Athens vs. Sparta. It’s a fight that dates back thousands of years, to the Ancient Greeks. Back then this fight was waged with swords and armies rather than the words we use today. (Aren’t we thankful we don’t live in that time period?) Now, this age-old debate continues in a common history classroom, where students have the chance to join in and wage the battle anew with insults and information, rather than swords.

Throughout the tournament, Athens was losing badly, not having won onc. However, while Sparta did win overall, having won all the categories except for two, Athens did manage to finish the contest with a win in the Legacy category. The only other category that Sparta did not win ended in a draw. So even though Sparta is clearly the better city-state, it does not have complete dominance over Athens

One of the things that happened during the debate was that every time Athens was backed into a corner, they resorted to “But you kill babies!” This line was heard very frequently during the four days of the tournament.

Sparta asserted their dominance very early on in the contest. Everyone, including the Athenians themselves, knew Athens didn’t have a chance at an overall win. However, the Athenians did manage to score a win in the last category of the tournament, so they didn’t finish with a complete loss. As they say, better luck next time, Athens. And with that, the Great Debate finishes another year.