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What was the role of women in Sparta

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[[File: Spartan helmet 2 British Museum.jpg |270px|thumb|left| Spartan helmet]]
The defeat at Leuctra led to a severe political, social and military decline in the city-state, but it managed to maintain its independence from successive Hellenistic monarchs. Rome conquered Sparta in the 2nd century BC, and this finally extinguished this most singular state.<ref>Cartledge, Paul The Spartans: an epic history (London, Pan Books, 2013), p 203</ref>
====Sparta How did the lives of Spartan women in society==differ from other Greek states? ==
[[File: Spartan woman.jpg |250px|thumb|left|A bronze statuette of a Spartan girl]]
The sources of Sparta women are incomplete and scarce. Most of Sparta's works are not the records of Spartan writers and historians but rather of Athenian and other Greek writers.<ref>Pomeroy, Sarah. <i>Spartan Women</i>, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p 11 </ref>. The rest of Greece was fascinated by Spartan females and the unique freedom they enjoyed.
Alternatively, women were primarily trained to be mothers, who produced strong and healthy male children for the good of the state.<ref>Pomeroy, p. 19</ref> The education and freedom that Spartan girls had was limited and designed to ensure that they provided male children who could be trained as warriors. Women did have a defined status in society. Such was motherhood's status that those who died in childbirth were honored like those who fell in battle defending the city-state.<ref>Pomeroy, p 178</ref>
====Spartan Women, marriage and sex==How did family life differ in Sparta? ==
Because the individual was expected to put the common good before their own interests, the family unit was not strong. Marriage was not about love or even the transfer of property, as was the case in the rest of the Hellenic words. As in the rest of Greece, young women in Lacedaemon could not select their bridegroom. However, unlike other city-states, families did not select young women’s husbands, but an official performed this role. This was to ensure that Spartan couples could produce strong and healthy male children for the city-state's good. <ref>Cartledge, p 101</ref>
In general, the tightly controlled Spartan society was not preoccupied with legitimacy issues but with male children's production. Indeed, it is reported that older men encouraged their wives to have affairs with younger men so that out of these relationships, strong male infants would be born. The level of sexual freedom of Spartan women was something that bewildered the Ancient Greeks, including Aristotle. Moreover, Spartan women could divorce their husband who was not the case in the rest of Greece.<ref>Cartledge, p 78</ref>
==== Why were Spartan Women and Public Life==part of public life in Sparta? ==
[[File: Sparta.jpg |200px|thumb|left|Modern painting of the siege of Sparta]]
Spartan women were part of the political community, and they had the same rights as men. The city-state’s political system was a curious one, and it had two royal families and two queens. Now, these queens did not have real formal political power, but they had enormous influence. The queens had a great deal of social prestige, and Gorgo, the widow of King Leonidas, who died a hero at Thermopylae, was a significant Laconia figure.
Females played a crucial role in the enforcement of Spartan values, especially the family members of warriors. The female relatives of fallen soldiers celebrated the death of those who died in battle and lamented the survival of those adjudged to be cowards. The mothers of warriors had to ensure that their sons fought and died like their forefathers. Reputedly, a Spartan mother told her son ‘to come back with his shield or on it.’ <ref>Talbot, p 118</ref> In other words, come back a hero or come back dead. Women had a great deal of social authority in the city-state, unlike other parts of Greece. It was widely believed in the Greek world that women ‘ruled’ the men in the city-state. When a queen was asked why Spartan women were the only in Greece able to dominate men, she replied, ‘"because we are also the only ones who give birth to men." <ref> Plutarch, Moralia 225A and 240E </ref>
====How did Spartan women and land ownership==become wealthy landowners? ==
Females in the city-state, because their husbands lived in the barracks or were often on a campaign, ran the household (Oikos). They, therefore, managed not only houses but also estates and oversaw a large number of slaves. Therefore, much of the economy was run by women, which was unthinkable in Athens and other Greek city-states. This gave them real power and influence. Critically, unlike in other city-states, they could also inherit land and wealth and married, ora male authority figure did not control widowed women. As men usually died earlier than women, this meant that many widows amassed considerable fortunes.<ref>, Pomeroy, p. 167</ref>
Aristotle claimed that many women in Lacedaemon were wealthy and lived luxurious lives, despite the traditional austerity of Spartan society. Females became wealthy, but they also lent money, and many citizens became indebted to them.<ref> Aristotle, Politics, 1269 </ref> Therefore, a class of Spartan women became extremely wealthy, which led to growing inequality in the citizen body. According to Aristotle, this undermined the city-state. As women abandoned motherhood to pursue wealth and luxury, the birth rate fell.<ref> Aristotle, Politics, 1269 </ref> This led to a decline in the number of Spartan citizens and a reduction in their army size, which led to defeats such as Leuctra. However, it should be noted that Aristotle, like many of his contemporaries, was influenced by a misogynistic culture and distrusted any independent or strong women.
====Conclusion====
Sparta was a different society, one that developed a socio-economic and political system focused solely on military success. This emphasis on the army meant that a premium was placed on the number of warriors available. As a result, in that society, despite its innate conservatism, women had more rights as they were the mothers of warriors. The role of women as mothers of Spartan citizens made them invaluable, and as a result, they had a great many more opportunities than Greek women elsewhere. For example, they received some education.

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