Mediterranean Sea Mountains

The city-states Athens and Sparta were rivals in ancient Greece. Geographically the two were very close to each other, but they had a very different economy, cultural values, and way of governing. Both city-states had two very different ways of doing things. I will be highlighting the major differences.

To start off, the geography of Greece affected early settlements in many positive ways. One great example of the lands geography that made a positive impact on Greece was Mount Olympus, more importantly it’s height. Mount Olympus was and still is a very tall mountain. Since the mountain reached so far up into the sky, the top of it was

The Peloponnesian War pitted the Athenians against the Spartans. The Peloponnesians’ were an alliance of city-states controlled by Sparta. These two powerful city-states became locked in a struggle for dominance of the eastern Mediterranean area. The roots of the conflict and in particular this expedition is highly complex. As Thucydides says in his history of the war, the underlying cause was Spartan fear of Athens' expansive power. But, the triggering event was Athens' aggressive behavior towards Corinth, an ally of Sparta.

The Peloponnesian war was fought between the two city states in ancient Greece, being Athens and Sparta. These two cities had alliances that, between them, included close to every Greek city-state. The Peloponnesian war was inevitable because Athens was too hungry for power, and tried to take total control of Greece. Athens’s growth in military and economic power led to the beginning of a bloody war.

During 750-500 B.C.E, Ancient Greece is a place that is known for some city-states, called poleis. Each polis differ particular on economically, politically, and military, When in doubt, however, the city-states did not get along. Two of the most well known and powerful city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta is far better than Athens on the grounds that their armed force was strong and defensive.

Athens had a geographic advantage because they were very superior. The Athens lived by the Sea which was an advantage because they had an excellent trading system. Even though the mountains protected Sparta it also caused trading problems, the Spartans had no way to get around the massive mountains to trade with people. Athens was located on the coast and included a harbor. The Athenians had an advantage and a disadvantage for them because they had easy water access but during the time of

The geography of Greece affected its development because of the various islands and mountainous ranges there could not have a central government like Rome. They had polis’ or city states. A strategic political organization tool to control the many islands. The Mediterranean sea, mountains, islands, and climate isolated divided Greece into city states, virtually This led to a personal form of government which was an early form of democracy. City states came in various sizes, ranging from a few thousand inhabitants to a size of Athens. Each Polis was each fiercely independent and jealous of each others leading to fighting. But on the other hand the whole greek civilization was created on the Aegean Sea with deep pitted coastlines creating natural harbors. Making trade that much easier. Greece couldn't trade overland so the need to import and export goods oversee was needed. Greece imported metals, woods, and food from all over Cyprus, Egypt, Sicily. etc. Greece

In the period known as classical Greece in the years 800-323 BCE, Greece comprised of small city states (poleis) which were considered and operated as independent small countries. Amongst those city states Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and considered in Greek history as the most influential states to western civilisation. These two city states shared some common characteristics whilst in some instances they were very different from each other. Sparta and Athens had differences and similarities in the way they governed their city states, in how they established their military forces, how they treated women, their marriage customs and social gatherings

The civilians of Ancient Greece had to be resourceful. Most civilizations had rivers to channel, irrigate, and predict. Ancient Greece is a series of islands. This means that the people of Ancient Greece had to learn to live on the ocean. They had to deal with being more vulnerable to land attacks as they were used to battling with ships. And they also had to deal with huge ocean storms. These storms could destroy a new society with no notice. (Acrobatic, 2014)

One way was the sea. Athens was located on the Attica peninsula so they were surrounded by water on three sides and Athens built its naval supremacy of Triremes. The Triremes gave Athens control of the Mediterranean Sea so they controlled trade and gained the name the “Big Olive.” A lot of the battles of the Persian war were fought with navies and the Trireme allowed for them to win the narrow straits of Salamis. The sea also greatly impacted economy. The Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Aegean Sea connected all of the land and islands of Ancient Greece so they could trade with one another. The Sea also allowed for travel and they could trade with other countries like Egypt. They could make a profit for their natural resources and benefit from obtaining resources that were not natural to Greece at the time. The biggest impact geography had on Greece was the land. The land was dry with only 20% arable land and it was extremely mountainous. The mountains ran from the northwest part of Greece to the southeast part along the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the dryness, the Greek city states were constantly looking to expand their land and the mountains caused each city state to be spread apart. This made them have decentralized governments. Also due to the mountainous geography, there were over 1000 Greek city states including Athens and Sparta. Land also was on Sparta’s side during the Peloponnesian

From the struggles the people who lived in Ancient Greece had to face to the positives, geography has always had a great influence on Greece and how the people there survived. Two big positives being the climate which was perfect for growing valuable olive trees and another positive being the seas that surrounded Greece and allowed the Greeks to trade and help them in many other ways. Two big negatives being the rocky, mountainous terrain and another negative being the common volcano eruptions and earthquakes. Although Ancient Greece had its negatives so does every country and it were these pros and cons that helped the Greeks develop essential survival skills.

In ancient Greece there were two major polises which allowed the Greek culture to achieve greatness during the 400-500 B.C.E. era. These two polises were Athens and Sparta; both city states differed in many ways before the start of the Persian War. There were low rugged mountains that separated these two city states so communication and travel were difficult. The government of these two city states can be seen as a primary difference between the two. Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, and Cleithenes were four leaders that greatly influenced the political development of Athens. Athens and Sparta differed primarily in their political, social, and economical aspects. But there were other difference that Athens and Sparta share which I will examine in this essay.

The geography of Greece prompted the distinguishment of the independent city-states. This altered the political development of Greece because the different states had separate forms of government. For example, the state of Athens had a direct form of democracy as a government. Whereas, Sparta was an isolated military state. The mountains also posed as natural barriers for these states, unlike the mountains of Italy which were low and rugged and caused the people to unite. The mountains also obstructed the states of Greece to be culturally diffused. Although they practiced similar religious beliefs, Greeks were prevented from trading with each other. The mountains helped some states as a barrier from invasions. The terrain also assisted the independent Pious to practice their own culture. Sparta is one of these independent culture states. The state prevented trading and other “outside” communication in order to rid of cultural diffusion. The mountains helped them to begin their own particular society and to be unaffected by other external

Athens and Sparta are two rivals of ancient Greece. Athenians and Spartans lived their lives different, and they valued different things. Athenians and Spartans had an Assembly, whose members were elected by the people. Sparta were ruled by two kings, those two kings either ruled until they were died or forced out of office. Athens were ruled by archons, they were elected annually. Athens in the birthplace of democracy. Spartans focused on war and obedience. Young boys were trained to be warriors. Young women were trained to be mothers and warriors. Athenians could get good education and could pursue several kinds of arts or sciences. For many years Spartan armies provided much defense of the Greek lands. The Spartans bravery and courage at the “Battle of Thermopylae” during the Persians Wars, inspired all of Greece to fight back with all their might against the invading Persians. Athenians and Spartans fought side by side in the “Battle of Platea”, which ended the Persians invasions of Greece. Spartans provided assistance for Greece when necessary. Athenians wanted to control land around them. That led to war between all the Greeks, this was the “Peloponnesian War”. After many years of fighting the Spartans won. In Greek spirit Sparta refused to burn the city of Athens. The culture and spirit of Athens was allowed to live on, as long as Athenians no longer desired to rule Greek. Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Sparta is known as Sparti in Greek. Sparta is

Greece in ancient times had many social, political and cultural features, including: religion, society, government and warfare. Two powerhouses of Ancient Greece were the cities of Athens and Sparta, who led Greece in many of their endevours.