Historian / Evidence / Relationship to other Syllabus dot points
Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 1.2-10. 4th cent. B.C.) /
97. The education of Spartan mothers (Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 1.2-10. 4th cent. B.C.)
It was not by imitating the customs of other states, but by knowingly doing the opposite to most of them, that Lycurgus made his fatherland pre-eminently successful.(1.3) To begin at the beginning, here is his legislation about the procreation of children. Other people raise the girls who will bear the children and who are supposed to have a good upbringing with the most limited portions of food and the smallest possible amount of delicacies. They make sure they abstain from wine completely or give it to them mixed with water.
The other Greeks think that girls ought to sit in isolation doing wool work, leading a sedentary existence like many craftsmen. How could they expect that girls raised in this way could produce significant offspring? (1.4) By contrast, Lycurgus thought that slave women could make a sufficient quantity of clothing.
But as far as free women were concerned, because he thought childbearing was their most important function, he decreed that the female sex ought to take bodily exercise no less than the male. He established competitions of running and of strength for women with one another, just as he did for the men, because he thought that stronger offspring would be born if both parents were strong.
(1.5) As for a wife's sexual relations with her husband, Lycurgus saw that men in other cultures during the first part of the time had unlimited intercourse with their wives, but he knew that the opposite was right. He made it a disgrace for the husband to be seen approaching or leaving his wife. As a result it was inevitable that their desire for intercourse increased, and that as a result the offspring (if there were any) that were born were stronger than if the couple were tired of each other.
(1.6) In addition, he stopped men from taking a wife whenever they chose and decreed that they marry when they were in their prime, because he thought that this was better for their offspring. (1.7) He saw that in cases where it happened that an old man had a young wife, the men were particularly protective of their wives, and he knew that the opposite was right. He required that the older man bring in a man whose body and mind he admired and have him beget the children. (1.8) But in case a man did not want to cohabit with his wife, but wanted worthy children, he made a law that he could beget children from a woman who was noble and had borne good children, if he could persuade her husband. [17] (1.9) He agreed to allow many such arrangements, for the wives who wanted to have two households and husbands who wanted to acquire brothers for their children, who had blood and powers in common, but did not inherit their property. [18]
Thus Lycurgus had different ideas about the begetting of children, and anyone who wishes to may judge whether or not he succeeded in producing in Sparta men who were superior in height and strength from the men in other states!
Notes
17. Note that while husbands can decide what to do with their wives, wives do not have a choice about what to do with themselves or their husbands; as in the Republic, they are regarded in Lycurgus' legislation as vehicles for the production of children.18. Cf. Hodkinson in Powell, 1988, 90: 'Both monogamy and polyandry can be interpreted as practices designed to limit the number of legitimate offspring a man sired and hence the division of the inheritance'.
BOS 1 / IX Role and status of women: land ownership, inheritance, education
Land ownership/inheritance
· A lot we don’t know about the land system, appears to have been private property as well as kleroi (state allotments).
· At the beginning of the classical period women could inherit a family estate, however, she could not own it and it passed to her offspring.
· By end of classical period women occupied most of the private estates (2/5 according to Aristotle), as they outnumbered the men who kept dying in battle.
· It is believed women also owned their own dowries.
Education
· “I bore him so that he might die for Sparta” - Plutarch, shows the role of women was to bear healthy warriors.
· Young Spartan girls remained at home with their mothers but they were still expected to be educated.
· It is assumed that girls were taught the basics of reading/writing, like boys.
· Girls underwent physical fitness/athletic training so they would become fit mothers and give birth to healthy warriors (this indicates good medical knowledge).
· Spartan girls were famous for physical beauty, education and independence throughout Greece.
· They participated in most sports (e.g. javelin, boxing) and sometimes exercised with the boys.
· Lysistrata (by Aristophanes) is an example of how other Greek poleis viewed Spartan women (as muscular, promiscuous women).
· Plato says Spartan girls did not live trivial lives.
· Girls may have been organized into groups/bands like boys.
BOS 2 /
Spartan Women
v Spartan girls were not brought up to perform domestic tasks such as weaving and spinning as their Athenian counterparts were. In Sparta, only slaves did these activities.v The girls instead participated in physical training with the boys and, presumably, since it is known that they took part in various dancing and singing competitions, they also joined the boys in learning to play the lyre, to dance, and to recite and chant poetry.
v They did not join in military training however and did not live in barracks but at home.
v The role of women in Spartan society was primarily to produce healthy children.
v The object of exercising with the boys was so that they became strong and healthy so their children would likewise be born strong and healthy too.
v They continued their training through the early months of pregnancy and ate and drank freely.
v Apparently these measures worked, for the Spartans were remarkable for their size and strength.
v According to Plutarch, a foreigner once asked the wife of King Leonidas why the Spartan women were able to influence men more than wives in other cities. She replied, “We are the only women who can control men because we are the only women who give birth to men.”
v Thus the pride of a Spartan woman was to be a mother of a truly courageous member of the Equals.
v There are stories of mothers who carried this so far that they would much prefer their children to be killed honourably in battle than to survive without honour.
v This attitude was quite in keeping with the spirit of Tyrtaeus’ poetry and with the spirit of Sparta in general.
v To die for the city was a man’s highest honour and what a mother dreamed of for her sons.
v Had considerable freedom and since Spartan women did not really have a family to look after, it seems quite likely that they may have been rather bored.
v In addition to their relative freedom, the Spartan women gradually gained control of much of the city’s private estates, and thereby acquired great power and influence.
v This may have been due to that fact that the Equals were not allowed to own more than the city had originally granted them, and when the number of Equals reduced by war, women may have overtaken the vacant estates.
Role of Women
v According to many historians such as Powell “the citizen women of Sparta were believed to lead unusual lives by Greek standards.”v Their role in Spartan society was primarily to stay strong and healthy in order to produce healthy children as stated by Lycurgus in the Great Rhetra but their roles in society were seen to extend much further than just childbearing with their influence also being felt in both Sparta’s economic life and, to a lesser extent, the religious life.
> Childbearing
v Spartan women, unlike their Athenian counterparts, “were freed from domestic duties and treated like men.” They spent most days involved in intense exercises such as running, wrestling, javelin and discus throwing and the unique form of exercise known as bibasis.
v However, according to Barrow and Powell alike, “the physical training of girls was far from feminist” and seemed only to be tolerated to serve the state purpose of producing more and superior children.
v According to Xenophon, Lycurgus decreed that “women should take as much trouble over physical fitness as men…on the grounds that if both parents were strong, the offspring would be more sturdy and the women themselves would be able to bear the pains of labour.”
v This view that the role of women was to produce strong, male children is also reflected by Plutarch who stated, “Those who buried a dead person were not permitted to inscribe that name on a grave except in the case of a man killed in battle or for a woman who had died in labour.”
> Propaganda tools for the State
v In association with their role to giving birth to physically strong children, women also played a role in the indoctrination of their offspring.
v According to S Blundell, “Females in Sparta were so thoroughly indoctrinated that they formed an effective branch of a state propaganda machine.”
v This propaganda was seen most often to take place during festivals such as the Homos were Spartan girls composed songs for Spartan boys deserving praise, cheering the winners in competitions and mocking those who lost. Thus, in an attempt to avoid their disapproval, Spartan boys were provided with more motive to continually strive for excellence.
v Thus it can be seen how the women of Sparta became tools for the state in encouraging rivalry among their offspring and in creating a striving to excel in the young male population, their role ultimately creating the beginnings for excellent warriors.
> Economy
v Even though Spartan women were recognized as Equals, they did not have the right to attend the Apella and vote on the running of politics and government.
v According to Bradley however, “Spartan women had a different type of power and the influence in Spartan society” which was attributed to their strong economic positions as landowners.
v Aristotle, censuring Sparta’s for her economic arrangements, stated that “nearly two –fifths of the whole country belongs to women, because there are many sole heiresses and also because [Spartans] gave large dowries.”
v This growth in economic prestige is evident in relation to Kyniska, the daughter of King Archidamus, who won an equestrian event at Olympia, which, according to R Sealy, indicates that “to compete was a mark of wealth…”
v During times of war, women also had to often manage their husband’s kleros and therefore played an important part in the economy in regards to management and production of agricultural articles.
v Thus the role that women had in the economic life of Sparta was extensive and as a result “woman had effective control of plentiful wealth.” (Bradley)
v Therefore it is apparent that women in Spartan society played various and significant roles that contributed to all aspects of the polis. When raising their children they proved to play effective roles in state propaganda and trained their children in their indoctrinated ideals. The economy was a sector, which they contributed to immensely in the form of dowries and their monopoly of landownership. Thus Spartan women were seen to be unique in their freedom to participate so widely in the running of the Spartan state.