Sparta’s view toward their women was more liberal than that of Athens. Sparta was by far the better of the two City-States in Ancient Greece to be woman. They had the freedom to mingle among the men, to own property, and the education that was not awarded to the women of Athens.
Why were women in Sparta and Athens so different?
Some people would argue that this freedom was only due to the need for extensive child birth, but freedom is freedom. Sparta’s view toward their women was more liberal than that of Athens. Sparta was by far the better of the two City-States in Ancient Greece to be woman.
How did Sparta city-state evaluate their women?
Compared to women in the present time, we can regard that Sparta city-state evaluated their women by giving many rights that were equal to men. It exhibited what call gender at the present time although the women were not allowed to hold the official work in the assembly and government like the women in the 21st century.
How did city-states compare to Sparta in treating slaves?
However, they treated slaves better than any other city-state, and especially better than the Spartans. As you can see, the comparison between city-states has to include every field such as democracy, army, culture, government, work conditions, etc.
What did Spartan women do to protect themselves?
At an early age, Spartan women were taught to defend themselves, and, in addition, how to read and write so as to manage the family’s property in case their husband was gone.
See more
How were Spartan women different from other Greek city-states?
Thus, compared to other women in ancient Greek city-states, Sparta women were luckier, they were free to move outside and they could involve in education, military and also politics. In short, women in Sparta enjoyed more rights and better status while women in Athens were forced to be at home most of the time.
How were men and women treated differently Sparta?
Men that were cowards were cast out because in Sparta there was no room for men to be cowards. Women were educated in Sparta because they did most of the work they ran stores and took care of the children. Women in Athens had no freedoms and were commanded to stay at home, they also had strict rules for women.
Do women have more rights in Sparta?
Spartan women had more rights and enjoyed greater autonomy than women in any other Greek city-state of the Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE). Women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, and were better educated than women in ancient Greece in general.
How were females treated in ancient Greece?
Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives. The most important duties for a city-dwelling woman were to bear children--preferably male--and to run the household.
How were Spartan and Athenian women different?
According to the clarifications of each part, Athenian and Spartan women in ancient Greece were much different from each other. As we can see, education of Spartan women was almost the same as men’s. Athenian women, in contrary, were required to study the household chores.
What were the main duties of women in Athens and Sparta?
In Athens and Sparta, the main duties of women were to bear children, manage their home and slaves. Lastly, Athenian and Sparta women are not allowed to join assembly. In fact, women in Sparta had more right than women in Athens. Spartan women endured strict discipline and learn to defend Sparta.
What are the similarities between Sparta and Athens?
One of the other similarities is that all Athenian and Sparta women have to get married. Even though Athenian women mostly get married by the age of fourteen to sixteen while Sparta women marry at the age of eighteen, both Athenian and Sparta’s marriage were arranged by their fathers. Another point is that they were expected to give birth to strong and healthy sons. In Athens and Sparta, the main duties of women were to bear children, manage their home and slaves. Lastly, Athenian and Sparta women are not allowed to join assembly. In fact, women in Sparta had more right than women in Athens. Spartan women endured strict discipline and learn to defend Sparta. They can participate in public group exercise, military drill and gymnastics. However, like Athenian women, they have no right to attend in assembly.
Why did Spartan women not get much knowledge of house duties?
However, they did not get much knowledge of house-duties as Athenian women had because education in Spartan society was thought of highly and women were given the same teachings as men. Moreover, the women could even take roles in any kind of test that used strength as the men could.
What were the jobs of Sparta and Athenian women?
Athenian women, on the other hand, were taught only how to write and read and essential household jobs, which mostly was conducted at home such as weaving, spinning, sewing, cooking, and others which their families had.
What was the Spartan government like?
The system of Sparta government was a monarchy. The life in Sparta was similar to that of other city-state of the Greek cities, and art and poetry. From the 6th century BC, the Spartan regarded themselves as the military garrison, and the discipline is the war.
How much of the land did Sparta women own?
According to Aristotle report, Spartan women totally owned forty percent of the land in Sparta. Of course, Sparta women also had authority on their land. They could control, manage, and abandon their land whenever they wanted. In addition, Spartan women could gain income from their land as well.
Why did Sparta and Athens use women as tools for bearing children?
Some people would argue that this freedom was only due to the need for extensive child birth, but freedom is freedom. Sparta’s view toward their women was more liberal than that of Athens.
What was the difference between Sparta and Athens?
Sparta was a military state and was heavy with pride for their strength in battle. While Athens’ culture was one of art, philosophy, and democracy. The men not only lived completely separate lives from one another, but their women did too. Athens and Sparta treated their women differently.
What would happen if a father did not have any other children to pass their property down to his daughter?
If a father did not have any other children to pass their properties down to it would go to their daughter allowing them to be heiresses, unlike in Athens . With all this freedom Spartan women were still not allowed to have citizenship in Sparta.
What was the only way they could leave to go out into the streets?
The only way they could leave to go out into the streets was if they were supervised by a man. Education was rare to them. Only a select few had any form of education and even that was taught to them from inside their homes. They were banded from any political.
What was the Athenian women's festival?
Thesmophoria: Women’s Festival. Athenian women were no better than slaves to the men that surrounded them. They were not allowed to speak or even be seen in public. They lived most of their lives inside of their homes preparing meals and tending to the house.
Which city-state was the best to be a woman?
Sparta was by far the better of the two City-States in Ancient Greece to be woman. They had the freedom to mingle among the men, to own property, and the education that was not awarded to the women of Athens.
Who said only Spartan women give birth to real men?
Women of Sparta held the chore of child birth with high esteem and with as a great honor. The wife of Leonidas, Gorgo was recorded by Herodotus saying “Only Spartan women give birth to real men [6].”. Her saying this would show the pride they took in child birth.
What did Spartan women enforce?
Spartan women enforced the state ideology of militarism and bravery. Plutarch relates that one woman, upon handing her son his shield, instructed him to come home "either with this, or on it".
Which literary sources give us the most information about women's lives in Sparta?
However, the literary sources which give us the most information about women's lives in Sparta are later and written exclusively by non-Spartans . Xenophon ’s Constitution of the Lacedaemonians is another major source for Spartan history. Xenophon was born in Athens but worked as a mercenary in Sparta.
Why did Aristotle criticize Sparta?
Aristotle also criticized Spartan women for their wealth. He attributed the state's precipitous fall from being the master of Greece to a second-rate power in less than 50 years, to the fact that Sparta had become a gynocracy whose women were intemperate and loved luxury.
How old were the Spartan boys when they were educated?
In Sparta, boys were educated in the agoge from the age of seven; at least during some periods of Spartan history.
What was Aristotle's main source of information on Sparta?
He wrote Politics , which is the main source on Sparta that survives today, and the Constitution of Sparta which has been lost. Aristotle criticized the Spartan state primarily for the power that their women had, including how they owned property and their power over men.
What is the dance of Lampito?
Dance also provided physical benefits: in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the Spartan character Lampito attributes her fitness to the Laconian dance known as the bibasis, which involved buttock kicks and leaps. The bibasis was a competition that both Spartan men and women competed in to win prizes.
Why was it important for women to have children in Sparta?
Bearing and raising children was considered the most important role for women in Spartan society; equal to male warriors in the Spartan army. Spartan women were encouraged to produce many children, preferably male, to increase Sparta's military population. They took pride in having borne and raised brave warriors.
What were the women of Sparta?
The Women of Sparta Spartan women in the 5th Century BCE were in many ways completely different to other Hellenic women during this time. Their role as mother, wife and woman were all far beyond what was expected of an every-day Athenian woman. Their way of living was foreign to the rest of the Hellenic world as their roles in society, upbringing, marriage and motherhood all heavily differed from those experienced by women in other poleis lifestyle. However, most evidence of what women’s lives were like in Sparta comes from the writing of male Athenian historians, therefore the validity of their opinions should be viewed with some level of scepticism. Role in society Spartan women played a more prominent role in society than one might have…
What is the difference between Spartan and Athenian women?
One major difference between Spartan and Athenian women is the upbringing of young unmarried …show more content…. Women in Athens manner of dressing could be described as conservative while Spartan dress was more revealing. This is due to the differences when it comes to sexual beliefs. Chastity of women is valued in Athens as it is important ...
Why did Peleus attribute Helen's abduction to Spartan women?
This has been criticised in Athenian works such as Euripides’ Andromache, which Peleus attributes Helen’s abduction to Spartan women being able to interact with young men, wearing revealing clothes, and exercising as men do and thus should not expect Spartan women to be chaste.
What did the Athenian women do?
Athenian women wove clothes for both themselves and the okios and was considered one of the most productive things a woman could do, a contrast to the Spartan view of motherhood being a vital function.
Why is chastity important in Athens?
Chastity of women is valued in Athens as it is important to inheritance of the okios to insure that legitimate offspring to continue the family and are quality citizens. On the other hand, Spartans focused more on the beauty and attractive qualities of a woman over inheritance and chastity.
How was Sparta different from Athens?
Sparta was different in the way that they treated their women. Athenian woman were treated awfully bad compared to the values of today’s women. Sparta women wore short dresses and were allowed to leave the house whenever they wanted to. Overall, Spartan women had more freedom and rights and lived a much better life then the women from Athens. If we look at the equality and women rights, the life of men and women in Athens and Sparta was quite different.…
Why did the Athenians value male offspring over female offspring?
Athenians valued male offspring over female offspring because of their general value of women, which is interesting, because Spartans had such a focus on warfare. One would think that Spartan would share these views on offspring, but they did not. Spartan women had the privilege of owning property and could do with it what they pleased. They also had equal shares to their inheritance of their father’s estate. According to Aristotle, women owned…
What were the Spartan women's responsibilities?
In part to attract mates, females engaged in athletic competitions, including javelin-throwing and wrestling, and also sang and danced competitively. As adults, Spartan women were allowed to own and manage property. Additionally, they were typically unencumbered by domestic responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning and making clothing, tasks which were handled by the helots.
What was the Spartan society?
The Spartan Military. Spartan Women and Marriage. Decline of the Spartans. Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service.
What was the Spartan system known as?
Known as the Agoge, the system emphasized duty, discipline and endurance. Although Spartan women were not active in the military, they were educated and enjoyed more status and freedom than other Greek women. Because Spartan men were professional soldiers, all manual labor was done by a slave class, the Helots.
Where is Sparta located?
Sparta, also known as Lacedaemon, was an ancient Greek city-state located primarily in the present-day region of southern Greece called Laconia . The population of Sparta consisted of three main groups: the Spartans, or Spartiates, who were full citizens; the Helots, or serfs/slaves; and the Perioeci, who were neither slaves nor citizens.
Who led the Spartans to liberate the Messenian Helots?
In a further blow, late the following year, Theban general Epaminondas (c.418 B.C.-362B.C.) led an invasion into Spartan territory and oversaw the liberation of the Messenian Helots, who had been enslaved by the Spartans for several centuries. The Spartans would continue to exist, although as a second-rate power in a long period of decline. In 1834,Otto (1815-67), the king of Greece, ordered the founding of the modern-day town of Sparti on the site of ancient Sparta.
Did Sparta women have their heads shaved?
In preparation for marriage, Spartan women had their heads shaved; they kept their hair short after they wed. Married couples typically lived apart, as men under 30 were required to continue residing in communal barracks. In order to see their wives during this time, husbands had to sneak away at night.
Did Spartans have a formal education?
While they played no role in the military, female Spartans often received a formal education, although separate from boys and not at boarding schools. In part to attract mates, females engaged in athletic competitions, including javelin-throwing and wrestling, and also sang and danced competitively.
What did the women of Sparta do?
Since it was the women that were left behind, they became the leaders in the city-state. They went to court, owned land, and married older than other Greeks did. They weren’t afraid to stand up to their husbands, go out in public, or wear what they wanted. Life was hard in Sparta.
How long did the women of the city state stay in the army?
For the following 10 years, they remained to live and train in barracks. Then, they had to find a wife at 20, but could not live with her until they were 30 years old. They remained a part of the army until the age of 60. Unsplash. Since it was the women that were left behind, they became the leaders in the city-state.
What did the Athenians live on?
The people there had to live on grapes and olives or import food from other cities. Since they had to build a trading society, Athenians became known for their artisans and craftsmen. Women in Athens were nothing like those in Sparta. They were asked to stay at home and do their housework.
How long did it take the Spartans to put down the revolt?
And since they were treated terribly, they rose in revolt that took the Spartans 30 years to put down. Without a doubt, this revolt brought huge changes for Sparta. To control their slaves, they built an extraordinary army, asking all Spartans to join.
What was the most popular city state in Greece?
Athens. Athens was another very popular city-state in Greece and also, Sparta’s biggest competitor. But, it was also the most different city-state you can imagine. In Athens, people enjoyed their freedom. They didn’t do as they were told like the Spartans.
What was the name of the city-state that was a city-state of farmers?
Sparta. In the beginning, Sparta started as a city-state of farmers. Soon after this, their population grew and they needed more land to do their work. This is when Sparta invaded the Messenians, their neighbors.
Which city was a closed society?
The wealthiest of all Athenians constantly strolled the busy marketplace with their slaves. On the other hand, we have Sparta. Spread across a fertile farming area without any walls to surround the city, Sparta was a closed society.
Overview
- Education
At an early age, Spartan women were taught to defend themselves, and, in addition, how to read and write so as to manage the family’s property in case their husband was gone. However, they did not get much knowledge of house-duties as Athenian women had because education in Spa… - Beauty judgments
As Spartan women endured strict discipline and learned to defend Sparta in the same way as men did, women in Sparta did not care much of their artificial beauty. They gave much value to their native beauty; that’s why; they were famous for their natural beauty. They were not allowe…
Non-Spartiate women in Sparta
Sources
Childhood
Marriage
Similar to other places in ancient Greece, in Sparta far more is known about the elites than the lower classes, and ancient sources do not discuss gender in relation to the non-citizens who lived in Sparta. Various groups of free non-Spartiates lived in Sparta, as did helots and, at least later in Spartan history, personal slaves.
According to Xenophon, Spartan women were not required to do the domestic labour which wo…
Female homoeroticism in Sparta
Sparta is one of only three states in ancient Greece, along with Athens and Gortyn, for which any detailed information about the role of women survives. This evidence is mostly from the Classical period and later, but many of the laws and customs we know of probably date back to the Archaic period. The earliest evidence about the lives of Spartan women come from archaic Greek poetry, such as the partheneia ("maiden songs") of Alcman, a Lydian poet who lived and worked in Spar…
Religion
According to Plutarch's testimony, Spartans practiced infanticide as a matter of course if children were thought to be unhealthy. It is unclear from this passage whether this applied to girls as well as boys, though evidence from elsewhere in Plutarch and Xenophon implies that it does not. It is likely that girls were simply given into the care of their mothers immediately after birth. There is not enoug…
Clothing
Spartan women seem to have married relatively late in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere in Greece. While Athenian women might have expected to marry for the first time around the age of fourteen to men much older than them, Spartan women normally married between the ages of eighteen and twenty to men close to them in age. Spartan men under the age of thirty were …