Did Xlemachus Make His Wife Essay

Sparta was a very unique society which could be defined as Utopian Militaristic State. Spartan boys all were devoted their entire lives from an early age to the Spartan army. This heavily militarist society was also unique in terms of women's position in society. They had much more rights and freedoms than other Greek women, but in terms of family life they were not so lucky. Women were living separately from spouse during their whole lives. Their husbands were only coming to home at night, they were secretly removed after a short time. And also they were separated from their sons for military training. Women had to be strong in family and social life. Spartan lawgivers wanted girls to receive a good education in order to prepare them to their womanhood duties.

Throughout ancient human history, men and women held vastly different roles. Women were often given the duty of bearing and raising children, whereas men were expected to fight, provide an income, and protect the household. Women were seen as totally inferior to men and described by Euripedes as “a curse to mankind” and “a plague worse than fire or any viper.” However, this misogynistic view of women and designated role of inferiority was not apparent in every ancient civilization. The role of the female in ancient Greek history can best be explored and contrasted between two important civilizations: The Spartans and the Athenians. The Spartan women were incredibly advanced for their time, and the Athenian women were drastically far behind. Both the Spartan and Athenian women held roles at home and lived lives far removed from the men of their societies. However, their lives were much different. While the Spartan women were strong and educated, the Athenian women held a status almost equal to slavery. The Spartan women were far more advanced than Athenians in aspects of life including education, athleticism, and independence.

This tradition allowed for a city-state with an exceptional army, women with a substantial amount of liberties, and a gene pool that was superior to those around it. The Spartan way of life was one that focused itself on the importance of a physically strong society, and the people of this city-state went to great lengths to ensure that they maintained this tradition. As a result of this mentality, the authoritative figures of Sparta gave women more freedoms, as society did not see them as inadequate versions of men, but more as the mothers of society, whose job was to be the backbone of the strong Spartan army by birthing and raising robust young men. In fact, this lifestyle was so prevalent and noticeable that soldiers and writers from Athens and other outside lands took notice. Many documents from almost all areas around the Mediterranean Sea demonstrate this, especially in Xenophon’s “The Constitution of Sparta”, which describes the importance of physical ability in Sparta, as written by an Athenian soldier. The people of Sparta preserved this physical superiority in many ways. Boys moved into barracks at the young age of seven to train and become a part of the renowned Spartan army, and mothers abandoned babies with medical issues as soon as possible. This not only ensured that all citizens were able-bodied and working to improve the city-state at all times, but improved the gene pool of the civilization by eliminating any possible genetic disorders with visible phenotypes within the society. All these factors contributed to the health, wellness, and overall success of the Spartan

A woman’s place was supposed to be at home, in both Sparta and Athens, but the capacity in which they were supposed to be at home differed substantially. In Athens, it was compulsory for women to be acquiescent and compliant. They were supposed to stay home most of the time, bearing, nourishing and taking care of the children, spinning and weaving clothes, keeping the home clean and tidy, preparing food or overseeing the preparation of food by the servants; women from Sparta were the complete opposite of the women in Athens, they were allowed to keep property with the over seeing of the male counterpart, which according to Aristotle, said that in 4th BCE, 405 Sparta was owned by women, and may have contributed to

First, besides their strong military, Sparta was known for providing women with a decent amount of rights. In these rights, education was provided. According to Plutarch(Document E), women had to be educated and trained in order to produce healthy offspring. Women were trained in many things such as “wrestling running, and throwing the quoit*, and casting the dart”(Document E). These activities were meant to strengthen women in order to produce “healthy and vigorous offspring”(Document E). By producing healthy and vigorous offspring, Sparta had a better chance at winning battles. Therefore, women being provided with an education had highly contributed to the strengths of a Spartan education.

Spartan men weren’t allowed to have more than one wife so they would, “choose a woman who was the mother of a fine family and of high birth, and if he obtained her husband's consent, to make her the mother of his children.” (Xenophon p. 1). Another practice that was both a positive and negative was women being able to hold property of their own. There was a catch being that this could only happen during times of war (Text book). This was a doubled edged sword because as cool as it is that women were able to hold land at all, I would think that it would cause more strife between husband and wife if he were to take that right back once he returned, why even give it in the first

In the Egyptian society the treatment of women is considered equal, because woman could be citizens, and their court system had equality towards both sexes. An Egyptian in the legal system writes about a woman wanting to be given the property of her husband which was rightfully hers, and the court system said “[the] woman is right” proving that they took the female's point of view into consideration (Doc 1). Also in the Spartan society they believed that if both of the parents were strong, then the offspring would also be strong. In order to find the stronger males and females, the lawgiver would “establish competitions of running and of strength for women with one another, just as he did for the men”(Doc 2).

But in the Spartan society, the woman had a dignified position just because they were the mother of the famous Sparta worriers. The Athenian women were also not allowed for education or to educate themselves. Men were the only ones allowed in the schools. They also wore clothing that completely covered their bodies and was not able to walk where they

In the Spartan Constitution, Xenophon explained how the state of Sparta not only controlled its citizens from birth to death, but also attempted to control the quality of offspring produced. In the document, Xenophon mentioned a law that detailed how often a man and wife could sleep together. He also highlighted the requirement of physical fitness for both males and females to produce the finest offspring. These laws stressed the states acceptance for only a particular type of citizen, one that could have been of use to the states military and therefore contributed to the prosperity of Sparta. Both of these reforms that were

The freedom and greater respect for Spartan women began at birth with the fact that there were more girls than boys, because they were not victims of the state program of infanticide as was practiced in Athens. There were laws setup that required female infants and children to be given the same care and food as their brothers in contrast to other Greek cities where girls were frequently given less and lower quality food. The reason for this was because it was thought that if the girls had more food then their bodies would be better prepared for producing a healthy child for the Spartan society.

Sparta valued physical strength, military strength and emotional strength. It was very important for them to have a strong military. It was so important, that they would kill new born babies if they had any disabilities that would prevent them from being part of the military or helping it in any way. They would take the boy from a young age of 7 to start training. These boys were faced with many difficult tasks such as having to walk barefoot and deprivation to make them strong. They would even mention a story of a boy who followed the Spartan Code when he hide a fox under his shirt and did not show any sign of pain when the fox was eating his stomach. They strongly believed that you shouldn’t show any sign of feeling specially not pain or weakness. They also believed that you shouldn’t be in love with the person who you marry. You are just married to help Sparta produce more boys to serve the military or girls to train and bring more healthy baby boys to Sparta. If you were in love you had to hide it, since

They were not expected to eat as little as possible, instead they were allowed to indulge more, and were allowed to drink wine just like the Spartan men. “Whether they were afforded more luxury due to the exercise they undertook that allowed them to burn more calories, therefore keeping their bodies trim and in shape we don’t fully know, but it seems a highly likely explanation. ”(“Spartan Women.” Ancient Warriors.)

In Life of Lycurgus, Plutarch comments on the rituals and practices of the Spartans concerning gender roles, marriage, and childbirth. Plutarch was not a Spartan, so he was viewing their culture from the lens of an outsider. Though he is matter-of-fact in his account, I think he was quite admiring of the Spartan way of life. He considered Lycurgas’ masculine treatment of women to have, “freed them from softness” (14.2) and seemed to agree with Lycurgas’ decision to allow girls and boys to dance nude at festivals for sport. He observed, “There was nothing shameful in the girls' nakedness, because it was accompanied by modesty and self-control. It produced in them simple habits and an intense desire for good health, and gave the female sex a

The women and common meals custom contributed to the decline of citizens. From the above narrations, in order to encourage Spartans to give birth to a child, the lawgiver established some welfare policy, however, it resulted an upsurge that people were crazy to chase the exemptions. Nevertheless, the Spartan men were control by women obviously because when asked why women ruled their men, the women said that: “Because we are the only women who give birth to (real) man!” (Cartledge The Spartans: an epic history p.156) The power of a woman was immense and the control of women was slightly, according to Aristotle(Politics 1269b12.), women were living freely and indulging in luxury. It is apparent that a woman will not be willing to marry a poor

Daily life was one of the most distinguishable factors of Athenian and Spartan women, and it varied depending on social status. The communal job of Athenian women was confinement to daily life in their domain; the home or ‘oikos’, immersing themselves in domestic activities. This notion was verified by ancient writer Xenophon; “…Thus, to be woman it is more honourable to stay indoors than to abide in the fields…” .They were responsible for various jobs in order to support their families including cooking meals and producing textiles. The majority of affluent women had established slave work in their homes; hence they verified their decadence by not partaking in laborious work