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Overview of sex, gender, and household in Athens and Sparta

  

Women draw water and chat at a Fountain House. Attic Black-Figured Hydria, ca. 510 BCE.

The goal of today's work is to get a sense of the strong differences between Athens and Sparta in terms of household organization. 

TO READ

Read L&F (Lefkowitz &Fant) readings and this overview. Please note the # refers to item numbers in L&F, not page numbers.  

Note: These readings are what we call “primary sources:” that is, they are actual ancient texts, although translated into English. These are not articles by modern scholars, nor are they embedded into such articles, as the evidence in previous assignments has been. You are one-on-one with actual documents from antiquity, and at least initially there is no guide to tell you how to understand them. Some of these texts may seem confusing, difficult, outrageous, or bizarre. I am asking you to register your reactions but not rush to judgement. You are trying to get a glimpse of a very complex world. This glimpse will be partial and distorted, and part of our job is to figure out how to use these little peepholes we have, these texts, to get a better look. So, as you read ask yourself: what kind of evidence is this? who is talking? can we learn something about the life of women in antiquity from what the author apparently wants to tell us? Can we learn something beyond what he wants to tell us? In short: think hard, be puzzled, ask questions—and bring your questions to class.

  • On Sparta: L&F # 88, #112-116, #234.
  • On Athens and elsewhere: L&F 34-47, 186, 187, 246, 250, 251, 254-258, 353-360.
  • On Athens, L&F #319 Xenophon on Household Management plus this supplement (the missing bit of the Oeconomicus).

Xenophon was born in Athens around 430 BC and died around 356 BC. His varied career included military service in Greece during the last years of the Peloponnesian War (which lasted from 431-404 BC) and in Persia, as well as extensive writings on history and famous historical figures, on hunting and horsemanship, and on the philosopher Socrates. His Oeconomicus, a study of household management (the Greeek word for household is oikos), was perhaps written to offer practical advice to Athenian estate owners whose lands and assets had suffered during the difficult years of the Peloponnesian wars. The work is structured as Xenophon's reminiscence of a conversation between Socrates and Critobulus, who asks him for advice about how to run a household effectively. To illustrate his remarks to Critobulus, Socrates reports an earlier conversation he had with Ischomachus, on how Ischomachus successfully manages his estate. It turns out that proper training and management of his wife is crucial to Ischomachus' success.  In the sections you are reading, Ischomachus explains how he trained his (much younger) wife. Initially she is very ignorant (7.5 ff) and fails to find what he asks for in the house (8.1 ff). The orderly home is compared to other elements of a successful city: a chorus, and army, and a ship, and to a city itself.

In the excerpt provided on your handout, Ischomachus tells Socrates of three conversations he had with his wife during the early period of their marriage (before any children were born): the first shortly after her arrival in the household (at the age of 15), the second when she has failed to find something he asked her for, and the third when he catches her wearing makeup.

For context on the readings about Sparta it is useful to have some background on Spartan history and culture. 

History of Sparta (Lacedaemonia)

  • during the 10th century BCE, (the 900s) villages arise and consolidate at Sparta
  • c. 735-715 BCE, Sparta conquers the neighboring territory of Messenia. Messenians are held in bondage as 'helots', state owned slaves whose labor was used to provide food for Spartans. 
  • probably sometime during the 7th century BCE the Spartan constitution is set up, supposedly by Lycurgus; the development of a very strong army makes Sparta a leading city-state in Greece
  • after 479 BCE, Sparta's leadership and influence in Greece declines somewhat, but Sparta prevails against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, a conflict that lasted from 431-404 BCE and ended with Sparta installing an oligarchy at Athens in 404 BCE. 
  • after 371 (the battle of Leuctra Links to an external site.) Sparta never recovers a leading role in Greece. 

Some characteristic features of historical Spartan society (key term: 'eunomia' = "good order")

  • sale of land was discouraged
  • citizens were not permitted to engage in trade or business; instead they used what the helots produced
  • landholding was required for citizenship
  • physical training for boys and physical training for girls before marriage
  • rigorous communal military training and dining for men
  • women could exercise ownership of land

Some features attributed to Spartan society (but hard to find good historical evidence for) in constructing contrasts with Athens and explanations for the ultimate loss of influence of the Spartan state

  • all land was held in common by the state
  • men lived communally, and only visited wives occasionally (and/or in secret) for procreation
  • adultery did not exist

Athenian views of Sparta and Lycurgus, the (mythical or  mythologized) man credited with devising Sparta's laws and customs:

#88 Aristotle Politics

This is a series of passages from Aristotle's Politics, a treatise that discusses the political organization of Greek cities. Aristotle aims to make the Athenian status quo (the way things are at Athens in his own lifetime) look essential, natural and inevitable. This includes making the hierarchies of Athenian households, where the male head of the household (in Greek kyrios, which is typically translated 'master') had authority over his wife, his children, and the enslaved persons in the household. Your L&F reading does not include the section where Aristotle describes the rule of kyrios over enslaved people, but it is important to realize that Aristotle's views that some individuals were "naturally" suited to be enslaved had a long legacy of influencing how subsequent enslavement regimes were defended. Likewise, Aristotle's view that women are "naturally" suited to be under the authority of their kyrioi has had a lasting impact on many ways of thinking about households.  

The L&F reading starts out with an account of the typical Athenian household. At 1262a19 there is a short discussion of North Africa ("Upper Libya"), and then at 1269 a 12 the discussion turns to household arrangements at Sparta, also called Lacedaemonia. 

#114 Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians

Xenophon ,writing during the 4th century BCE (the 300's),  explains how the policies of Lycurgus emphasized the role of women in creating strong sons for the Spartan state. 

#115 Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus

Plutarch wrote during the 2nd century CE and collected much information about unusual Spartan customs in his biography of Lycurgus. Note that Plutarch was a Greek from the small town of Chaironeia at the time when Greece, long conquered, was part of the Roman Empire. He eventually became a Roman citizen (his adulthood falls largely under the emperor Trajan).

#116 Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women

Plutarch also collected many anecdotes about the courage and boldness of Spartan women.  Optional: More sayings of Spartan (=Laconic) women, translated by A.E. Stallings 

#234 Spartan woman's chariot team wins chariot race

How does this report of a victory in a chariot race fit into what you have learned about Spartan culture? 

TO COMPLETE AND SUBMIT

GROUP ACTIVITY IN CLASS: ATHENS OR SPARTA?

Imagine you are a young unmarried woman and you have to be transported in time and space to Ancient Greece, 6th or 5th century BCE, to marry and live out the rest of your life. You have a choice of Athens or Sparta.  

  1. Where would you go? Think carefully! Discuss this question with your group and write down a list of considerations. What are the pros and cons of Athens? What are the pros and cons of Sparta? (10 mins)

Then consider these questions:

  1. Do you have adequate information to make this choice? If not, what questions would you ask your “time travel agent” before deciding on Athens or Sparta as a destination? (5 mins)
  2. Would your answer be different had you grown up in Athens or Sparta? If you asked Athenian and Spartan women for advice, do you think they would recommend their city or warn you against it? (10 mins)
  3. What kind of evidence do we have in our texts to answer question 2 above? Do we have anything at all, or nothing? If we have some evidence, where does it come from? How reliable do you think it is? (10 mins)

You can each submit your own answers individually (and, of course, not everyone is the group may make the same choice) but please discuss together first. Help each other out!  You are also welcome to collaborate on a google doc and submit /copy-paste parts of it (or the whole thing) into your assignment at the end.  

TO EXPLORE (OPTIONAL)

Elaine Fantham et al. "Spartan Women: Women in a Warrior Society. " In Women in the Classical World. Oxford 1994 .

Elaine Fantham et al. "Women in Classical Athens: Heroines and Housewives." In Women in the Classical World. Oxford 1994 .

Pomeroy, S. B. (2002). Spartan Women Links to an external site.. Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

Neils, J. (2012). Spartan Girls and the Athenian Gaze Links to an external site.. In A Companion to Women in the Ancient World (pp. 153-166). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

This is very silly: Spartan wife swap Links to an external site.

Christesen. “Athletics and Social Order in Sparta in the Classical Period. Links to an external site.” Classical Antiquity, vol. 31, no. 2, 2012, pp. 193–255.

Scott, Andrew G. “Plural Marriage and the Spartan State Links to an external site." Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, vol. 60, no. 4, 2011, pp. 413–424. 

Spawforth T. (2018). "The Same but different: Athens and Sparta Links to an external site.," In The Story of Greece and Rome (pp. 119-133). New haven, London: Yale University Press.