Reference no: EM133259075

1. Compare and contrast Athens and Sparta and their political and social systems.

2. Why did Spartan women play a more meaningful role in society than did Athenian women? How did Spartan women contribute

3. Select 5 points/themes/ideas from Pericles' Funeral Oration that may have also influenced America's Founding Fathers or modern political leaders, and explain to me why you chose the 5 you selected

FROM PERICLES' FUNERAL ORATION

1. We do not copy the laws and ways of other states. Actually, we are the pattern to others. Our administration places power in the hands of the many instead of the few: this is why it is called a democracy. If we go to court, our laws provide equal justice to all. Class considerations are not allowed to interfere with merit. Nor does poverty bar the way -- if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.

2 The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends even to ordinary relations with others. We do not spy on others nor do we feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive. This freedom and toleration in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens; we deeply respect the law. We give our obedience to our magistrates and laws, particularly with regard to protecting the oppressed.

3. Further, we provide plenty of ways for the mind to refresh itself after work. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round. The elegance of our homes gives us daily pleasure, while the greatness of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbor so that to Athenian, the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of Attica.

4. If we turn to our military policy, there we differ much from our antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality. We trust less in some system and or policy, but do trust the native spirit of our citizens. In education, our rivals from their very cradles seek after manliness through painful discipline. In Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.

5. In proof of this it may be noted that the Spartans do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates. We Athenians advance unsupported into enemy territory, and usually win with ease over difficult opponents...And yet if with habits not of labor but of ease, and courage not forced but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.