING THE EMERGENCE OF SELF-GOVERNMENT WITHIN GREEK STATES.
THE GREEK RENAISSANCE (CA 800 - 600 B.C.)
- GREEK LITERATURE AFTER THE DARK AGE APPEARS IN THE FORM OF EPIC POETRY. TWO EPIC POEMS ASCRIBED TO HOMER WERE THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY.
ILIAD
- PORTRAIT OF A WARRIOR ARISTOCRACY IN WHICH GREATNESS IN COMBAT IS THE HIGHEST VIRTUE. THE POEM FOCUSES ON THE GREEK AND TROJAN WARS WHICH HAD OCCURRED AT LEAST FIVE CENTURIES BEFORE HOMER AND MANY ANACHRONISMS CAN BE FOUND.
- THE GODS FOUND IN THE STORY:
- ZEUS - FATHER OF THE GODS, CHIEF OF ALL THE GODS ON MT. OLYMPUS (JUPITER).
- HERA - JEALOUS WIFE OF ZEUS (JUNO).
- APOLLO - GOD OF THE SUN, MUSIC, POETRY, MEDICINE.
- APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE AND BEAUTY (VENUS).
- POSEIDON - GOD OF THE SEA - SYMBOL OF HIS AUTHORITY IS THE TRIDENT (NEPTUNE).
- HADES - GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD AND THE DEAD (PLUTO).
- ATHENA - GODDESS OF WISDOM, ATHENS IS HER FAVORITE CITY (MINERVA).
- HERMES - MESSENGER GOD OF ZEUS - IS AS FAST AS THE SPEED OF THOUGHT - PATRON GOD OF RUNNERS (MERCURY).
- ARES - GOD OF WAR (MARS).
- MAJOR MORTALS IN THE STORY:
- AGAMEMNON - KING OF MYCENAE - COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE GREEK FORCES.
- HELEN - A GREEK WIFE OF THE KING OF SPARTA, MENELAUS, SHE HAD A "FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS" IN HER DEFENSE.
- ACHILLES' - BEST FIGHTER ON GREEK SIDE - COULD ONLY BE HARMED IN HIS HEEL.
- ODYSSEUS - MOST CLEVER AND INTELLIGENT OF THE GREEK HEROES - A GOOD FIGHTER - WAS THE SUBJECT OF HOMER'S OTHER GREAT EPIC POEM - THE ODYSSEY.
- AJAX AND DIOMEDES - FAMOUS BACK UP HEROES ON THE GREEK SIDE.
- PATROCLUS - GREEK BOY WONDER - WHOSE IDOL IS ACHILLES.
*** THE TROJAN SIDE ***
- PRIAM - NOBLE KING OF TROY.
- HECTOR - SON OF KING PRIAM - IS TROY'S GREATEST HERO -A GOOD FIGHTER, FAITHFUL HUSBAND, LOVING FATHER, IS HOMER'S FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THE EPIC.
- PARIS - SON OF KING PRIAM AND BROTHER OF HECTOR - IS UNRELIABLE - AND THE CAUSE FOR MUCH TROUBLE AS HE KIDNAPPED HELEN FROM THE KING OF SPARTA.
- CASSANDRA - DAUGHTER OF KING PRIAM, HAD THE ABILITY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE, BUT WAS UNABLE TO GET ANYONE TO LISTEN TO HER.
- PRINCE AENEAS - COUSIN OF HECTOR, SON OF APHRODITE, WAS DESTINED TO BE ROME'S FOUNDER IN VIRGIL'S EPIC POEM, THE AENEID.
ODYSSEY
- CELEBRATES THE HERO ODYSSEUS WHO TRIUMPHS THROUGH CLEVERNESS RATHER THAN MILITARY POWERS.
SUMMARY OF HOMER'S GREAT EPIC POEMS. (WHY THEY HAVE ENDURED TO THIS PRESENT AGE).
1. HOMER OFFERS US TIMELESS INSIGHTS INTO OUR OWN HUMAN NATURE.
2. HIS STORY CHARACTERS ARE "UNIVERSAL TYPES."
3. MAJOR ETHICAL VALUES THAT PEOPLE LIVE BY ARE UNDERSCORED, i.e., VALUES SUCH AS COURAGE, LOYALTY, JUSTICE, FAITHFULNESS IN MARRIAGE, RESPECT FOR THE DEAD, ETC.
4. HE WAS THE FIRST TO HAVE A BALANCED PLOT, TO CONTRAST HIS CHARACTERS, AND TO USE A DEVICE FOR BUILDING SUSPENSE.
BESIDES HOMER, EARLY GREEK LITERATURE OWES MUCH TO HESIOD.
RELIGION
- IT WAS A POLYTHEISTIC RELIGION.
- GREEK GODS WERE NOT REMOTE BUT INTERVENED ACTIVELY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS.
- THEY ARE ANTHROPOMORPHIC AND GENERALLY CONSIDERED BENEVOLENT.
- MOST GODS WERE COMMON TO ALL GREEKS, BUT EACH LOCALITY HAD ITS OWN PATRON.
- THE GENERAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE VARIOUS GODS THROUGHOUT GREECE IS A SIGN OF THE PANHELLENIC CULTURE THAT AROSE DURING THE GREEK RENAISSANCE.
- ANOTHER IS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PANHELLENIC GAMES IN 776 B.C., i.e., THE OLYMPICS.
- ANOTHER SYMBOL OF GROWING PANHELLENISM WAS THE CONSULTING OF THE ORACLE OF DELPHI (APOLLO SPEAKING THROUGH THE MOUTH OF A PEASANT GIRL THAT WAS CHOSEN BY THE PRIESTS) WHICH BECAME COMMON AMONG THE GREEKS.
COLONIZATION
- THE OVERPOPULATION THAT OCCURRED ON THE GREEK MAINLAND DURING THE DARK AGE WAS SOLVED BY EXPORTING SURPLUS POPULATION.
- THIS COLONIZATION WAS VERY WIDESPREAD PARTICULARLY AROUND THE BLACK SEA, WESTERN ASIA MINOR, SICILY AND SOUTHERN ITALY.
- ALWAYS COLONIES WERE SETTLED NEAR THE EDGE OF THE SEA AND NOT THE INTERIOR.
- THIS OVERSEAS EXPANSION LED TO A REVIVAL OF TRADE.
- A COLONY BECAME A WHOLLY INDEPENDENT STATE.
ALPHABET
- THE GREEKS ADAPTED THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET TO THEIR OWN LANGUAGE. TWO VERSIONS OF THIS ALPHABET EMERGED:
1. WESTERN VERSION - USED AND MODIFIED BY THE ETRUSCANS, ROMANS AND EVENTUALLY THE WESTERN WORLD.
2. EASTERN VERSION - USED BY THE GREEKS AND LATER THE RUSSIAN AND OTHER SLAVIC LANGUAGES.
ART
- NEARLY ALL SURVIVING EXAMPLES OF GREEK PAINTING CAME FROM VASES. LIKE SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE, GREEK POTTERY BORROWED FROM OTHER CULTURES AND GREATLY ENHANCED IT.
- THE OLDEST ARCHITECTURAL STYLE WAS DORIC - COLUMNS RESTED DIRECTLY ON THE FOUNDATION WITHOUT ANY BASE AND TOPPED WITH A SIMPLE CAPITAL.
II. THE POLIS
- BETWEEN 800 AND 323 B.C., GREEK LIFE WAS ORGANIZED AROUND THE POLIS OR CITY-STATE. THERE WERE AT LEAST 700 OF THEM IN GREECE DURING THIS TIME.
- A COMMUNITY OF CITIZENS (ONLY MEN) AND WOMEN AS WELL AS SLAVES AND RESIDENT ALIENS WHO HAD NO RIGHTS.
- SLAVES WERE USUALLY OBTAINED FROM WARS.
- THE GREEK POLEIS USUALLY SHARED THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS:
- THEY WERE USUALLY SMALL IN GEOGRAPHICAL SIZE.
- THEY HAD SMALL POPULATIONS (ATHENS AND SURROUNDING AREAS WAS THE MOST POPULOUS WITH BETWEEN 200,000 - 300,000 PEOPLE).
- THERE WAS USUALLY AN ACROPOLIS - A FORTIFIED HILL IN WHICH THE PEOPLE COULD DEFEND THEMSELVES.
- THERE WAS A PUBLIC MEETING PLACE, OR MARKET PLACE, CALLED AN AGORA - IT WAS ALWAYS A SACRED PLACE.
- THE CITY-STATES WERE FIERCELY INDEPENDENT, AND SELF-GOVERNING.
- THERE WAS STRONG ECONOMIC COMPETITION AMONG THEM.
- THEY FREQUENTLY FOUGHT WITH EACH OTHER.
THE GREEK PEOPLE THEMSELVES DID SHARE A COMMON HERITAGE:
- THEY SPOKE A COMMON LANGUAGE.
- THEY HAD SIMILAR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
- THEY HAD COMMON GAMES - THE OLYMPICS.
- THEY SHARED A COMMON LITERATURE - IN THE WRITINGS OF HOMER AND HESIOD.
BY 700 A.D., KINGS HAD VANISHED IN NEARLY ALL POLEIS (SPARTA WAS AN EXCEPTION).
- DURING THIS TIME, THE ARISTOCRACY REPLACED THE MONARCHIES, AND THEY IN TURN WERE REPLACED BEGINNING IN THE 600's B.C. WITH "TYRANTS" WHICH DID NOT HAVE A PEJORATIVE MEANING BUT SIMPLY IMPLIED THAT THEY HELD ABSOLUTE POWER.
- THE TYRANTS HELPED TO UNDERMINE THE SYSTEM IN WHICH BIRTH WAS A PREREQUISITE TO LEADERSHIP - PERSONAL ABILITY AND MILITARY SUCCESS BECAME THE KEY CRITERIA.
- THE BASIC MEAN OF LIVELIHOOD FOR THE POLEIS WAS AGRICULTURE DESPITE THE THIN AND ROCKY SOIL THROUGHOUT MUCH OF GREECE.
- UNLIKE ROME, GREECE DID NOT USE GANGS OF SLAVES FOR AGRICULTURE BUT RATHER FOR MINING AND STONE QUARRYING.
- IN THE POLEIS, WOMEN PLAYED NO ACTIVE ROLE IN POLITICS AND DID NOT VOTE. TWO OF THE MOST FAMOUS POLEIS WERE SPARTA AND ATHENS.
SPARTA
- LEADER OF THE DORIAN STATES IN THE PELOPONNESUS.
- GEOGRAPHICALLY, THIS POLIS WAS CUT OFF FROM OTHER GREEK POLEIS BY TWO MOUNTAIN RANGES AND THUS ISOLATED.
- THINLY POPULATED COMPARED TO ATHENS.
- TRADE WITH OTHER POLEIS WAS DISCOURAGED.
- ONLY ONE SPARTAN COLONY (IN ITALY) HAS EVER BEEN DISCOVERED.
- SPARTA BECAME HIGHLY MILITARISTIC AND RIDGID AS A RESULT OF THEIR CONQUERING A NEIGHBORING PEOPLE, THE MESSENIANS AROUND 720 B.C. RATHER THAN SENDING OUT COLONIES TO RELIEVE THE PRESSURE OF OVERPOPULATION.
- THE MESSENIANS COMPRISED THE BOTTOM CLASS OF SPARTA AND MADE UP MOST OF WHAT WERE REFERRED TO AS HELOTS.
- THEY HAD NO RIGHTS AND WERE VIRTUAL SLAVES ALTHOUGH THEY WERE NOT PRIVATELY OWNED.
- IN 650 B.C., THE MESSENIANS REVOLTED AGAINST SPARTA BUT FAILED.
- SPARTA BECAME EVEN MORE MILITARISTIC AND RIDGID AFTER THIS SINCE THEY WERE GREATLY OUTNUMBERED BY THE MESSENIANS.
- SPARTA BECAME AN OLIGARCHY (RULED BY A SMALL NUMBER) INCLUDING TWO KINGS.
- A RIDGID CONSTITUTION ATTRIBUTED TO A LAWGIVER NAMED LYCURGUS WAS PUT IN PLACE AROUND 600 B.C.
- WHILE EVERY MALE CITIZEN OVER 30 HAD SOME VOTING POWER IN THE ASSEMBLY, THE LIMITED DEMOCRACY OF SPARTA YIELDED TO FAITH IN AN OLIGARCHY.
- IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SPARTA TRIED TO DOMINATE OTHER PELOPONNESIAN STATES BY CONQUEST. WHEN THIS FAILED, IT SOUGHT STRENGTH THROUGH ALLIANCES, e.g., PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE AROUND 530 B.C.
- SPARTAN SOCIAL LIFE BECAME ONE OF STRICT DISCIPLINE AND HARDSHIP.
- BARRACKS LIFE FOR BOYS BEGAN AT AGE 7, WITH EMPHASIS ON PHYSICAL ENDURANCE, AND MILITARY TRAINING. SPARTA HAD THE BEST ARMY IN ALL OF GREECE. IT WAS SAID OF THEM THAT "THEY ASKED NOT HOW MANY ENEMIES THERE WERE, ONLY WHERE THEY WERE."
- SPARTAN WOMEN WERE EXPECTED TO SHOW ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE FIRST TO THEIR FATHER AND LATER THEIR HUSBANDS.
- SPARTAN WOMEN TOOK PART IN PUBLIC GROUP EXERCISES AND MILITARY DRILLS.
ATHENS
- THE PRINCIPAL CITY OF THE REGION KNOWN AS ATTICA AND A LARGE POLIS WITH WIDESPREAD TRADING INTEREST.
- ITS POLITICAL HISTORY IS THE MOST VARIED OF ALL THE CITY-STATES OF GREECE.
- THE MONARCHY ENDED AROUND 683 B.C. AND WAS REPLACED BY AN OLIGARCHY UNDER ARCHONS (ADMINISTRATORS) WHO BECAME MEMBERS OF THE AREOPAGUS.
- THE AREOPAGUS WAS ACTUALLY MORE INFLUENTIAL THAN THE ARCHONS IN DETERMINING PUBLIC POLICY.
- IT WAS COMPOSED OF SENIOR MEN WITH PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP.
- AROUND 621 B.C., DRACO, A STATESMAN, PUBLISHED/CODIFIED THE LAW ON HOMICIDE WHICH WAS VERY SEVERE (DRACONIAN).
- IN 570 B.C., SOLON, A FORMER ARCHON, AVOIDED CIVIL WAR IN ATHENS BY CANCELING ALL AGRICULTURAL DEBTS.
- SOLON ALSO DIVIDED ALL CITIZENS INTO 4 CLASSES BASED ON THEIR INCOME FROM LAND.
- MEMBERS FROM THE THREE HIGHER CLASSES COULD HOLD PUBLIC OFFICE.
- THUS SOLON'S NEW SYSTEM ENDED PRIVILEGES BASED ON BIRTH.
- BECAUSE SOLON'S REFORMS DID NOT COVER LAND DISTRIBUTION FOR THE POOR, PISISTRATUS SEIZED CONTROL OF ATHENS IN 546 B.C. WITH THE AID OF THE LANDLESS.
- PISISTRATUS TOOK LAND AWAY FROM THE WEALTHY ARISTOCRATS AND DISTRIBUTED IT TO THE POOR.
- IT WAS UNDER PISISTRATUS THAT ATHENS BECAME AN IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL CENTER.
- HE ALSO INITIATED A SPLENDID PROGRAM OF PUBLIC WORKS.
- ALTHOUGH ARCHONS WERE STILL ELECTED TO THE AREOPAGUS, PISISTRATUS RULED AS A DICTATOR.
- AFTER PISISTRATUS' SON WAS OVERTHROWN, CLEISTHENES LED A REFORM MOVEMENT THAT ESTABLISHED THE BASIS OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY.
- HIS BASIC REFORM WAS THE CREATION OF A COUNCIL OF 500 BY WHICH ALL MALE CITIZENS OVER THE AGE OF 30 COULD SERVE FOR ONE YEAR.
- THE COUNCIL WAS CHOSEN AFRESH EVERY YEAR AND NO MAN COULD SERVE MORE THAN TWICE.
- THUS CLEISTHENES ENFORCED ROTATION OF SERVICE TO ENSURE THAT MOST MALE CITIZENS SERVED.
- THE COUNCIL OF 500 REPLACED THE AREOPAGUS IN POLITICAL POWER AND BECAME THE BASIS FOR DEMOCRACY IN ATHENS.
- THE ULTIMATE POWER IN CLEISTHENES' "DEMOKRATIA" WAS THE "DEMOS," THE MASS POPULATION WHICH MET IN THE ASSEMBLY. ALL ADULT MALE CITIZENS COULD ATTEND AND VOTE.
- HE INTRODUCED OSTRACISM IN WHICH CITIZENS COULD VOTE TO TEMPORARILY EXILE A FELLOW CITIZEN.
- JAILING WAS RARE.
- BY STAGES THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM CAME INTO THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE.
- THE GREAT MAJORITY OF ATHENIANS SUPPORTED DEMOCRACY BUT BOTH PLATO AND ARISTOTLE CONSIDERED DEMOCRACY A CORRUPT FORM OF CONSTITUTION.
- WOMEN IN ATHENS HAD NO POLITICAL OR LEGAL RIGHTS.
- COULD NOT ATTEND THE ASSEMBLY, HOLD OFFICE, OWN PROPERTY OR CONDUCT ANY LEGAL BUSINESS.
- THEY LIVED IN SECLUSION ATTENDING ONLY OCCASIONAL RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS.
- HUSBANDS AND WIVES LIVED IN SEPARATE PARTS OF THE HOUSE.
- GIRLS USUALLY MARRIED BETWEEN AGES 14-16 TO A MAN CHOSEN BY THEIR PARENTS.
A CONTRAST OF THE ATHENIAN AND SPARTAN WAY OF LIFE:
- ATHENS STRESSED THE INDIVIDUAL - SPARTA THE GROUP.
- ATHENS ENCOURAGED FREE INQUIRY - SPARTA WANTED UNQUESTIONED OBEDIENCE.
- ATHENS HAD EDUCATION FOR THE MIND AND BODY - SPARTA HAD EDUCATION FOR WARFARE.
- ATHENS HAD GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE - SPARTA HAD GOVERNMENT BY OLIGARCHY.
- ATHENS HAD FAMILY LIFE - SPARTA HAD BARRACKS LIFE BEGINNING AT AGE 7 FOR MALES.
- ATHENS HAD HIGH ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT - SPARTA BELIEVED THAT ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT WAS "AFFECTATION" (ARTIFICIAL).