Two of the most important city states were Athens and Sparta. We know a lot about Athens because it produced many writers and artists, whose work has survived to this day. Much less evidence survives about Sparta but we do know that it was a military state.

Athens and Sparta were rivals but, during a famous period in their history, they joined together with other city states to fight off the Persians. It was during this campaign that the Athenians fought the Battle of Marathon, and defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis.