Spartan Women Vs Athenian Democracy

Unlike in Athens, in Sparta, women received good, formal educations and were much more forward and independent. They were trained to be physically active and healthy all throughout their lives. From birth, they were treated nearly the same as their male counterparts and seen as basically as equals. Sparta women also had many legal rights, such as owning and disposing of property how they wished and inheriting from their fathers. At the same time, Athenian women had little legal rights, as they could not own property or land. They could not initiate a divorce from their husbands, represent themselves in court, or be in public by themselves; that required a male relative. Athenian women were more or less seen as breeding stock to Athens. Athenians were believers in keeping women separated from general society. This because of the dire importance of the legitimacy of the children. They lived in women’s quarters, and were expected to the run the household while staying out of men’s

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.

This investigation will attempt to answer the question what are the similarities and differences of the role of women in Athens and Sparta. The question is relevant because women’s roles have developed over time and knowing women’s history helps women’s rights to keep moving forward. The issues that will be addressed are the religious, job roles and the expectations of women in their society. Women of wealth and women of lower classes will be included. This investigation will focus on the time period of 600 BC to 300 BC and the places investigated will include Athens and Sparta. This will be accomplished through a thorough examination of academic journals, books and websites.

When comparing power levels and women’s rights, Sparta was a leader in its time. Athens and Sparta, though both Greek city-states were different in the way they operated. More specifically, Sparta was different in the way that they treated their women. Athenian woman were treated quite appallingly compared to the standards of today’s women. The stem of this difference seems to lie in how these two city-states were governed. Sparta, known for its’ militaristic ways, was an oligarchy and Athens, known for its’ philosophers and thinkers, was a democracy. Sparta’s oligarchy was ruled by a counsel of 5 men, on being a lawmaker or giver. The lawgiver’s name was Lycurgus. Lycurgus was

Sparta was definitely more progressive in people equality that the other city-states in Greece. The woman of Sparta had much more rights and opportunities that women in other city-states like Athens. For example, women could own their own land and control their own property and women also wore a special tunic that showed that they had freedom. Women were also free to speak to the husband friends and even remarry to another man if their husband has been gone for too long at war. Unlike in Athens, woman and men were both educated. Women studied something called Mousike, which was a combination of different lessons consisting of music, dance, and poetry. When women got older, the were very skilled with governance,

Athenian democracy focuses on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focuses on military force. Democracy is a system of government where the citizens have the right to vote, whereas the oligarchy is when a group of people is in control of the government and it’s only their opinion and decision that are taken to consideration. Implicating the thesis that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, which is supported by three evidence points. Firstly, the Athenian citizen's participation in government, by voting and taking part in the government position.Secondly, the Athenian men are provided with better education by being taught how to read and write, not only focused on military training. Lastly, the Athens advancement in military protection for the safety of its citizens.

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

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 ancient Greece, there was one dominant city-state, or Polis as the ancient Greeks called it, and this was Athens. It was a beautiful society that enjoyed art and literature very much and valued things like wholeness and excellence. However, one thing the Athenians did not value was women. They were deemed inferior by men, and treated more as a decoration rather than a human being.

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.

This investigation will answer the question “What were the differences and similarities of the roles of women in Athens and Sparta?” This question is relevant due to the fact that the role of women and how they were treated back then are very different than today and we’ve come a long way since then in terms of women’s rights. It’s also important to see the drastic differences between the roles of women from one Greek city to another. The issues that will be addressed are their treatment and roles within societies and how they differ from the Greek towns Athens and Sparta. The places investigated will include Athens and Sparta. This will be accomplished through an examination of books, websites, and academic journals.

Women in Athens and Sparta were treated completely different. Women in Sparta were viewed more equally, while the women in Athens were treated like slaves. Women in a Greek city/state known as Athens, were not educated, and were treated the same if not worse than slaves (Athenian, 2005). In Athens, “Women lived in a society completely dominated by men” (O’Pry, 2012). This all ended when the women of Sparta (a Greek city/state) were seen overcoming these issues. The life of a woman in Athens was completely different than a Spartan. Women were treated differently, in Sparta they could manage the land, have their own public opinion, and were treated equal as men, while women in Athens had no public or political rights. Not only was this a big

Ancient Greece is a country that houses two of the most infamous societies in the world known as the Spartans and the Athenians. Women of ancient Sparta were known as strong minded women who enjoyed more freedom than Athenian women. Although Spartan women were to a certain extent dependent on men, they had some influence in men’s politics, which poses the question: in what form did they influenced the decisions made by Greek men? Much like Spartan women, the Athenian women had a similar role to play in their men’s lives, such as wives and courtesan, “These were other classes of women though, which were less respectable than a citizen’s wife” known as hetaera; According to (Jorgen Christian Meyer). They were given more freedom and were normally educated in conversation, singing and dancing, which were ways of pleasing men in those eras. Moreover, women in ancient Greece such as courtesan women could not marry Spartan men, nor could courtesan women marry Athens men as these women were not respected as wives but were the mistresses of the husband.

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.