Hopefully this will help you understand
(Sparta
was a society built entirely around military life. Spartan citizen
males were taken at the age of seven to be trained as warriors. They
were expected to spend their time in miltary training, and live in
communal barracks. meanwhile their farms were run by the woman and the
slaves.
In Athens, all citizen males were expected to do two years military
training from the age of eighteen, and they were expected to be ready to
go to war at any time, but they were not entirely devoted to miltiary
purposes. Athens, like Sparta, was a slave-based economy, 50% of the
population were slaves.
Athens was a democracy, male citizens would gather in an assembley where
they would elect officials, and vote on various issues. Sparta had two
kings, both hereditary, but there were five ephors, elected by the
citizen assembley, who oversaw and had veto power over the kings, so it
was an interesting mixture of oligarchy and democracy.
In Athens, women would generally marry at quite an early age, around
twelve to fourteen. They were expected to stay at home most of the
time, and busy themselves spinning and weaving, and supervising the
slaves. Women of the lower classes would go out and about more, as they
would have to work for a living, and would not have slaves to do things
like fetching water etc. Women took no part in political life, but
they did participate fully in religious life, taking part in festivals,
joining the msytery cults etc.
In Sparta, women were expected to exercise and keep fit like men, so
that they would bear healthy children. They generally married later than
Athenian women, at around eighteen. The women were mostly left to run
things while the men were away, which gave them more freedom on the
whole than Athenian women had.
The arts were more important in Athens than they were in Sparta. Athens
produced many notable philosophers, writers, mathematicians, etc,
whereas in Sparta military glory was everything. Even their poets were
martial. Early Sparta produced some beautiful pottery and bronzes, but
unlike Athens they had no coinage, they used iron spits several feet
long for money.) Hope this helps
