Spartan Women

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Spartan Women
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A Spartan girl, in a race in honor of Hera
Sources Alkman (7th c.) Xenophon (4th
c.) Aristotle (4th c.) Plutarch (2nd c.
CE) Inscriptions
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Social Organization of Sparta Spartoi
(Spartans), full citizens, less than 10 of the
population Perioikoi (resident foreigners),
percentage unknown no voting rights difficult
to find specifics of legal status Helots (serfs),
the majority of the population Womens
Roles Spartan Women did not do traditional
womens work participated in physical training,
could own property Perioikoi and helot women
Traditional womens work
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Alkmans Parthenaia Shows Spartan women in a
traditional activity all over Greece dancing in
chorus Choral dancing may be particularly
Dorian Shows sensual delight in women, not much
like the Spartan ideal we think of as spare and
hard May allude to sexual relationships between
women
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Physical Education Unusual for girls in Greece,
the norm in Sparta Womens inactivity elsewhere
considered damaging but inevitable Spartan women
exercise nude like men Athletic competitions for
women as well Purpose honing the body to produce
warriors for the State
Lycurgus insisted on physical training for the
female no less than for the male sex . . .
believing that if both parents are strong they
produce more vigorous offspring.
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Marriage By kidnapping in secrecy . . . Couple
continues to live apart fewer encounters means
more vigorous children . . . Eugenics the key
reason for marriage Wife sharing possible (what
are the details of this practice as described to
us? State limitations on who may marry whom and
when Note Assumption that young men live in a
communal situation
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Cyniscas Victory
My father and brothers were kings of Sparta. I,
Cynisca, victorious with my chariot of fleet
horses, Erected this statue. I declare that I am
the only woman In all of Greece, who has won this
crown.
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The Robe for Hera
Every fourth year the Sixteen Women weave a robe
for Hera and the same women also hold games
called the Heraea. The games consist of a race
between virgins The winners receive crowns of
olive and a share of the cow which is sacrificed
to Hera moreover they are allowed to dedicate
statues of themselves As with the Olympic
festival they trace back these girls games to
antiquity
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Xenophon A Positive View
The rest of the Greeks expect their girls to
imitate the sedentary life that is typical of
handicraftsmen to keep quiet and do wool-work.
How, then, is it to be expected that women so
brought up will bear fine children?
Lycurgus insisted on physical training for the
female no less than for the male sex, and
instituted races and trials of strength
believing that if both parents are strong they
produce more vigorous offspring.
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Xenophon A Positive View
With this restriction on intercourse the desire
of the one for the other must necessarily be
increased, and their offspring was bound to be
more vigorous than if they were surfeited with
one another.
If a man didnt want a wife yet nevertheless
desired children of whom he could be proud, he
made it lawful for him to choose a woman who was
the mother of a fine family, and if he obtained
her husbands consent, to make her the mother of
his children For the wives want to take charge
of two households, and the husbands want to get
brothers for their sons
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Aristotle A Negative View
What is the difference between women ruling, or
rulers being ruled by women? Nearly 2/5 of the
land is in the possession of women, due to the
fact that heiresses are numerous and the
customary dowries are large. The regulation of
dowries by the state would have been a better
measure . . .
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Aristotle A Negative View
Courage is a quality of little use in daily life,
but necessary in war, yet even here the influence
of the Spartan women has been negative. In the
Theban invasion of Laconia, the women of Sparta,
instead of being some use like the women in other
cities, caused more confusion than the enemy. It
is not surprising that the license of the women
was characteristic of Spartan society, for the
men of Sparta were away from home for long
periods
The lawgiver who intended to make the entire
population strong in character has accomplished
his aims with regard to the men, but has
neglected the women, who indulge in every kind of
luxury and intemperance. When Lycurgus attempted
to subject women to his laws, they resisted and
he gave up, as tradition says.
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Plutarch A Romaniticised View
Lycurgus did away with prudery, sheltered
upbringing, and effeminacy of any kind. He made
young girls no less than young men grow used to
walking nude in processions
On some occasions the girls would make fun of
each of the young men, helpfully criticizing
their mistakes
What was practiced in the interests of breeding
and of the state was at that time so far removed
from the laxity for which the women later became
notorious, that there was absolutely no notion of
adultery among them.
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Sayings of Spartan Women
When her husband Leonidas was about to go off to
Thermopylae, in order to encourage him to be
worthy of Sparta, she asked what she should do,
he said, 'Marry a good husband and bear good
children'.
When Gorgo was asked by a woman from Attica, 'Why
are you Spartan women the only ones who rule over
their husbands', she answered, 'Because only we
are the mothers of men'.
Another woman was burying her son, when an
ordinary old woman came up to her and said 'Poor
woman, what a misfortune.' The first woman said,
'No, what good fortune, by the twin gods, for
this is why I bore him, so that he might die for
Sparta, and now that is what has come to pass'.
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Sayings of Spartan Women
When another Spartan woman handed her son his
shield, she exhorted him, 'Son, come back either
with this or on it'.
A young woman who had had a secret love affair
aborted her baby, she endured bravely and never
uttered a sound, so that her father and the other
people nearby did not know that she had been in
labor. Bearing her suffering with propriety
cancelled out her impropriety.
When an Ionian woman prided herself on something
she had woven, a Spartan woman boasted of her
four beautiful sons, saying 'such should be the
works of a fine woman and upon this is what she
should be proud of and boast about'.
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Sayings of Spartan Women
When a Spartan woman was sold as a slave and
asked what she knew how to do, she said, 'to be
faithful'.
Another, when taken as a captive and asked the
same question, answered 'to run a household
well'.
When another was being sold as a slave, and asked
by the auctioneer what she knew how to do, she
replied, 'to be free'. when the man who bought
her ordered her to do things that were not
appropriate for a free woman, she said, 'you will
regret that you have deprived yourself of such a
possession', and committed suicide.
When someone asked another woman, if she would be
good, if he bought her, she said that she would,
'and also if you do not buy me'.
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finis