8/8/2019 Terrell DG, Thinking About Athens and Sparta

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1David Terrell: Thinking about Athens and Sparta

Thinking about the Political Systems of Athens and Sparta

David G Terrell

June, 2009

Both systems attempted to create ideal citizens through the inculcation of virtue in the young, while

disagreeing in the virtues deemed most important. Athens emphasized principles of law rooted in

humanistic philosophical principles, equipping its young men with the skills to understand why

attendance to public duties, order and discipline were needful in an expansive, flexible and adaptable

paradigm that often floundered in its ability to act decisively but preserved diversity of thought. Sparta

sought its patterns in the dictates of the gods, forming a static, unyielding pattern of virtues based on the

survival of the polis in the face of a hostile world. This view was exclusive, yet it produced focused,

dedicated individuals capable of decisive action emboldened by its intensive faith in divine will.

Both systems attempted to place sovereign power in the hands of those best-qualified to wield it, while

disagreeing in the characteristics that constituted best-qualified. Athens looked for individuals who, while

capable of exercising good judgment and cogent analysis of complex political and philosophical issues,

found the exercise of authority distasteful. Sparta relied upon heredity, balanced only by the investiture ofauthority in two families and checked by a body of men of demonstrated ability elected by a citizenry

steeped in the overarching value of the martial virtues to the diminishing of many others.

Both systems endorsed involuntary servitude as a means of concentrating human energy for economic

purposes, while differing in the magnitude of the institution and the perceived humanity of those

enslaved. Athens acknowledged the humanity of its slaves and occasionally deplored the condition, while

being slow to shake the essence of the argument that slavery was a natural condition for the defeated

enemy, convicted criminal and hopelessly indebted. Sparta strongly emphasized the militancy of its

economic needs and the subjugated state of the helots, only evolving when there weren't enough Spartans

to answer the military needs of the city.

David G Terrell

Herndon, Virginia

Mostly distilled from Kittos The Greeksand Cartledge's The Spartansbut, I am currently working

through Freeman's Egypt, Greece and Rome, Martin's Ancient Greece, and Herodotus' Histories,which

also affect my thinking.

David G. Terrell, 2009-2010, except where otherwise noted, content is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-

Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.For permission to reprint under terms outside the license, contact

davidterrell80@hotmail.com.

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