Western Civ Athens and Sparta

Western Civ Athens and Sparta helped define the geopolitical landscape of the ancient Greek world. Located on the Peloponnesian peninsula, Sparta rested on a relatively isolated geographic position that fostered its insular foreign policies. Throughout Spartan history, the city-state remained largely self-contained except for its appropriation of the Messenian agricultural region and the enslavement of its people (Hooker, 1996, "Sparta"). The Spartans did not enjoy as fertile an agricultural region as the Athenians. Spartan governments were decidedly more autocratic than those n Athens.

Although both were monarchies at some point, the Athenians practiced democratic forms of government and its major lawmakers were elected officials. Spartan leadership was oligarchic, including two kings who ruled for life. Sparta also cultivated what can be called a military rule, conscripting both men and women to service and encouraging a bellicose political philosophy. The Athenians similarly developed militarily and in fact pursued territorial and political expansion more readily than the Spartans.

However, the Athenian lifestyle and democratic form of government precluded the type of militarism that pervaded ancient Sparta. Its agricultural prosperity, its closer proximity to the sea, and its emphasis on the arts led Athens to become a more viable trading partner with Near Eastern merchants. Exchanging goods and ideas allowed Athens to develop a more robust economy than the Spartans, whose legacy would become their sparse, ascetic value system. 2. Alexander the Great changed the character and future fate of Greece.

Confidently pursuing expansionism and imperialism, Alexander became more like the Persian Empire that for centuries had plagued city-states in Greece. Moreover, Alexander came to power at a time when the city-state model in Greece gave way to unification in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian and Persian wars. The new geopolitical climate enabled Alexander to succeed in expanding the boundaries of his new Macedonian empire. Alexander conquered the Persians as if to avenge the blood of the Greeks who had died defending their country during their invasion of Athens.

Annexing the Persian territories to Macedonia, Alexander took on Egypt and regions throughout the Near East and invaded territories in northern with moderate success. Although profoundly successful in his ambitious campaigns, Alexander failed to produce a viable heir, leading to the downfall of his Macedonian empire. Moreover, the empire was politically as well as geographically fragmented. Macedonian rule was tolerated only as long as Alexander remained alive. 3.

The reasons civilizations developed with particular robustness in the Near East can be narrowed down to geography and the migratory patterns of early humans. Known as the Fertile Crescent, the Eastern Mediterranean offered arable land complete with a plethora of indigenous flora and fauna for domestication and cultivation. Moreover, animal domestication flourished in the Near East. Agriculture and animal husbandry necessitated the rise of early cities, whereas in less fertile regions hunting and gathering remained more productive means to procure food.

Early humans, traveling from the African subcontinent, naturally found the Fertile Crescent a suitable place for developing permanent settlements. As disparate groups settled throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, geography also permitted the ready trade of goods, people, and ideas. The sea and a location close to East Asia fostered trade and economic prosperity. 4. Lawmakers during the pinnacle of the ancient Greek world included Persian kings such as Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Ashurbanipal. Ordinary Persians did not experience a great amount of personal freedom due to the autocratic rule but legal.