Roles Of Women In Sparta Essay

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Women in Sparta

In the Spartan community, everything was aimed towards the betterment of the society as a whole. Spartan boys trained as warriors beginning at the age of seven. The women were given the most important task: creating warriors.
From a young age, Spartan girls were trained in athletics such as running, wrestling, and other physical sports. While the boys were training to become warriors, the girls were trained to be healthy and athletic mothers. It was believed that a strong woman would give birth to strong baby, and would also have an easier pregnancy (Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 14). Unlike most other cities at that time, the girls did not have to dress modestly, and it was even acceptable for them to walk around naked. Lycurgus, the lawmaker, “did away with prudery, sheltered upbringing and effeminacy of any kind” (Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 14). While this gave more freedom to the girls, it served another purpose: to encourage the boys training. The girls would poke fun at the boys during their exercises, which …show more content…

At the same time, the men’s lives were also revolved around producing more soldiers. Grown men and women seemed to have had the same level of freedom within their marital life. The main objective was to create the best possible warriors, so it was an accepted practice for a married Spartiate to conceive a child with another citizen they were not married to. “If an older man with a young wife should take a liking to one of the well-bred young men and approve of him” (Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 15), he would allow the younger man to have sex with his wife so she would give birth to a baby that might have some of his traits. This worked both ways: men might give each other permission to sleep with each others wives if they believed it would bear a strong

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