Hatch



The geography of early Greece varied between where you were and could be divided into three main sections. First, there was Northern Greece, which contained such city states as Epirus and Thessaly. This area was mostly mountainous and contained some of the highest points in the whole country. Then there was Central Greece, which contained the cities of Aetolia, Doris, Attica, and many others. This part of Greece was very mountainous like northern Greece; however it also had a large coastline, which helped with trade. Finally there was the region called the Peloponnese, which contained the city states of Arcadia and Corinth, along with many others. This region was south of Corinth and was partially situated on a high plateau. All of the different geography of these regions affected how the people of the parts lived, made money, and traded. They affected this because the mountainous regions can’t do much farming, so the people would often trade for goods. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekmapsall/a/70107greekgeogr.htm

Athens and Sparta were complete opposites in their cultural identities. Athens had a very artistic nature whereas Sparta was very warlike and their children were educated to help bring out these traits. In Sparta the boys were taken at the age of seven and trained to be some of the best soldiers that ever lived. However in Athens the boys were sent to school at the age of five. At these schools the boys learned subjects like math, poetry, music, and other things. These subjects taught the boys to think, instead of fight like the Spartan boys were taught to. In Sparta the girls were educated in writing, gymnastics, and other athletics. However the Athenian girls were kept at home and taught things like spinning and weaving. This education helped the nations of Athens and Sparta thrive in the fields that they specialized in, and helped them be remembered for them. Athens was remembered for its art, which was handed down through generations. Sparta was remembered for their fierce fighting, which was taught to the new generation by the generation before it. The Spartans had a very different outlook on fancy food then the Athenians did. The Spartans ate manly a food called Spartan broth; this consisted of pork, blood, salt, and vinegar. However, the Athenians enjoyed foods from everywhere in the Mediterranean. The reason there was not as much fancy food in Sparta as there was in Athens was partially because of the fact that Sparta didn’t trade with other places as much as Athens did. Also the Spartans were taught to dislike luxurious things like food during their training for the military because it was thought that it would corrupt the soldiers. The Athenians on the other hand, embraced luxuries such as good food from other places, seemingly because it was tasty. Finally the Athenians and Spartans had different values and lifestyles. The Spartans were taught from birth to not get along with almost anyone. They were taught however, to respect three main people; these were the elderly, women, and warriors. The Athenians valued mainly two things in their civilization. One of these is the fact that they can participate in their democratic government, they valued it and thought it was their duty to participate much like modern Americans do. The other thing that they valued was the arts and their culture, which was influenced by most of the Mediterranean world through trade. The Athenians and Spartans valued different things because they were brought up in different types of society. The Spartans lived in a warlike society, so obviously they valued war and respect. The Athenians however lived in an artful and intellectual society, so they valued intelligence and the arts.


 * Athenian Military Strengths**

The Athenians were a military power in Greece because of their ability to wage war on land and sea. On land they favored using soldiers called [|hoplites]; these soldiers’s armor consisted of a breastplate of some kind, a helmet, and greaves to protect their shins. They were armed with a large shield called a hoplon, the hoplite often used a spear to fight with, but sometimes used a sword. The main tactic of the Athenian army was called the [|Phalanx]. The main goal of the phalanx was to keep men in tight rows and every man would use his shield to protect the man to his right during the scrum that ensued in the battle. The main strength of Athens however, was its navy and the tactics used by it. The most used ship in the Athenian navy was the [|trireme]; it was called a trireme because it had three teams of rowers stacked on top of each other. The main use of this ship was to build up speed and slam into an enemy vessel like a battering ram, the bronze ram on the end of the ship would poke a hole in the ship it hit and cause it to sink.