Answer: Athens had a true legislature while Sparta did not.
The legislative branch of government in Athens had two bodies in it: the Council of 500 and the Assembly of 6,000.
Sparta really didn't have a legislature, but rather the Gerousia, or council of elders, made up of men over the age of sixty.
Athens and Sparta were very different cities.
Athens developed a system that valued philosophy and active political involvement by its citizens in an early form of democracy. (Note that it wasn't full democracy as we'd think of it today, as those who had a political voice were free men, not women or slaves.)
Sparta developed a militaristic system that valued physical training and military service, as well as strict loyalty to the state.
