To what extent did Spartan women benefit from being more "liberated' than their Athenian counterparts in Classical Greece?
The Oxford definition of "liberated" is someone who is "free from social conventions, especially those concerned with accepted sexual roles" (Oxford University Press, 2016). While Spartan women are so often regarded as liberated due to their freedom to own land and their access to education, something which was unheard of in Classical Athens, it must however be considered that their fundamental role remained the same as their Athenian counterparts - to bear children for the perpetuation and cohesion of the city state (Dougherty, 1991) (Breu, 2005). This essay thus intends to explore the areas of Greek society wherein Spartan women are so often considered "liberated" and to infer whether or not they actually benefited compared to their Athenian counterparts in various sections of society.
Education, marriage, sexual relations, religion, literature and the city state itself are all areas of the respective societies in which the two cohorts of Women are able to be both compared and contrasted. The general public consensus regarding Spartan Women leads one to believe that they were inherently more liberated in all mentioned areas of society; generalised statements regard the issue of gender in the Classical period as distinctly black and white - Spartan Women were liberated, Athenian women were not, despite the fact that neither groups of Women were fully liberated in the modern definition of the word. One online source claims that 'Spartan women had equal rights (to men)" (Hello World Civ, 2016); a statement that has questionable walidity given that it is a fairly basic blog post, directed at those who know little about the classical world and look to generalise in a more accessible and colloquial manner in order to increase their audience which probably targets a younger audience - an irrelevant source for this essay. Rather, scholars have come to consider the drawbacks of being a Spartan woman; Professor Mary Beard of Cambridge University argues that "what we think we know about Sparta suggests that it is a different form of oppression, not liberation" (Beard, 2016).
Indeed "what we think we know" is an integral part of Professor Beard's statement - A.W. Gomme, a professor of ancient Greek at the university of Glasgow and fellow of the British academy, argues that "there is, in fact, no literature, no art of any country, in which women are more prominent, more carefully studied and with more interest, than in tragedy, sculpture, and painting" in Ancient Greece (Hadas, 1936). Despite this, the architects of said tragedy, sculpture, painting and literature were almost always men; modern day scholars are in this way forced to perceive the Greek women they study through the tainted vision of their male counterparts, or to attempt to identify with women from two thousand years ago - an arduous task at best.
Regarding Sparta in particular, the Historian's issue becomes even more prominent given that their civilisation left almost no art behind - rather, one is left with an outsider's perspective of Sparta, which was generally regarded as alien by the rest of Greece. (Hughes, 2015). It is perhaps due to this very element of mystery that women in Ancient Greece are so heavily studied as scholars search for new ways in which they may be able to decipher how the women themselves felt in their respective civilisations. Recently for example, curse tablets have surfaced as an effective way to reveal the advice that women would seek from the gods, allowing the historian to explore the thoughts that women had about themselves and they way in which they were perceived by men (Scott, 2009). The judgments of Classicists based off of archeological evidence such as this are certainly more valuable to this essay title - they have no purpose of simplifying the ancient world but instead look to delve into the complex issue of gender and the constraints regarding gender that both societies of women were faced with and are therefore hugely reliable and apt for study.
As modern advances allow research to improve, the issue of Spartan "liberation' and their benefits as Women becomes all the more interesting and increasingly debatable; this essay will explore, in particular, the Spartan Women - the "unknown "and the "alien' civilisation - in Comparison to Athenian women and will look to conclude whether or not the prior actually benefited from their "liberation' in their alternative city state, or if what is so often regarded as liberation was actually just another form of oppression.
It is most frequently argued that Spartan women benefited due to their liberties within the city state that allowed them to be outspoken and active political personnel. This can be contrasted with the situation in Athens, which can best be summarised simply by a method of language - the term polites translates to "citizen' and can only refer to males whereas the rarely used feminine version of the noun, politis, refers to women only in relation to a male citizen (Cole, 1994). This denotes the rather non-existent role Athenian women played within the state - while they were not even allowed to be named in public, Spartan women were the only Greek women "whose statements were worthy of quotation" (Cole, 1994) (Pomeroy, 2002. pp.47). Plutarch's Sayings of Spartan Women (in which exemplary Spartan mothers' statements are documented) is a contemporary, and therefore extremely valuable, piece of evidence regarding this liberty: One Spartan Woman, Damatria, hearing her son was a Coward, was reported to have killed him, "She a Spartan lady, he a Spartan youth" (Sayings of Spartan Women, 241.1).
The fact that Spartan women were deemed Worthy of quotation by their male counterparts certainly exposes a liberty unheard of in Athenian culture; the Women were in this way at least given something of a political voice which would have then benefited their quality of life within the city state. However, it could be argued that the Sayings of Spartan Women didn't truly give the women a voice the sayings were rather limited to that of elite women, acting more as a moral guidance for the male soldiers of the city than a celebration of Women (Cole, 1994). Various other examples from the Sayings go to show this:
A Spartan Woman Who killed her son who had deserted his post declared: "He Was not my offspring... for I did not bear one unworthy of Sparta" (Sayings of Spartan Women, 241.1).
Another, whose son had fallen at his post said: "Let the cowards be mourned. I, however, bury you without a tear, my son and Sparta's" (sayings of Spartan Women, 241.2).
The sayings underline an obvious trend - exemplary mothers who refuse to tolerate their sons' cowardice in war. Anne Haward argues that Sparta was a "constitution suited to a state constantly at war" (Haward, 1996. pp. 14). This judgement is given weight due to her work having been backed by a wealth of archaeological evidence analysed in her published book: From Penelope to Poppaea, which is highly esteemed among scholars and universities. Haward is a qualified classicist and specialises in the field of gender studies in the ancient world. Thus, it can be inferred that, because Sparta revolved around the constant prospect of War, the Sayings of Spartan Women were less a means of liberating women by giving them an important voice, but were more a method of training their young men to be brave so that they would not be publicly humiliated by their own mothers.
Despite this, it could be argued that Spartan Women benefited from the liberation in the state which gave them the ability to own land and acquire their own wealth, a rather convincing argument suggested by the Classicist Breu, who concluded that, by the 4" Century BCE, Women owned two thirds of Spartan land in an article of his posted online. (Breu, 2005). This line of argument is similarly supported by Sarah Pomeroy, a distinguished professor at inter College and author of several books focusing on gender politics in the ancient world, claiming that Spartan women were among the most liberated in the ancient World due to their ability to own property and acquire wealth. In this way the role of women evolved into something that didn't just rely on being retained to the home; Spartan women could become landlords and, given that agriculture dominated the economy, they had the ability to acquire a personal wealth equal, or more than, that of their male counterparts (Pomeroy, 2002). This judgement can be solidified by recent archaeological excavations, exposing a Wealth of the gold and silver jewellery belonging to women, dedicated to the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia. (Pomeroy, 2002).
This strong economic role that women possessed in Sparta once again acts in considerable contrast to that of their Athenian counterparts - who feared most that they might be divorced by their husbands, upon whom all their financial safety rested. Indeed, this appears to be a section of society in which Spartan women almost inarguably did benefit from the liberty of being allowed to control their own land. However, it must be considered how accessible this was to all Spartan women - Pomeroy also states that these privileges were confined to the elite Women of society, once more suggesting that the majority of Spartan Women may have faced the same sort of realities as their Athenian Counterparts and these "liberties' were confined to the upper classes. Pomeroy, best known for being a professor specialising in women's history in classical antiquity with both a Masters and a PHD in Classics, has also written seven academic books and won three academic awards, one of them being the City University President's Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 1995, her historical argument is in this way both reliable, convincing and relevant to this question. (Pomeroy, 2002).
Pomeroy also suggests that "Because of their influence and authority in society as a whole, to study Spartan women is not only to learn women's history, but also to have a more complete knowledge of Spartan history" (Pomeroy, 2002, pp.91). This argument is incredibly valid given that the judgement is based on a wealth of Contemporary literature and artefacts, analysed in her scholarly book Written for Universities and lecturers. It is indeed evident that Spartan Women held influence within their society - they were important for the perpetuation of the state and developed their own moral Code of what it was to be Spartan. However, to claim this is liberation from which they benefitted would be incorrect. The City State Was still wery much a man's World, where in Spartan Women could not take part or Voice their own opinions and so they could not fully benefit as females in the state-fundamentally, they had no say (O'Pry, 2012) Kay Opry, a distinguished classicist and lecturer based in the US, thus challenges Pomeroy's argument, acknowledging that the higher classes of Spartan women perhaps possessed more freedom in their city state, but it fundamentally remained as a man's World seeing as they played no active role, just as was the situation in Athens. A convincing argument due to the authors' analysis of a variety of contemporary sources such as Aristotle's Spartan Women. Moreover, their access to land without the 'safekeeping" of men certainly acts in contrast to the Athenian laws, but to use this as an argument to claim that all Spartan women benefited from this liberation Would be incorrect- this was an area of society in which only royal or elite Women may benefit, who are just a small section of the society as a whole. Thus, the city state in Sparta certainly presents differences to their Athenian counterparts but no outstanding, beneficial sense of "liberation'.
The fact that Spartan women received any sort of education at allis indeed extraordinary in the context of the Ancient world. In fact, Aristotle believed that it was for this very reason that Sparta went to ruin, which is a useful, albeit shocking, insight into the male attitude towards women in Ancient Greece (O'Pry, 2012). "Sparta was the only polis where the training and education of girls was prescribed and supported by political authority" (Pomeroy, 2002. pp. 75). Spartan girls were trained in mousique (singing, dancing and playing musical instruments) in contrast to Athenian women, whose greatest source of education was found in the art of weaving - scholars have thus come to conclude that women in Sparta did benefit due to the accessibility of an education, something that always has and always will be beneficial to the individual.
Spartan Women would have benefited from this liberty as it resulted in a healthier community - it's hard to separate education from sport in ancient Sparta and so it is no coincidence that the first woman to compete (and win) in the Olympics was Cynisca, a Spartan Woman (The Greek and Roman Civilisations, 2015). These women were in this way physically advanced due to the education which Athenian women had little access to - Aristotle claims that the Athenian equivalent was the exercise they got from Walking around the house, completing their chores (Pomeroy, 2002).
This unheard of education that the Spartan women received is what drew in critics of their state in Classical Athens; Plato (and Aristotle (Stevenson, 2009) for example, claim that, despite their physical education, Spartan women still possessed the same inferiority as other Greek women in defending their own country - suggesting they did not benefit from this liberty. However, Plutarch in his Moralias (Pomeroy, 2002) argues otherwise, claiming that Spartan women would have been able to defend themselves if they had to, suggesting that the main goal of the Spartan education for girls was to make them able to defend themselves and their children when their male counterparts were away at War. Biased as they are, these contemporary resources from ancient politicians and philosophers are invaluable to the study of gender roles in the ancient world - to discern how the male counterparts perceived both Athenian and Spartan Women is vital in assessing whether or not they intended the treatment to be "liberating" or simply beneficial to the male population.
Through Plutarch's assessment, for example, the real reason for Spartan education can be discerned and that was to protect the state in times of danger rather than to liberate Women and give them equal opportunities to men. Despite the ulterior motives of the men who prescribed Spartan Women with their education, it is undeniable that they would have benefited from a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle accessed through the training of mousique. Though to claim that the male intention was to "liberate' Women and to ensure they benefitted would be incorrect as they still lived in a society dominated by the prospect of war and Women seemed only to be included as an "afterthought, or in the context of the actions and events of men" (O'Pry, 2012).
Sexual relations and marriage rituals are perhaps the most valuable means through which a historian might assess how much ancient Greek Women benefitted in their respective societies. Through the analysis of sexual relations, the way in which both factions of Women were regarded by their male counterparts seems to become clearest - in both societies they were inarguably identified by their wombs: objects of mass production for the cohesion of each city state.
The sports that Spartan girls partook in, briefly discussed above, have an inexplicable (and perhaps surprising) link to sexual relations within the state. The Spartan girls trained nude and were subject to public scrutiny from an extremely young age; some historians argue that the nude training encouraged homosexual relationships amongst the girls (Breu, 2005). This same emphasis on sexual appearance and appeal surfaces in the excavations of ancient Laconian mirrors which display a convex disk that allow the face, neck and cleavage to be observed. This society, where babies were taken by their maids daily to the shrine of Helen at Therapne so as to pray that they would not grow up ugly, acts in stark contrast to the Athenian society wherein women were to remain veiled at all times (Pomeroy, 2002). As opposed to Athens, "abundant fertility" (Pomeroy, 2002, pp.72) was very much encouraged, and it has been argued that both men and women partook in homosexual relationships to ensure of this (Hughes, 2015).
At face walue, the difference between the two societies may appear similar to a modern feminist debate over sexual liberation and the female ownership over her own body. In fact, Helena Schrader, a non-fiction author and History graduate from Hamburg university, concluded that Spartan women were evidently more sexually liberated and they inarguably benefited from this - perhaps because Sparta is what seems most progressive' or most similar to a modern day society; various sources seem to enforce non-contextual judgements onto information in such a way. Schrader dubbed Spartan women as "scandalous" (Sparta Reconsidered, 1993) because of their promiscuous sexual behaviour, though this ideology is heavily disagreed upon by various other Classicists such as Anne Haward, a lecturer in Classics and former Head of Classics at New Hall School, who instead perceives the sexual relations in Sparta as no less oppressive than those in Athens, recent scholarly research has questioned just how sexually liberated one can truly consider Spartan Women, and this is most evident in the different marriage rituals, a much more convincing and reliable scholarly argument.
Contemporary accounts of the Athenian marriage rituals denote a total focus on procreation; Soranus' Gynaecology highlights that "Women are married for the sake of children and succession, and not for mere enjoyment" (MacLachlan, 2012, pp43). The ritual was an act of female submission to the man, who had the task of "curbing' his wife's "crazed' sexual promiscuity as a woman and instead ensuring that she would bear legitimate, preferably male, children (Breu, 2005). In Xenophon's Oeconomicus, he outlines the way in which to "train' a new bride which is extremely valuable in assessing what men wanted out of their Women: he claims that the proper age was 15 or less so as to ensure she was a person who knew and saw as little as possible - the main objectives of the man were to ensure she would bear children and, otherwise, she must remain discreet and not speak. (Strauss, 2004).
However oppressive these values in Athenian marriage were, the Spartan marriage rituals illustrate a violent alternative that would have harmed Spartan women even more than the conservative rituals and expectations in Athens. The marriage ritual itself in Sparta mimicked, and sometimes genuinely was, a capture and rape - the girl would be carried off in men's clothing with her hair cut short and she was left to await her husband in a dark room where he would appear to force violent sex upon her, she would then be left in the room and was unable to appear publicly until she fell pregnant (Haward, 1996).
Though both marriage rituals were horrifically oppressive in their respective terms, the Spartan ritual in itself illustrates a violent male culture that objectified Women and utilised them to their own disposal to an even greater extent than in Athens. One source argues that "It is highly significant that Spartans condemned violence inside marriage, and understood that sex with a child is abusive." (Sparta Reconsidered, 1993). This conclusion was reached by the fact that most Spartan girls were married off when they were eighteen compared to the Athenian Women who were coveted in marriage around the age of 14-however this argument loses almost all validity due to the fact that the Spartan women were subject to multiple cases of rape and violence even if they were older. Instead. Sparta was a violent city state that revolved around a mentality of war and rape and that is highly noticeable in their marriage customs which were much more oppressive than those regarded in the Athenian customs.
Thus, increasingly, Classicists have come to conclude that the Spartan state was not beneficial and liberate towards women in terms of sexual relations and marriage, but was merely another form of oppression - seemingly much more violent than the quiet, conservative oppression of women evident in Athens (Beard, 2016). Mary Beard's view on the topic has been a particularly reliable source for my research; as professor of Classics at Cambridge University and perhaps the most notable Classicist of the 21" century and the author of best sellers such as SPQR and producer of Meet the Romans, her insight provides a relevant and contextual view on the situation. My personal correspondence with Professor Beard allowed for the opportunity to discuss in-depth how Spartan women were particularly oppressed in terms of sexual relations, thus providing both highly relevant, reliable and current information and judgment. On the contrary, Spartans were raised knowing that they would only be worth something if they were beautiful to the men who would later subject them to violence and rape for means of proCreation.
State religion was perhaps the area of both societies wherein women held their greatest influence and liberty. In Athens, Women would attend and officiate over one hundred festivals. Some, like the festival of Demeter, were exclusive only to women and females of all ages had the opportunity to participate directly in the rituals of the festivals - for example, the first three days of the thesnophoria festival saw Women performing rites to ensure that the autumn crops Would be successful (Haward, 1996) (Cole, 1994). This demonstrates a sense of authority that the Athenian women would have received from their active role in religion; an important sense of duty that they lacked elsewhere aside from the pressure to have children.
Similarly, Spartan Women would participate alongside men in the hyacinthia festival, wherein their training in the art of mousique would be displayed as they would sing, dance, Weave and even race on chariots alongside men (Pomeroy, 2002). Once again, this active role that Spartan women possessed in religion highlights almost all other areas of society wherein the direct participation of women was lacking - most notably, the political section of the city state.
As "liberating' as state religion may appear however, the reason for such active female participation in rituals and burial must be analysed before one may even argue whether Spartan or Athenian women benefited from religious activities more. In both societies, it was believed that Women should play a more active role in religion due to their links with child-bearing and fertility (Haward, 1996). Thus, what may originally be interpreted as a liberating sector of society that allows Women to forget about their fundamental role within the state, becomes clear as a reaffirmation of the firmly bound gender roles in both societies. This is a point that brings one all the way back to the introduction - Spartan and Athenian societies were immensely different, but the fundamental role of women remained the same and that can most effectively be regarded through their increasingly "liberated' role in religion.
One may argue that the two divinities of Athens were women, which surely suggests an empowering position, however scholars have come to conclude that it is no coincidence that the most important divinity, Athene, was completely defeminized - the goddess of wisdom and War, a masculine endeavour represented by her chastity (O'Neal, 1993). Through the chief divinities of Athens, men reaffirmed the strict roles for women and their value as wombs only as well as the sentiment that their sexuality must be curbed.
In similar fashion, the Spartan cults reaffirmed the society's harsh emphasis on female beauty and fertility - evident in the fact that the local divinities were Eileithyia (the goddess of childbirth) and Helen, who was renowned for her beauty (Pomeroy, 2002). One religious tale reflects the violent nature of sexual relations in Sparta - Castor and Pollux, two Spartan heroes, captured and married Hilaeria and Phoebe, two Women fleeing from them, their rape and marriage thence became a "mythical archetype" for the Spartan Wedding ritual (Pomeroy, 2002). Thus, Spartan religion reflects the oppressive and violent nature of the society towards Women as a whole and only reaffirms the argument that what Spartan Women faced was not any sort of new wave liberation, but a very different form of oppression.
Therefore, it is undeniable that an active role in religion was accessible and encouraged for both Athenian and Spartan women (perhaps even more so Spartan), something which many less valuable sources have assumed means they were inherently liberated, but it is impossible to ignore that in both societies religion only reaffirmed the oppressive gender roles that they were so tightly bound to; so while women might have benefitted from the more active role, the sentiment that they were no more than their wombs remained consistent. Thus, Spartan women perhaps benefited at face value from a more active role in a certain part of society, but in the long-term the religious cults only reaffirmed what prevented Spartan women, or Athenian Women, from being "liberated" in the first place.
Contemporary Works available to classicists nowadays explore primarily Athenian ideals regarding women. Homer's Odyssey, for example, presents the "perfect Athenian wife' through the character of Penelope - she remains loyal to her husband for twenty years, obeys orders from her son in Odysseus' absence and is talented at Weaving (Haward, 1996). Any representation of a Spartan woman in ancient mythology and literature is through the perspective of an Athenian (or somewhere with similar ideals in Greece) and therefore taints the Historian's vision - just as almost all mythology and literature is also written by men. Helen of Sparta in mythology for example is a representation of all things Spartan - beauty and War. In Aeschylus' Agamemnon the Chorus certainly strike up fear regarding the figure of Helen; they claim her name, meaning "death", is entirely appropriate (Haward, 1996). This is evidence that a historian cannot know what a Spartan Woman was truly like - only that she was disapproved of by the rest of Greece.
Perhaps the tenuous hold that Historians have on Spartan women, due to a lack of mythology and literature Written at least by Spartan men, is what leads so many to reach the judgement that, just because they were different from Athenian women, they were more liberated than them. Hence why the title of this essay reads: 'more "liberated" - the liberation was what, at face value, appears to be but assessing in what way they benefited from this leads one to conclude whether or not this was "liberation' at all.
As stated in the introduction, to assess whether or not Spartan women were liberated, one must first assess whether or not they benefitted in the sectors of society wherein they are commonly believed to have been liberated. In the city state, a "voice" in politics was tenuous at best - a small percentage of exemplary women gained a voice through the Sayings of Spartar Women, but this was for the most part inaccessible to the common woman. Aside from this, they played no active role in politics. Similarly, the economy did not exclude Spartan women as in Athens and they did have the opportunity to acquire wealth, though again, this liberty was only accessible to the royal Spartan woman.
The more active role that Spartan women possessed in Education and Religion initially suggests a liberate society, but on closer inspection these sectors of the city state only reaffirm the idea that Spartan Women were primarily important to men for looking attractive to ensure they would have children for the cohesion of the state, and so while women may have benefitted in the short-term from these more "active' roles, on a grander scale it only solidified the very sentiment that caused their oppression. (Dougherty, 1991).
The fact that Spartan women enjoyed no sort of liberation and only another type of oppression is further evident in the study of sexual relations in the state. The sexual climate Was Wiolent and revolved around the idea of rape and capture when regarding Women - those who argue that Spartan women benefitted because they were married off at an appropriate age as opposed to the 14-year-old Athenian bride fail to recognise that Spartan women were set up for public scrutiny from the very day they were born (Pomeroy, 2002). This culture of violent sexual relations and the objectification of Women can be seen in its epitome in the Spartan marriage rituals - there is perhaps no clearer sign that Spartan women were subject to oppression just as all other women in Greece were, only in a different fashion (Harvey, 1984).
Research goes to prove that this is an issue still heavily debated by Classicists - many continue to argue that "Spartan women were in many ways among the most liberated of the ancient Greek world" (Zuckerman, 2000) whereas others conclude that Spartan women simply faced "another form of oppression" (Beard, 2016). The issue faces such great debate due to the, at times, tenuous evidence that remains of Sparta. A variety of sources have proved to be of varying relevance to the topic titleoversimplified websites lack evidence and depth to prove their claims that Sparta was a new wave state for Women's rights whereas other, more academic, sources sometimes lack the currency to assess in enough depth the different civilisations, as more recent excavations have prowed extremely helpful to the study of Women.
The more relevant and current academic resources agree with the thesis that Spartan Women were not liberated. Areas of society wherein Spartan women did perhaps benefit, on a larger scale, only reinforced the gender roles that lead to their oppression- their education was to make them better wives and child bearers, their role in religion similarly stemmed back to their fundamental position as wombs for the state. Just because the Spartan society was so different from Athens does not mean that their women were liberated relative to in Athenians; Spartan women faced oppression in Greece just as all women did - but the oppression correlated to the alternative Way in which Sparta functioned.
