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Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier (1738–1826). Illustrating the courage of Spartan women.

Marriage

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Spartan women seem to have married relatively late in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere in Greece. Spartan women normally married around the ages of eighteen and twenty-years old to Spartan men closely related in age.[1] Spartan men under thirty were not permitted to live with their families, being expected to live communally with other members of their syssitia, and were expected to visit their wives only in secret, at night.[2] Due to the husband's absence, women were expected to run the household largely alone.[3] Unlike in Athens, where state ideology held that men were in charge of the household, Sue Blundell argues that in Sparta it is likely that women's control of the domestic sphere was accepted by the state, and possibly even encouraged.[4]

According to Spartan ideology, the primary role of adult women were to bear and raise healthy children. This focus on childbearing was likely responsible for the emphasis on physical fitness in Spartan women, as it was believed that stronger women would have healthier children.[5] Therefore, this Spartan ideology led to women in Ancient Sparta to have a structured plan to become more physically fit (e.g., running) to bear these strong and healthy offspring.[6] However, before marriage existed a trial period for the potential couple was used to validate whether they could have children in the first place. In the event a couple was unsuccessful in creating descendants the options of divorce and remarriage were a customary solution. For Sparta, all activity including marriage was direct with the single purpose of improving their military.[7]Spartan marriages could also be an arranged marriage based on one's wealth and status.[8] For example, Spartan women that were wealthy and owned land could marry a Spartan man that was high ranking in the military status and be wealthy.

The evidence for the role of kyrioi (male guardians) in arranging Spartan women's marriages is not decisive, though Cartledge believes that like their Athenian (and unlike their Gortynian) counterparts, it was the responsibility of the kyrios to arrange a Spartan woman's marriage.[9] On the night of the wedding, the bride would have her hair cut short and be dressed in a man's cloak and sandals. The bride appeared dressed like a man or a young boy to be perceived as less threatening to their husband.[1] The bride was then left alone in a darkened room, where they would be visited and ritually captured by their new husband.[10] The appearance of the bride as a young boy was used to ease their husband into the transition of having this sexual relationship with a woman instead of an older man. The sexual relationship between the older man and young boy was an important form of education. This form of education and relationship for young Spartan boys helped to transition these young boys into men.

The living arrangements of the husband and wife were to keep them separate from each other for only a certain amount of time. The importance of this arrangement was to keep the desire alive within the husband and wife to create strong Spartan children.[6] Only when the Spartan women produced offspring were the husband and wife able to see each other during the day. Once Spartan women provided healthy offspring they became the main caretakers of the child, while their husbands lived their life in the military with their fellow men.

There is some evidence in ancient sources that the Spartans practiced polyandry. Herodotus says that the bigamy of Anaxandridas II, who married a second wife because his first had not been able to produce an heir, was un-Spartan,[11] but Polybius wrote that it was common at his time, and a time-honoured practice.[12] The practice of plural marriages is a form of polyandry or polygamy during the Archaic period of Ancient Sparta.[13] Some scholars believe that plural marriage in Ancient Sparta was said to be one of the solutions to the "crisis" of the decreasing population of men in the Spartan military.[6] Along with plural marriage, older men seem to have allowed younger, more fit men, to impregnate their wives since the older men may no longer be able to produce offspring and will need future Spartan heirs to carry on their family heritage. Other unmarried or childless men might even request another man’s wife to bear his children if she had previously been a strong child bearer.[14] Furthermore, Spartan wives can be given to another man to bear children when their first husband has produced enough offspring.[6] This idea of plural marriage fits with this Spartan social system of equality among the Spartan men to have multiple wives to share with for the good of their society. Additionally, polyandry marriage allowed for Spartan men and women to have the best possible chance of producing the healthiest offspring.

Education

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Spartan boys were educated in the agoge from the age of seven, at least for some periods of Spartan history, and it seems that whenever the state arranged for the education of boys, it also institutionalised the education of girls.[15] Unlike their male counterparts, however, Spartan girls would have been raised at home with their mothers while they were being educated.[16] There is evidence for some form of official educational programme for girls as early as the archaic period, and this system seems to have been discontinued in the Hellenistic period.[16] The extent to which education for girls was restored under the reforms of Cleomenes III is unclear, but it may have become voluntary rather than compulsory.[16] State-supervised education for girls was once again restored in the Roman period, the agoge, which was again abolished in 188 BC.[16]

Information about the education of Spartan women is hard to find as there are more surviving sources about the education of Spartan boys .[1] However, sources have found forms of education for Spartan women involving certain activities: dancing, music, singing, and poetry. More specifically, evidence of education for Spartan girls that incorporates all these activities was known as the mousike. The mousike was viewed by Sparta as a religious activity for Helen and Artemis. Another form of education for Spartan girls was dancing, which was beneficial to one’s physical activity (e.g., Bibasis).[1] The Bibasis was a Laconian dance that awarded prizes to young men and women with the greatest number of buttock kicks and leaps.[1] Spartan girls were also educated by being raised in the household environment with their mothers to learn about the duties and responsibilities with looking after the home.[17]

Choral dancing was another activity that was related to educating Spartan girls.[1] These choral dances consisted of dancing and singing, and competition between them. The choral dance competition consisted of each Spartan girl being grouped based on their age and bonds of friendship.[1] At the top of the Choral dance groups there was an older girl (chorēgos) that would be leading the group of younger ones.[1] The groups of Spartan girls were also trained by a professional poet. Additionally, choral dances were considered a representation of the transition of young Spartan girls into Spartan wives by the dancing, singing and poetry through the various public events.[1] Furthermore, choral dancing instilled values, important gender roles (looking after the household) and responsibilities in young Spartan girls. These forms of education in Spartan girls also allowed socialization with men and preparation of young Spartan girls into Spartan wives.

Literacy in Sparta, was a skill limited to the elite.[18] However, there is evidence from the Classical period that some women could read. For instance, anecdotes about Sparta are preserved which feature mothers writing letters to their sons who were away.[19]

Athletics

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Athletics was also a form of education, but was viewed as an important sport in Spartan society for men and women to produce healthy offspring.[20] Sparta was known for allowing women to become more physically active to produce strong and vigorous children. The types of athletics that Spartan females participated in were similar to male athletics involving running and strength.

There are limited amounts of known information about athletics for Spartan women compared to Spartan men.[20] However, there is proof of Spartan women becoming more physically active. The types of athletics that Spartan females participated in, because of Lycurgus, were similar to male athletics involving running and strength. More specifically, the Spartan exercise regimen for girls was designed to make them "every bit as fit as their brothers",[21] though unlike their brothers they did not actually train for combat.[22] Girls learned to ride,[23] and votive offerings have been discovered depicting Spartan women on horseback.[24] Other exercise for Spartan women included running, wrestling, throwing the discus and javelin, and "trials of strength".[23] It is possible that Spartan girls exercised naked, and Archaic Spartan art certainly portrays naked girls, unlike the art of other areas of Greece.[25] Girls might have competed in gymnopaedia, the Spartan festival of naked youths.[26] They also competed in running races for various festivals, of which the most prestigious was the Heraean Games.[27] The clothing of Spartan girls for athletics consisted of short tunics (chitōniskoi) and bare shoulders and arms. Therefore Spartan girls wore very little clothing. Once Spartan women became married they did not have to train their bodies to be actively fit and were not allowed to participate in athletics, but they could still take part in one event (horse racing). [20][1]  

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Millender, Ellen (2017). Spartan Women. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. pp. 500–524.
  2. ^ Cartledge 1981, p. 101.
  3. ^ Pomeroy 2002, p. 44.
  4. ^ Blundell 1995, p. 151.
  5. ^ Blundell 1995, p. 157.
  6. ^ a b c d Scott, Andrew (2011). Plural marriage and the Spartan state. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 413–424.
  7. ^ Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. (2011). Genders in History: Global Perspective (Second ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4051-8995-8.
  8. ^ Redfield, James (1978). "The Women of Sparta". Classical Journal: 146–161.
  9. ^ Cartledge 1981, p. 100
  10. ^ Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 15.3-4.
  11. ^ Herodotus, Histories, V.40.2
  12. ^ Polybius XII.6b.8
  13. ^ Scott, Andrew (2011). Plural marriage and the Spartan state. Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 414.
  14. ^ Powell 2001, p. 248
  15. ^ Pomeroy 2002, pp. 27–28
  16. ^ a b c d Pomeroy 2002, p. 4
  17. ^ Cartledge, Paul (1981). "Spartan Wives: Liberation or Licence?". Classical Antiquity: 84–105.
  18. ^ Pomeroy 2002, pp. 4–5
  19. ^ Pomeroy 2002, p. 8
  20. ^ a b c Christesen, P. (2012). "Athletics and Social Order in Sparta in the Classical Period". Classical Antiquity: 193–255.
  21. ^ Hughes 2005, pp. 58–59
  22. ^ Pomeroy 2002, p. 16.
  23. ^ a b Hughes 2005, p. 59
  24. ^ Hughes 2005, figure 4
  25. ^ Pomeroy 1994, p. 36
  26. ^ Pomeroy 2002, p. 34
  27. ^ Pomeroy 2002, p. 24

Bibliography

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