THE BEECHMONT CREST GUIDE TO ANCIENT GREECE
Spartan women were pretty tough, too
One of the above sections describes the rigorous training and harsh lifestyle that was the lot of male Spartan citizens. But what about Sparta’s women?
Ironically, Spartan women enjoyed more freedom than most of their counterparts elsewhere in Greece. This wasn’t because Spartan men were uniquely enlightened in the area of equal rights. Women in Sparta were freer than other Greek women out of necessity. Their husbands and sons were constantly engaged in training, fighting, or garrisoning Sparta’s forts in the conquered territories. As a result, they could count on little male help with household management. It would have therefore been impractical for Sparta to sequester its wives, as was often the case in other Greek city-states. Spartan women needed to be out and about, and they needed a certain degree of autonomy. They simply couldn’t wait for their husbands to make decisions on day-to-day matters.
Spartan women shared the physical fitness ethic that was at the core of Sparta’s militaristic values. Spartan girls and women engaged in athletic competitions in the nude—a practice that was common for Greek men, but generally considered inappropriate for women. The boldness and physical attainments of Spartan women made them objects of fantasy and speculation in male imaginations throughout Greece.
Spartan women were not, however, renowned for their compassion and maternal instincts. On the contrary, they were known to publicly belittle men who displayed substandard valor in combat. This harshness extended even to their sons. When a Spartan young man marched off to battle, his mother did not tell him to be careful and keep his feet dry. Spartan mothers commonly sent their sons off to war with the words: “Come back carrying your shield, or on it.”