Summary of article 2

The Spartan Way

Men’s daily life

Sparta was so successful because their people did not want luxury - they were trained to become warriors since they were 7 years old. One Spartan mother said once to her son "whit your shield on it ". They had a brutal training in the day and they just knew the basics in the school. They had to show they were mature enough and endure difficult situations. Sparta had a really strong army and they conquered Messenia, which gave Sparta a bigger area to control and Sparta became increasingly concerned with military training. For more than 200 years Sparta was the most powerful city-state in ancient Greece.

Their bringing up was strict from the very beginning. If the babies looked sick they would leave them in the mountain to die. The kids were whipped for making the slightest mistake in training. While Athens boys were learning about school and life, Spartan boys were out in the battle. Spartan boys were only taught the basics of reading and writing.

Woman power

Unlike other ancient women, Spartan women were vary free to have power over a lot of things - they could own a public office or have their own property. Spartan women were more free then Athens women. For instance, in Athens girls and married woman needed to be at the house working in the house and they rarely went outside. They went outside on special occasions such as religious festivals and funerals. Spartan women could not were jewellary or perfume or nice clothes, but they could own a house hold and run their own business. Spartan men were only allowed to be soldiers, and could not run their bossiness like women.

The end of Sparta

Sparta and Athens were bitter enemies. Athens was conquered in the Peloponnesian and lost the war in the year 404 B.C. But Sparta’s dominance lasted until 371 B.C., when it was crushed by Thebes.