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Spartan Women Introduction Issues that concerned women have been present in history since ancient time. It was not just a case: mankind has always been preoccupied with the problem of family, gender roles, moral choice, good and evil; and love, closely related to moral and religion has been looked upon as possible to provide some answers for the questions. Spartan women are often spoken in the context of social phenomenon. No doubts that women enjoyed some evident benefits. For example, when a head of the family died during the war, the woman became the owner of all property belonging to the family (buildings, lands, servants, etc). Besides, the women not only controlled their own property, but the property of their male relatives when they were away with the army.
It is estimated that women were the sole owners of a least 40 percent of all land and property in Sparta. (Stark 235) Some historian argue that the Spartan women had possibility to be the owners of their lands in times of war simply by the reason that Sparta government feared a revolt from the helots, and required strong women to fend off such an attack (Ancient Greek Civilizations, n. p. ) Some historians claim that the real reason for womens power was re-compensation for strict treatment in relation to Spartan men. Yet, the power of Spartan women was stipulated by moral objective factors rather than by material subjective factors. On the one hand, Spartan women were less specialized than Spartan men.
As they were much more emancipated than men, they didnt face a lot of difficulties when the Licurg system was replaced by other social conditions. This phenomenon, probably, serves as peculiar feature for other social systems. Whatever form of specialization is being cultivated in society, women are not adjusted to some peculiar social system (as the men usually do). In such a way, they are much more flexible than the men.
When the society survives through a catastrophe, women demonstrate more flexibility and adaptability to new situation. In such a way, Spartan women are often spoken in the context of philosophy of feminism. They are often considered the first feminists due to variety of social, economical and political factors. The Purpose In the essay we will examine the history of Sparta, focusing attention on Spartan women and their position in Spartan society. The paper comprises of several parts: Introduction, The historical background of Sparta (including general information about the city and its citizens), Spartan Women and Conclusion. In the third part we will examine the factors that contributed to the process of democratization and feminization of Spartan women, education available to women, the purpose of womens going to school, the differences between womens and mens schooling.
We will dwell on Spartan women and their role at home, such as what was expected of being a wife in Sparta, what was expected of being a mother (particularly, the gender roles in Sparta). Besides, we will examine Spartan women and their role in society, comparing position of elite women and Spartan women belonging to lower and slave classes. We will speak about Spartan women and their attitude to religion, as well as their role in Church, etc. In the last part we will summarize all the studied information and make a conclusion concerning the issue raised in the essay.
Of several philosophical structures concerning Spartan women and their role in society that have been proposed for examination, philosophical interpretation with feminism positions appears to be the most relevant. To prove correctness of my proposition, Ill give a brief account of the history of Spartan women concerning their role in society (including their social and gender roles) as being viewed by various historians, and examine them by juxtaposing them and indicating their strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, I will try to focus on Spartan women as the first feminists in the light of theories just mentioned, to see whether those are applicable and corresponding. Sparta: the Historical Background The world of Spartan family as well as their way of life was completely different from those of Athenians.
Lets examine the world of Spartan love and virtue. Sparta was one of the most powerful polices in the classic Greece. The history of Sparta is one of the most interesting histories of the ancient societies. Sparta (or Sparta) is the main city of Laconia, located between the rivers Enus and Tiasoy. According to the ancient legends, Sparta consisted of several open settlements.
The Spartan men are known as strong, valiant and brave heroes. However, they were not experienced in fine arts and other weak sciences. The major part of information available consists of Greek literary works or historical reviews. The Greeks either were worshipping the Spartan society, or were blaming it, being guided by political reasons. Such duality took place in relation to the Spartan family and their family relationships. We can find some evidences provided by the playwright Euripides, philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the historian Ksenophontus and the biographer Plutarch, to mention a few.
Yet, despite their attitude to the social life of Spartans, the information is mostly identical. All of them report about the significant role Spartan women play in the social life of Sparta as well as about their emancipated position. The independence of women seemed rather less unnatural to the Greeks than to other ancients (Coit 41) because the Greeks obeyed well-recognized model of domestic social roles. The Greeks had such opinion, being based on Amazons (who seemed to be a legend to them), and being based on examples of Spartan women, who, though no less subordinate by law than in other Greek states, were more free in fact, and, being trained to bodily exercises in the same manner with men, gave ample proof that they were not naturally disqualified for them. (Coit 41). Such freedom as well as their social importance caused negative attitude from the side of Athenians, who considered such position abnormal. The Athenian domestic ideology was based on traditional ideals of domesticity.
The cult of true womanhood focused attention on homemaking, motherhood, purity and piety. Men were expected to work whereas women were expected to sit at home and to create family happiness. Women were to make home a peaceful refuge of harmony and to avoid politics and business affairs. The womens role in domestic ideology becomes the linking element. It is the bridge between the being and formation.
Woman unites the fact with meaning. She acts as eternal creative force, transformed in the force inside and outside the Spartan world. Many historians speak about contradictions between womens desire to become a full-pledged member in society and female nature. The cult of true womanhood prevented women from undertaking active social positions and warned that women can become a genius only when she looses her female nature.
However, Spartan women seemed to be quite opposite to the domestic ideology as they certainly had to be comprehensively developed personalities. In contrast to Athenian women, Spartan women lived on an equal footing with their husbands, could own property, and participated in their own version of the above, something that shocked other Greeks, who assumed that they must therefore have been of very loose morals. In fact they were notably powerful figures in their own right. (Potter 216) Education, Physical Education, Gender Roles and Religion According to Sarah B. Pomeroy, at Athens there was no outside surveillance of girls upbringing because a modest, well-brought-up young woman was hidden from the public eye (3).
However, the Spartan education system was completely different from that of Athens. The educational system in Sparta can be examined as a part of social-political structure of government. It prescribes special educational programs both for boys and girls, however, Spartan girls, unlike Athenian girls, underwent a form of state education, separate from the boys but comparably rigorous and physical; this entitled them to equal food rations to enable them to develop physical strength, especially for eugenic reasons. (Cart ledge 20 +) Although the citizens of Sparta were responsible for education of their children, sometimes they invited foreign teachers to teach the kids. Spartan government considered the educational program as an integral part of upbringing. Lets dwell on peculiarities of womens educational system. Sarah B.
Pomeroy writes that in archaic and classical Sparta, girls were raised to become the sort of mothers Sparta needed, just as boys were trained to become the kind of soldiers the state required (4). In such a way, the primary task for girls education was to teach the girls all secrets of how to become a good mother who can produce the best hoplite's and mothers of hoplite's (Pomeroy 4). Besides, as the girls lived with their mothers, they had a lot of free time and could enjoy some privacy and leisure denied to the boys (Pomeroy 4). The Spartan girls were rarely educated at schools, and had primarily domestic education. At age 18, if a Sparta girl passed her skills and fitness test, she would be assigned a husband and allowed to return home. If she failed, she would lose her rights as a citizen, and became a peri oikos, a member of the middle class. (Ancient Greek Education, n.
p. ) The concept of literacy in relation to Spartan boys and girls has a lot of contradictions. The education of boys was mainly aimed to develop military skills they will require for battles and wars. The boys didnt have much time for developing of literary skills and liberal arts. The Spartan girls, on the contrary, spent a lot of time with their mothers and had more time to learn social skills and arts. Sarah B. Pomeroy says that the girls could well have learned reading and writing, as well as other aspects of mouse (music, dancing, poetry) in such an all-female milieu (5).
In such a way, the girls had more opportunities to learn social sciences and literacy, whereas the boys were dedicated to developing military skills. The cultural level of girls was evidently higher than that of the boys. Yet, there are many jokes about womens literacy during the early classical Spartan period. One of them narrates about Gorgo, the kings daughter and the wife of kings. Gorgo was supposed to know how to read. When Demaratus, who was in exile, sent a secret message to Sparta by writing it on a wooden tablet and covering it with wax, Gorgo told the recipients to scrape the wax off and read the message (Pomeroy 8).
Sparta was the only government, which supported the training of girls. Spartan girls were engaged in many kinds of athletic activities. Pomeroy writes that many of the athletic activities were part of religious festivals that were held in honor of female divinities (9). In such a way, it is quite difficult to make separation between the athletic activities and religion. These festivals included competitions in trials of strength, racing, etc. In contrast to the Athenian women, or a Spartan women such tasks as spinning, weaving, and other domestic arts were relegated to the helots or perioeci.
A girls education was equally as brutal as the men's, and included many athletic events. (The Women of Sparta, n. p. ) Besides, the girls were supposed...
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