Sparta and Athens
Sparta and Athens were two cities in ancient Greek. These states rivaled in terms of values, lifestyles, and cultural diversities. Athens was the first city to be inhabited in ancient Greece, and culture evolved into western civilization. In the middle age, Athens city declined but later recovered and became prosperous during the Crusades era through the Italian trade. Thus, in the 19th century, Athens became the independent state in Greek.
On the contrary, Sparta was founded by King Lacedaemon. Dorian migration led to the Classical Sparta, which was characterized by martial power that later led to the conquer of Athens. The medieval times were constituents of war that scattered Sparta, but later Modern-day Sparta was rebuilt in 1834 (Powell, 2016).
Both city-states differ in beliefs and culture. Sparta had its army and protected itself and the entire Greek. They were contented with what they had. However, Athens wanted to acquire more land in Greek and, thus, the emergency of war in Greek. Sparta had a powerful army, but Athens had a naval unit to counter them. Athens was more significant that the Spartans because they were democratic. They grew infrastructure and valued the growth and development of their military departments (Powell, 2016). Their government form was limited democracy, whose leaders were elected annually. This is why Athens is regarded as the mother of democracy. This was different from Sparta because it practiced Oligarchy. Education was vital in Athens as compared to Sparta, which forced boys into the army.
If I were to live in ancient times, I would choose Athens. It was democratic, valued education, pleasant Mediterranean climate, and its focus on economic development (Powell, 2016).
References
Powell, A. (2016). Athens and Sparta: constructing Greek political and social history from 478 BC. Routledge.