Why was Aristotle a Significant Figure, and What was Spartan Society Like?

Aristotle was a very famous and important ancient Greek philosopher; and Sparta was a very warlike city-state in ancient Greece. In this essay I will be writing about why Aristotle was a significant figure, and what was Spartan society like?

Why was Aristotle a Significant Figure?

Aristotle, 384-322 BC. Aristotle studied under Plato, and later became a very significant and important philosopher of his time. He is still pretty significant today, and has been a pretty decent influence to Western civilization. But why exactly was he a significant figure? Well first of all I cannot get into every reason why Aristotle is significant, but here are a few reasons why.

Aristotle believed in studying and looking at the real world, which is probably the main reason why he was able to be so advanced for his time. He studied and wrote a Treatise on meteorology, which actually seeked natural causes, and contains some ideas on how the world works or functions. He also studied animals a great deal, and even categorized animal species. Though his study of animals contained many errors it was still used and studied for many years. But to me probably the main reason why he is significant is for his concept of logic or reason, which is still followed and used by many all over the world today. Also his works are still taught and believed today, which shows just how much he has impacted western civilization and culture.

What was Spartan Society Like?

Sparta like I mentioned above was a very warlike ancient Greek city-state, and because of that Spartan society was pretty harsh. But Sparta had not always been so warlike, but that all changed when Sparta captured the city-state of Messinia. After capturing Messenia Sparta, reduced the Messenian people(who outnumbered the Spartans), to slaves. Because of the population difference between slaves(who hated and despised the Spartans) and Spartans was pretty big, there were some conflicts. So this of course caused the Spartans to be highly worried about a revolt or the slaves overrunning them. So to keep these many slaves in check the Spartans created a large army. Hence why Sparta became warlike.

Because Spartan men did not need to tend the land, thanks to all the slaves, every man who was available or able joined the army, had to join. But boys also had to join the army, actually boys at the age of seven had to leave home and train for thirteen years. The training for these young boys was very harsh and intense, and they had to strictly follow the command of the “polis.” These boys were not permitted to wear shoes, and were only fed to keep them going, just to toughen them up. They also had to kill slaves. By age twenty a Spartan young man is permitted to marry, but is not allowed to live or visit his wife, unless he evaded the guards. Men had to live in barracks. Finally at the age of thirty a Spartan male was allowed to be a citizen.

Girls on the other hand were allowed to stay at home. But girls still had to engage in very hard sport games, to ensure that they were strong and vigorous. Women in Spartan society were highly influential for their time and were allowed to own property, this was mostly due to the fact that the men were never home.

The Spartan government was made up of two kings, a council of elders, an executive board of ephors, and an assembly of citizens. The council of elders, consisted of twenty-eight men who had to be at least the age of sixty. They were elected for life terms. The executive board of ephors, on the other hand consisted of five men, who served one year terms. Finally, the assembly of citizens consisted of any Spartan male who was above the age of thirty. The kings and council were dominant in this system.

Conclusion

In this essay I covered why Aristotle was significant; and what was Spartan society like. To conclude this I would have to say that learning about ancient Greece, and the important Greek figures who were around that time, is a very important part of understanding western culture, and the way that the west is today….