Compare life in early Sparta with that in early Athens

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

1. Athens was one of the first poleis to flourish, perhaps because it had become something of a safe haven during the Dark Ages after the fall of Mycenae and thus maintained a civic identity. Also, during the Dark Ages, many Athenians had migrated to Ionia in southwestern Anatolia (present-day Turkey), and relations with the Near East helped Athens to flourish. Athens controlled the 1,000 square miles of the region known as Attica. Its strong foundations as a city-state led in the late sixth century BCE to its establishment of the first democracy. Early Athenian culture was less overtly militaristic than Spartan culture, preferring to exercise power through political means.
2. The polis of Sparta comprised some 3,000 square miles of the Peloponnese. Of all the early city-states, Sparta was perhaps the most powerful. The Spartans traced their ancestry back to the Dorians (legendary invaders of Greek territory during the Dark Ages), whose legacy was military might. At age 7, Spartan males were taken from their parents to live under military discipline in barracks until age 30 (though they could marry at age 20). Men ate in the military mess until age 60. Women were given strenuous physical training so that they might bear strong sons. Weak-looking babies were left to die. The rule of the Spartan city-state fell to the homoioi, or “equals,” who constituted roughly 10 percent of the population and ruled over the farm laborers, or helots, essentially slaves who worked the land. Political power resided with five overseers who were elected annually by all homoioi—excluding women—over the age of 30.