Spartan Women Research Paper

As a part of physical training, Spartan women were taking part in sports with men. Women were running as athletes during religious festivals that made in honor of female goddesses. These athletic competitions were part of their physical education. In addition to running, their sportive activities included wrestling, discus throwing, and hurling the javelin and hunting.(Pomeroy) The main purpose of this physical education was to make women strong and healthy mothers for healthy Spartan babies, especially boys for

In no other city-state did women enjoy the same freedom and status as Spartan women. As a military-driven society, the Spartans realized that “regardless of gender all Spartiates had an obligation to serve the militaristic end of Sparta.” With this focus in mind, women were allowed more freedom, rights, and independence. Spartan women were

On the contrary to life of women in Athens, the women of Sparta had considerable freedom. They were allowed to leave their houses when ever they pleased. They were required per the state policy to have education both from physical and educational perspective. The reason for physical education was because they could make and nourish babies that would be healthy for the children to be capable of being good warriors and if the baby was not fit as they would be judged by the elders, as mentioned before they would be left to die outside the city.

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

Women in Athens lived in a society dominated by men. They had very few rights and essentially, there was nothing equal about it. The education of Athenian women was to say the least, lacking. Unlike men, they weren’t taught in school by actual teachers. They were taught at home by their mothers or tutors of some sort. Much of their education focused on household skills and many men viewed women as being inferior. Women were held back from participating in the sports that were ever so popular with the men.

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.

If you built a time machine and I had to choose between being sent to Sparta and the Salian Franks, it would be a tough call, but in the end I would have to choose to live in Sparta. There are many reasons behind that choice, but most of them tie back to me being a female and how each society treated their women, both Spartan and Salian cultures treated women better then Roman society that being said Spartan culture, according to Xenophon women were treated very similarly to the men in many ways.

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

During the early era of the Golden age and late of Classical age of Ancient Greece, from the years 520-321 BC womens roles were significantly different between the two mainly Greek city state Athens and Sparta. These roles that the women presented had huge differences in a way women were portrayed in their societies. Both cities were very different in many ways, the females were raised very differently, and had different duties they had to perform. For example if you commit adultery by Spartan women it was considered tolerated and encourage in their society on the other hand adultery in Athenian women was not even considered and substantially have very few consequences. Unlike the Spartan women Athenian women were treated as unimportant citizens in a lot of ways. They were classified into three different classes. The lowest class which were considered as slaves, the citizen class, and the Hetaerae which were considered as prostitutes, but they were allowed to have education and go to marketplaces, and have rights. With Spartan women they were taught to read and write, also were expected to protect themselves and the children since men were barely around. They were definitely different from other Greek cities and were mainly raised to act as warriors because of the responsibility of owning and protecting their homes. These womens had three considerable lifestyle differences how they were raised , How were their marriages, and what responsibilities they had. These will serve

In military training both boys and girls were allowed to attend the training. They learned to wrestling, boxing, and footracing. As stated in History Alive, “the boys did military training in barracks a building where Spartan soldiers would live and train”.  In addition, the training was important to the Spartan’s because they needed to teach the boys to be prepared for upcoming wars and to win those wars. The boys were taught how to read and write but, the Spartan’s didn’t find that important. To be a brave soldier was very important to the Spartan’s. Therefore, being a brave soldier was important because the soldiers had to fight in wars to protect Sparta from invaders who want to destroy Sparta.

They had a great amount of influence despite not having a vote within the assembly. Daughters could inherit as much as a son or brother could and could inherit property. They acquired land through inheritance from their families and through marriage. The income from her own lands, she said with her husband and his income, he shared with her. Since men spent most of their time training or at war, they were granted full access and stake in the husband’s estate. Writing in the fourth century B.C., Aristotle indicated that, by the fifth century B.C., Spartan women owned two-fifths of the land (Jones, A.H. M., 136).  Her independence allowed her to express herself, be assertive, and had much more expected of them than other Greek women. Women’s tunics were worn in a way to give them a little more freedom of movement and the opportunity to reveal a little leg and thigh if they desired to (Michell, H., 47). Spartan women dominated the household, offered opinion on public matters, and held power in and outside the home. They were the forefront of society behind the man.

Even being from the same time frame in history, the Roman women from Sparta and the Greek women from Athens were completely different. Their ideas, habits, and daily activities were majorly impacted by the community they lived in. Some of the main differences between the lifestyles of these women include the rights they were given under the government, the daily and professional attire of the women, and the marital and divorce rituals of each of the women. Though they had many different things about them, they also had some similarities that connected them together. Both the Athens and Sparta have two completely different statuses for their women in the society, in many different aspects as well.

Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t

Despite Athenian and Spartans being associates of the same influential nation, these two states or ‘Peloi’ and denominations of people in Ancient Greece in (400BC) were substantially different. The women in their own distinct societies endured several problematic issues and experienced inequity, demoralisation and condemnation. The notion of women and their purpose was typically conjectured by men in society, specifically Aristotle who claimed that women brought ‘disorder, were evil, were utterly useless and caused more confusion than the enemy’ . However despite misogynistic, biased and loathsome perspectives of women, both Athenian and Spartan women have all played exceedingly significant roles and contributed substantially to the prosperity of Ancient Greek society in their own inimitable ways.

In Athens, the woman’s education was mainly focused around the arts. Girls were sometimes taught how to play instruments, gymnastics, and dancing. Girls in ancient Greece were educated at home. Their mothers taught them how to cook, sew, and do household chores. Their fathers, brothers, or husbands sometimes taught them how to read and write. In Sparta, their education was different. Spartan girls would go to military school and learn not just how to read and write, but also physical activities.