Roles Of Spartan Women

Pomeroy explains the life style and ways of Spartan women and the rise to be known and important as the Spartan men. Naturally, we think of Spartan women fierce, brave, queens, and pure. Spartan women took advantage of each opportunity that was heading their way and conquered it with no fear in their hearts. Those women are viewed today as a “force” not to be reckoned with. Pomeroy describes these women as, “Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil said, “Oh no, she’s up!”

In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.

In Athens, women were mostly secluded from many things. They could not vote, leave the house without permission from their husband, and more. In Sparta, the rules for women were much more lenient. Spartan women would train with the men and could own land. In both Sparta and Athens, women could marry and raise children.

I would like to educate the masses on a matter of frequent debate. This is none other then Athens vs Sparta, and I can say the thorough research and facts have lead me to concluded that Sparta is a much better city-state then Athens. Sparta is better then Athens because of its respect of women, more equal school system, integrity of government, treatment of slaves, and superior military. First of all, women were given far more rights than in Athens. First of all, Women in Sparta could own there own land, participate in politics and the olympics among other things.

Who was the better Greek city-state? Athens or Sparta? A question asked for quite some time now, probably since they existed. It’s time we get an answer! If you ask me, I think it was Athens that was the better Greek city state.

(Doc B) Due to the fact that Athens taught women basic domestic skills this allowed men to focus on the advancement of the economic climate, such as trade on the Aegean Sea because they didn’t need to worry about their homes. “Finally, the citizen boys entered a military training camp for two years, until the age of twenty. Foreign metics and slaves were not expected to attain anything but a basic education in Greece, but were not excluded from it either.” (Doc H)

Sparta was the first civilization to treat women fairly. For example, in the book The Politics of Aristotle, Aristotle wrote, “For, a husband and wife being each a part of every family, the state may be considered as about equally divided into men and women” (Doc. D). This explains how Sparta was the first civilization to treat women fairly because gender does not play a part in how many rights and freedom one has. Sparta allowed women to get physical training, just like men. As well, while Spartan men were off at war, they had full charge over their household.

The education of Sparta varied in strengths and in weaknesses. The Sparta’s were first located in southern Greece called the Peloponnese. In this colony, the Sparta’s only vision was bloodthirsty war and violence. At the age of seven, a young boy is removed from his family and is expected, from his 8th to his 21st year, become educated to a brutal military-like discipline. Therefore, regarding the education in Sparta, the weaknesses outweighed the strength because the Spartan’s didn’t value family morals, the basics of reading and writing were taught, and the upbringing of Spartan boys was cruel and painful.

Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.

In Ancient Greek Civilization, women were viewed as submissive. A man always controlled the women; that either being the Father or Husband. Women were forced to stay in the house and complete all household duties. Women were not even granted the right to attend assemblies, participate in politics, or even represent themselves in court. Having little to no overall power in your society can have a huge burden on Women but this can also fuel certain Women to strive to change the society they live in.

Spartan Women were encouraged to become intellectual and strong, they were able to marry and create their families at a much later point in their life, and finally the Spartan women was in way more control of her household, herself, as well as her husband than any other greek women was in history. They were not looked at as second class citizens, their opinions were valued and the woman herself was respected. To put it as simply as possible these ladies were pretty kick ass. Not only were Spartan women beautiful they were also encouraged to broaden their intellectual endeavors. Young girls were given a public education!

In ancient times, there is a general sense that women were simply items and slaves to their husbands. Ancient Greece specifically has a renowned reputation of favoring men. Men possessed the dominant role in public affairs and events while most women were pressured to stay at home. Very few records extensively discuss women; the records focus mostly on men. Despite the lacking records, it is certain how ancient Greeks viewed their women and their relationships with their male counterparts.

The Spartan women were able to own plots of land and run their own households, they even got an education. At Athens, got a little amount of formal education and had less

Comparatively, Athenian women had less right and freedom. Women were citizens who could participate in most religious cults and festivals but were otherwise excluded from public life. They could not own property beyond personal items and always had a male guardian: If unmarried, a father or male relative; if married, a husband; if widowed, a son or male

Role of Women in Ancient Empires Throughout the modern world, we mention the concept of equality between men and women and try to equalize their positions in society. It is illogical for women to ask and try to prove that they are equal with men because equality is something that are already given to humanity, but contradicting the role of women by men is what created the gap between them. By looking at history, we can say that accomplishing that goal of making their position equal is not easy.