Spartan Women

Being asked by a woman from Attica, “Why is it that you Spartan women are the only women that lord over your men?” Gorgo, the Queen of Sparta and wife of Leonidas replied, “Because we are the only women who are the mothers of men”. This quote from Gorgo shows the great prowess not only of Spartan men but of Spartan women as well. Spartan women, along with Spartan men were bred to be the pinnacle of human performance and perfection. The armies and soldiers of Sparta are still revered as the best there ever has been. Often overlooked are the women of Sparta who were just as important in crafting the Spartan society as the men. Spartan women had rights and privileges unmatched by any other Greek City-State. Spartan women gained prominence from the absence of men in everyday affairs, exploitation of the Helots, education, and land ownership. Spartan women were the first to be on the same level as their male counterparts. Spartans social institutions and its famous discipline were designed for a single purpose: to protect the state by maintaining the best fighting force in the world. Women were as much a part of this goal as men were. Women were trained to be fitting wives and mothers of these soldiers. Their education included rigorous athletic training in which competition was encouraged. The process of making the perfect Spartan citizen, either male or female, began at birth. The Spartans were frequent practitioners of eugenics and examined all children at birth to determine their probability of becoming functioning members of a Spartan society . This can best be illustrated through Plutarch writings, particularly those regarding the great lawgiver Lycurgus:
The father did not decide whether to raise a baby; rather he took it and carried it to some place called Lesche where the elders of the tribes sat and examined. the infant, and if it was well built and sturdy, they ordered the father to rear it, and assigned it one of the nine thousand lots of land; but if

References: Aristotle 1269b39-1270a8, 1270a23-1270a31. In Dillon, M. and Garland, L. Ancient Greece: Social and historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander the Great. London: Routledge, 2002. doc. 4.18 p. 133. Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995. Ducat, Jean; Emma Stafford, and Pamela-Jane Shaw. Spartan Education: Youth and Society in the Classical Period. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2006. Plutarch 4.1-5.7, In Dillon, M. and Garland, L. Ancient Greece: Social and historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander the Great. London: Routledge, 2002. doc. 6.71. p 248-249. Plutarch 16.1-2, In Dillon, M. and Garland, L. Ancient Greece: Social and historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander the Great. London: Routledge, 2002. doc.4.23, p.134-135. Plutarch 21.1-2, In Dillon, M. and Garland, L. Ancient Greece: Social and historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander the Great. London: Routledge, 2002. doc.6.13, p.221-222 Pomeroy, Sarah B Pomeroy, Sarah B, Stanley M Burnstein, Walter Dolan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Powell, Anton. Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 BC. London: Routledge, 2001. Sealey, Raphael. A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700-338 B.C. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976 Xenophon 1.3-8, In Dillon, M