Verified answer

Well, the main difference lies in the economic and social structure.

Athens was almost what the USA were in the cold war and Sparta was more like the then Soviet Union. Spartans had a system in which money and property was non-existent, whereas the Athenians had a society on which money and property were well respected and welcomed.

The Spartans were also the only State ever in the face of earth to have Kings (2 royal families) that were equal to common people, and were only leaders in case of war. In peace, they even had to eat the same food with everybody else! Spartans were much better fighters and extremely well trained for a number of years. The Athenians would fight if they had to , but they were as good as any average trained soldier. The Athenians were very keen on arts like sculpture and poetry and music, and they were very well educated. The Spartans were poorly educated and they despised the arts.

Strangely enough, however, women were better off being Spartan, as they werepractically free to choose sex partners. Their only duty was to give birth to strong male soldiers for Sparta.

The Athenian women were more depressed by their society, and had limited freedom. Both Athenians and Spartans had slaves, but their condition in Athens was far better, contrary to common belief. Some slaves were even rich.

athens, was near the sea, meaning beaches, which meant beach hunks. this gave the place a high propensity for manlust. in other words, it turned the athenian men gay. because of this, they were doomed not to be featured in the movie 300, many years later.

sparta, on the other hand, was landlocked and brutal. the men were men of warfare so they were more buff and their chiselled abs were rock hard. nobody was gay despite the fact that everyone wore leather briefs and capes and were skilled at handling long spear shafts because their women were hot.

Very simple answer:

Athens is on a peninsula surrounded by sea (Attika), Sparta is landlocked in the centre of the Peloponnesos.

Because Athens was surrounded by sea, they were focussed on it: their military strength was sea power, their economy was based on sea trade and their alliances tended to be with other maritime powers (although there was a lot of Realpolitik - their enemy's enemies were their friends, whoever they were).

Sparta was landlocked, so its military was completely land-based. The Spartan economy was based on agriculture. Locally the Spartans held Helots in serfdom, where the Helots did the farming and the Spartans were specialised in warfare only.

Another geographical factor, or rather geological, was the fact that Athens had access to silver mines in Attika, whereas Sparta had no gold or silver, and used iron bars as currency - in fact posession of gold or silver was forbidden by law (hence the outrage in the film 300).