The Ancient Greece civilization occurred from 800 to 500 B.C.E and was relatively a sophisticated period in time.

There had been over 1000 city-states or poleis, but the two of the most known poleis are Athens and Sparta. Athens and
Sparta contrasted each other, from their schools to their citizens. When we are asked which of the two city-states we
would live in, I claimed that I would be more Athenian because their education, economy, government, and treatment
of women and slaves were much more superior and just than the Spartans.

To begin with, the education system is very vital in a city-state as it the foundation of new generations to learn and
follow. Sparta wanted to produce soldiers that would fight and protect the city-state. They valued in discipline and
strength, focusing on the health of Spartan children rather than valuing reading and writing. Spartan boys suffer any
amounts of pain to create a brave soldier. Yet, their methods were poor, as they were underfed, forced to become
deceitful, and taught to intake any volume of discomfort. Athens's viewpoint on education contrasted very much from
Sparta's. They believed in having a healthy body, but also sharp and wise minds as well. In Athens, boys were educated
and taught in school and were given military training as well. Girls were taught household chores and learned to be
good wives. Because of the treatment Spartan boys endured to supposedly "strengthen" them, their constant infliction
of pain would further conclude on why being an Athenian would be much better, as they focused on having a strong
power of the mind and be in a capable mental state.

Additionally, Athens has a much better economy as well. Sparta's economy was based on farming and conquering
people. They dominated other nearby neighbors and turned them into slaves called helots. They made noncitizens,
Perioikoi, craft weapons, armory, and such. Sparta used iron bars as curse currency so that money would be hard to
steal. This economy had not been well organized compared to Athens's economy. The economy in Athens was based
on trade. Because they were are near the sea, they had a good harbor. Athenians had a marketplace called in Agora
where they could trade goods and items. Athens also created coins as currency to make trade easier. Athens could be
seen with an extremely stabilized economy as well as having one based on less violence used.

The government between the two poleis were very distinguished from one another. The government in Sparta was an
oglichary and had very large power distributed to a small group of people. The government consisted of the Council of
Elders and an Assembly. Citizens made up the Assembly but didn't have many powers in the government. On the other
hand, Athens had a democracy that allowed citizens to take part in government. Many Athenian men were able to
gather together and debate on issues and had many freedoms as Athenian citizens. It may seem unjust to say that
Athenians had more freedom in the government system since they didn't include women the Assemble. However,
neither did Spartans have women voting in their government. In fact, Spartan men didn't have much freedom either
because it was believed that free speech and thought would cause ideas to spread and begin to revolt. Because the
power was so concentrated in only a small mass of people the government won't be able to discuss and properly
address the laws they are voting on. This creates a corrupt government system and less stable than the Athenians had.

The topic of women's' rights in Sparta and Athens was the most controversial for me because of my gender in the day
and age I'm living in. Many people right now would believe that Athenian women didn't have many rights as Spartan
women. Athenian women were taught to do household chores, tend the children, and be a good wife. This is
controversial to how Spartan women are treated. They are encouraged to be fit, do sports, and fight for their city-state.
When looking at these two types of Greek women, we would rather choose to be Spartan because of the freedom
women in Sparta owned. Yet, we would need to consider that we are looking at another culture from a different period
of time than ours. At that period of time, women and men had certain duties and jobs they had to complete to survive.
the men would be the ones to do more intrepid jobs and the women would've had to sustain the house and complete the
chores that follower along. Athens had created a system that followed the same rules and that was what they believed
would sustain their city-state. It was just another step they took to create a functioning city-state. While Spartan women
are viewed as having rights in this day and age, Spartans viewed having strong women would just help then advance
further into creating the strongest, most powerful city-state physically. To them, having and encouraging women to be
strong was just to benefit the city-state and not intentioned to the well-being of women. And when they did focus on the
health of women, it was just so they would bare healthy boys. In Aristotle's "On a Good Wife," he says that "This, then,
is the province over which a woman should be minded to bear an orderly rule; for it seems not fitting that a man should
know all that passes within the house." This portion of the text would be viewed as unfair to women's right in this day.
However, the text, in other words, is concluding that a woman should be loyal to her husband and keep a clean soul.
Athenians don't lower the value of women, but honor honesty and faithfulness and the purity of Athenian women.

In both of The slaves were better treated in Athens compared to the Spartan slaves. Spartan slaves were mistreated,
those who were the strongest were killed to prevent any rebellions. On the other hand, Athens's slaves were treated with
more care and were not mistreated. Athen slaves would usually work, do chores around the house, and take care of the
children. They also worked in farms or factories, and the only position that was cruel to a slave was working in the
silver mines. Overall, the slave in Athen was treated with more freedom and ordered to work with less brutality.

By going over and discussing the government system, economy, educations, and treatment of women and slaves in
Sparta and Athens, we can conclude that Athens had done better jobs at the majority of the tasks.