Spartan Women: Political and Social Equality

 Plutarch, "The Sayings of Spartan Women" - What values can we identify?

• Gorgo: Once when her father told her to give some grain to a man by way of payment, and added "It is because he showed me how to make the wine taste good" she said "Then father, there will be more wine drunk, and the drinkers will become more intemperate and depraved"
• Gorgo: Being asked by a woman from Attica, "Why is it that you Sparten women that lord it over your men" she said "Because we are the only women that are mothers of men"
• Gorgo: As she was encouraging her husband Leonidas, when he was about to set out for Thermopylae, to show himself worthy of Sparta, she asked what she should do and he said "Marry a good man and have good children"
• Gurtias: When Acrotatus, her grandson, in a fight with other boys received many blows, and was brought home for dead, and the family and friends were all wailing said "Will you stop your noise? He has shown from what blood he was sprung"
• One woman sent forth her sons, five in number, to war, and, standing in the outskirts of the city, she awaited anxiously the outcome of the battle. And when someone arrived and, in answer to her enquiry, reported that all her sons had met death, she said "I did not inquire about that, you vile harlot, but how fares our country?" And when he declared that it was victorious, "Then" she said "I accept gladly also the death of my sons"

Helen of Sparta/Troy

• The daughter of Zeus and Leda
• Wife of King Menelaus of Sparta
• Sister of Castor, Plydeuces and Clytemnestra
• Her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War. Helen was described by Christopher Marlowe as having "the face that launched a thousand ships"

Gorgo, Queen of Sparta

• Wife of Leonidas and heiress to the throne
• Very powerful within the government
• Herodotus records, famously assisted both her father, Cleomenes, in resisting a bribe and later was responsible fot Sparta decoding the warning the Persian forces were about to invade Greece when, after Spartan generals could not decode a wooden tablet covered in wax, she ordered them to clear the wax, revealing the warning
• When asked by a woman from Attica why Spartan women were the only women in the world who could rule men, she famously stated that it was because only Spartan women give birth to real men

Overview

• The Spartan military ethos had implications for females as well as males
• Spartan females were the only ones in Greece with a prescribed upbringing and educated by the state
• Spartan women enjoyed a status, power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world

Position in Society

• They exercised outside, were well nourished and drank wine as part of their daily diet. Childbearing was their only social obligation
• They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army
• It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35% of all land and property in Sparta

Social Position

• The laws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women
• Epikleros:
• Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartan woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit, she was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative
• Spartan women received as much education as men, as well as a substantial amount of physical education and gymnastic training

Education

• Organized according to age classes:
• Young girls
• Maidens who had reached puberty
• Married women
• Hairstyles announced their passage through life:
• As a maiden she wore her hair long and loose
• As a bride her hair was cropped
• As a married woman her hair was covered

Appearance

• Spartan women rarely married before the age of 20
• Unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased
• It was possible for them to appear entirely nude even publicly, which they did customarily only at festivals, as did the men

Alkman, "Maiden Songs"

• The conspicuous nature of Spartan women made them an object of fascination and beauty in the ancient world
• This is best represented by the Spartan poet Alkman who wrote in the 7th century (600s) BC
• Fragments of his work survive as papyri from Alexandria, and many contain descriptions of Spartan women during choral and athletic competitions,where Alkman espouses their beauty and charm.

Activity

Read Alkman's "Maiden Songs" A14 and A16

• What descriptions/images of Spartan women does Alkman offer us here? What qualities about them is he trying to emphasise?
• "I see her like the sun" - suggests that women are always there for Sparta and shining a light on them
• "She herself seems supreme, a strong prize-winner" - they are the prize of Sparta, proud to present themselves
• "I do not rate Lykaithos among the dead nor Enarsphoros and fast-footed Sebros and the violent, and helmeted" - saying they don't like the fighting women, or women who hace died without anything to show
• "Our renowned chorus leader in no way allows me to praise or find fault with her; for she herself seems to be supreme, as if one were to put a horse among cattle" - "horse among cattle" seems like a pretty accurate description of how Sparta viewed itself against other states, and how Spartan women viewed themselves against other Greek women
• The next part of the song also compares Spartan women to racehorses, for example, "a Scythian horse against an Iberian", so it conjures images of Sparta's women as fast, athletic, and strong like the horses described. One is also said to have a golden mane, maybe to do with the beauty that the sources all attribute to Spartan women
• "And she is admittedly not more musical than the sirens, for they are goddesses, but this ten of ours sings as well as eleven girls and gives voice like a swan on the streams of Xanthos, she and her lovely golden hair" - Again with the emphasis on appearance and hair. This also shows the importance Spartans placed on song
• "And she gazes more meltingly than sleep or death. And she is sweet quite deliberately" - this suggests that women knew of their power and sway over men and used it with intent
• "I see her like the sun, which Agido summons to shine on us; But our renowned chorus leader in no way allows me either to praise, Or to find fault with her; for she herself seems to be supreme, just as if One were to put a horse among cattle, A strong prize winner with thundering hooves That one dreams about from the shade of a cave"
• This verse is an emphasis on their natural beauty and their skills to stand out like the sun, where everything lights up when they are around, the comparison to horses is a compliment to how valued they are, within the whole of Greece, especially since horse racing and sports to do with horses are very much wanted. This comparison is also highlighting their strength and power within their society, 'The thundering hooves'. The cattle could be a link to the males or women from other societies
• "And I shall go to the meeting place, where I shall rapidly loosen my yellow hair" - Alkman is really drawing attention to the women's hair, especially blonde hair. Seems he's kind of enforcing a beauty standard, emphasising Spartan women's appearances. Women in Sparta were encouraged to grow their hair out long
• "For an abundance of purple is not enough to give protection, nor an intricate snake of solid gold..." This continues with a bunch of other things that don't give protection, ending with "for fulfillment and completion belong to gods" - They're swearing off luxury and comfort, instead relying on the piety that we've seen Spaerans so often exhibit with sacrifices on campaign and such
• "If somehow she might love me...I would immediately do whatever she wanted" - very clear that Spartan women weren't subservient

Sexual Equality

• Women were able to negotiate with their husbands to bring their lovers into their homes
• According to Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus:
• Men both allowed and encouraged their wives to bear the children of other men
• However, some historians argue that this 'wife sharing' was only reserced for elder males who had not yet produced an heir

Negative Sources Views

• Aristotle
• Considering some 400 years of Spartan history complained that Spartan women enjoyed altogether too much freedom, power and prestige
• He believed that the Lycurgan system was flawed from the start because only men conformed to it whilst women escaped its regulations
• Convinced that Spartan women indulged in 'every kind of luxury and intemperance' - promoting greed and an attendant degeneration of the Spartan ideal of equality among male citizens

Sourcework: Spartan Women

• What roles and responsibilities did Spartan women have? For each, what would be the importance of these to the Spartan state?
• Plutarch, Lycurgus, 14-15
• "First he toughened the girls physically by making them run and wrestle and throw the discus and javelin. Thereby their children in embryo would make a strong start in strong bodies and would develop better, while the women themselves would also bear their pregnancies with vigour and would meet the challenge of childbirth in a successful, relaxed way"
• This meant that a woman's role was primarily that of bearing children since her responsibilities were of that to be physically fit, which would, in turn, create strong children. This was important because Sparta’s population grew never slowly since many of the men were often killed in their prime at war, leaving the state in a constant struggle to maintain an average population. Women had to have children as fast as the men died at war to replace them, and by being as strong as they could be meant that their babies were given the best chance of survival. 
• "Aristotle claims wrongly that he tried to discipline the women but gave up when he could not control the considerable degree of license and power attained by women because of their husbands' frequent campaigning"
• When the men were away, women were left "in full control". Their primary responsibility was still childbearing; Lycurgus strengthened them through physical exercise specifically so that they could endure childbirth and have strong babies
• “He did away with prudery, sheltered upbringing and effeminacy of any kind.” They had “equal participation in both excellence and ambition”, resulting in women speaking “in the way Leonidas’ wife Gorgo had done” when she remarked that Spartan women were “the only ones who give birth to men.”  
• To avoid jealousy, children were seen as collective, and an older man could allow his wife to have a child with a younger, well-bred Spartan and adopt the child as his own. Or a noble Spartan could have children with someone else’s wife who was known for having good children. (I am NOT directly quoting that section.)
• Because childbearing was so important, Lycurgus wanted the best Spartans to get together to produce the best kids. So there was no concept of adultery or jealousy; if a Spartan man had eyes on a woman, whether they were each married to others would be irrelevant. Plutarch relates the confusion one foreigner had when hearing that Sparta had no punishment for adultery. 
• Beyond Plutarch’s…uh…detailed description, the Spartans essentially practiced selective breeding through polyamory. 
• There was a responsibility of 'Nazi not nurture' in a way, with the girls and woman 'making fun of each of the young men' this was done to help them fix their 'mistakes', other times they would create songs of the boys 'in praises' and these would then ‘fill the boys with a sense of achievement’. Whilst it doesn't seem like much of a responsibility these acts helped motivate and push the men to greatness and can help in their standing especially as 'the kings and the elders attended the spectacle'. In the long run this could help the men become full Spartans and get into the mess halls.
• The woman would be in charge (Obviously) of 'pregnancies', this responsibility was important due to where they were in charge of producing the next men or woman of Sparta, pushing their state to be stronger and carry on. This is shown with how he had the woman prepare for their responsibility making sure none were slacking or weak. With the process, being training them 'run...wrestle'. 
• “He made young girls no less than young men grow used to walking nude in processions, as well as to dancing and singing at certain festivals with the young men present looking on”.  
• “There were inducements to marry” –allowing families to unite and make more Spartan babies
• Xenophon, 1
• “Elsewhere in Greece, girls who are to become mothers, are brought up in the approved fashion, are reared on the simplest possible diet, and with a minimum of luxury foods; they either drink no wine at all, or only drink it diluted. Girls are expected to imitate the usually sedentary life of craftsmen, and to work their wool sitting quietly.”
• The complete opposite is true in Sparta: “Lycurgus felt that slave girls were perfectly capable of producing garments, and that the most important job of free women was to bear children; he decreed that women should take as much trouble over physical fitness as men.”   
• Aristotle, "Spartan Women"
• In the days of Spartan supremacy, “much was managed by women” – likely referring to them managing their husband’s households whilst they were away on campaign, as well as their own property by the late fifth-century BC.
• What can we learn from the sources about the relationship between men and women in Sparta?
• Plutarch
• “His bride at the same time devised schemes and helped to plan how they might meet each other unobserved at suitable moments.”  
• This shows that while in childhood there was rivalry between the girls and boys, in adulthood there was unity between the two despite each spending so little time with each other. By them spending so little time together leads to the assumption that they would not have as strong a relationship as a man among those of his mess hall. And yet there is an immediate sense of loyalty between a wife and husband within Sparta holding that there was very little doubt or rejection between the two. Altogether their relationships were of an understanding nature with little complication as to what the relationships were meant to be. 
• Girls had to train naked just like boys, and sometimes danced and sang with the boys watching. Nudity was not seen as embarrassing; rather, it made them focus on physical fitness and frugality.  
• They would also “helpfully criticise the boys’ mistakes”, or compose songs to compliment some of the boys, filling them with a “great sense of ambition and rivalry.” “The jibes of their playful humour was no less cutting than warnings of a serious type, especially as the kings and elders attended the spectacle along with the rest of the citizens.”  
• Frequent nudity and performances were also meant by Lycurgus to make the boys attracted to the girls as an “inducement to marry”, putting “a certain civil disability” on those who did not by excluding them from the Gymnopaediae and making them dance naked around the agora in winter.  
• When Spartans married, the bride would have her head shaved, dress as a man, and be kidnapped by the groom during the night, after which he would return to his usual sleeping quarters. This would continue for a long time – “some had children before they saw their wives in daylight” – and was intended by Lycurgus to keep them in their prime, modest, and keen to see each other. 
• This wouldn’t just happen once, whilst there was the practice of polygamy and homosexuality, the male would 'warily visit his bride in secret', where the woman also 'devised schemes and helped to plan how they might meet'
• “Lycurgus placed a certain civil disability on men who did not marry, for they were excluded from the spectacle of the Gymnopaediae. In winter the magistrates would order them to parade naked in a circle around the agora, and as they paraded they sang a special song composed about themselves, which said that their punishment was fair because they were flouting the laws. In addition they were deprived of the respect and deference which young men habitually showed their elders.” – men were expected to marry and faced discrimination if they didn’t.
• “After spending only a short time with her, he would depart discreetly so as to sleep wherever he usually did along with the other young men. And this continued to be the practice thereafter: while spending days with his contemporaries, and going to sleep with them, he would warily visit his bride in secret, ashamed and apprehensive in case someone in the house might notice him. His bride at the same time devised schemes and helped to plan how they might meet each other unobserved at suitable moments.” – made it unseemly to visit their partner
• "While excluding from marriage any kind of outrageous and disorderly behaviour, he made it honourable for worthy men to share children and their production, and derided people who hold that there can be no combination or sharing of such things, and who avenge any by assassinations and wars.” – approve adultery.
• “The custom was to capture women for marriage- not when they were slight or immature, but when they were in their prime and ripe for it.”   
• Xenophon
• "for he made it disgraceful for a man to be seen entering or leaving his wife’s apartment. Thus their desire would inevitably be heightened when they did meet, and any offspring which might result would therefore be stronger than if the parents were surfeited with each other.” – made it unseemly to meet their partner in hopes of increasing lust for strong children
• “he did not allow men to take wives as and when they wished, but decreed that marriage should take place at the period of physical prime, thinking that this also was likely to produce fine children.”
• Why, according to Aristotle, was the role of women in Sparta fundamentally flawed?
• “Spartan women live intemperately, enjoying every license and indulging in every luxury.” Aristotle here believes that a state should be divided into women and men, and any state that does not subjugate women is “not properly legislated for.” So, despite Spartan women living so frugally, the very fact that they were somewhat more equal to men than other societies triggers Aristotle.
• “What is the difference between women ruling and rulers ruled by women? The result is the same.” They are harmful to all aspects of life. 
• “It is said that Lycurgus endeavored to bring them under the control of his laws, but when they resisted he gave up the attempt.” Plutarch tells us that Aristotle is wrong here. 
• Also, Aristotle keeps saying that women's authority was a problem, but he doesn't really explain why. The only example he gives is that, when Laconia was invaded by the Thebans, "they caused more confusion than the enemy", without explaining how. It's as if it's meant to be obvious to us why women having power would be a problem, which in itself might show how unique Sparta was; if women being oppressed was so normal as to be obvious, and any semblance of freedom triggered Aristotle this much, then clearly they had a great deal of power compared to other societies
• “The lack of control over Spartan women is detrimental both to the attainment of the aims of the constitution and to the happiness of the state.”  
• “In all constitutions in which the position of women is ill-regulated. An inevitable result under such a constitution is that esteem is given to wealth, particularly in cases when the men are dominated by the women” – referring to women holding 2/5^th of all property in Sparta, he believed women should never be above men.
• “Boldness is not a quality useful in any of the affairs of daily life, but only, if at all, in war. Yet even here the influence of the Spartans’ women has been very harmful. This was demonstrated when Laconia was invaded by the Thebans: instead of playing a useful part, like women in other states, they caused more confusion than the enemy.”

Spartan Boys: Hebontes or Eirens

 Overview

• In most Greek cities young men became full adult citizens once they reached military age, usually around the age of twenty
• Spartans, however, entered a stage between the agoge and full adulthood, probably between 20 and c.30 years of age, which Xenophon saw as a unique feature of Spartiate life

Education Part One

• The young men (hebontes in Xenophon, eirens in Plutarch) participated in the syssitia
• They were liable to military service together with the older Spartiates
• They were not yet allowed to vote in the assembly or to marry and set up their own household

Education Part Two

• The hebontes were involved in musical performances (choruses, dance) at festivals
• They also participated in competitions - which means that training in musical as well as physical disciplines probably remained a regular part of their lives

Additional Roles

• We know that the hebontes played a role in the education of the younger boys, some in an official capacity as group leaders and supervisors, and presumably many more by forming personal relationships with particular boys

Xenophon as a Source

• In Xenophon's Spartan Constitution the life of the hebontes is characterised by intense competition
• He reports that the best were selected for a position in the elite corps of 300 hippeis (literally 'horsemen', but these did, in fact, fight with the infantry)
• All others remained in competition with each other and especially with those who had been singled out
• They watched each other's behaviour and Xenophon says that the rivalry was so intense that "they fought whenever they met"
• This period, therefore, meant further training in all aspects of an ideal Spartiate's life
• It allowed or even encouraged the young men to jostle for positions within Spartan society before they became full citizens

Spartan Education: Boys Activity

Find examples of the following:

• Tests of endurance
• Plutarch
• "women would test their baby’s constitutions by washing them in wine instead of water” – a test to see whether their baby is healthy and if so, the wine would make them stronger
• If the baby proved well-built and sturdy they instructed the father to bring it up. But if it was puny and deformed they dispatched it at the “place of rejection”.
• Boys had scant food to keep them from over-eating and had to steal to eat; if they were caught, they were punished not for stealing but for being an “unskilled thief” and would go hungry. 
• One story is that a boy was so determined not to be caught stealing a fox cub that he hid it under his cloak, letting his insides be clawed and ripped. Plutarch “witnessed many of them die under the lashes they received at the alter of Artemis Orthia."
• "the boys learned to read and write no more than was necessary"
• Xenophon
•  to not soften their feet, the boys "should harden them by going barefoot" as it would make it easier to climb, go downhill easier, and to be more swift
• The boys would also have to get past Spartans with whips to steal cheeses from the temple of Artemis Orthia, “to show that a brief moment of pain could bring enduring fame.” Lycurgus subjected growing boys to “the most demanding regime” and “as little free time as possible” to curb pride, insolence and temptation
• The boys had to go barefoot, so that they would become used to running, jumping and climbing without shoes. They also wore one garment all year to make them endure both heat and cold, and the Eirens were given enough food that no one overate or went “without experience of going short.” However, Lycurgus did let them steal to alleviate hunger, not because he could not provide for them but so that they would learn to stake out, sneak around and use spies, making them “more resourceful in obtaining the necessities of life and more prepared for war.”
• Plato
• “In addition, at the Gymnopaidiai, they have to show endurance, competing in the full heat of the summer.”
• “the endurance of pain – which is very much a feature of our society, in fighting by hand with each other, and in the ‘raids’ with many whippings resulting each time.”
• Competition between the boys
• Plutarch
• "Moreover, as they exercised boys were constantly watched their elders, who were always spurring them on to fight and contend with one another"
• The eirens would have boys judge each other and tell them who was best or strongest. A boy who did not answer was considered “as a sluggard whose mind showed not ambition to excel.”
• Boys were taught Laconian speech; Lycurgus had favoured short, sharp statements that expressed heavy ideas, so someone who babbled constantly would seem stupid as opposed to a boy who kept his mouth shut except to give sharp answers.
• Pausanias
• “They fight with fists, kick with their feet, bite, and gouge opponents’ eyes. I have just described the way they fight man to man: but they also charge at each other violently in a group and push each other into the water.”
• Ways of promoting comradery and equality
• Plutarch
• As soon as the boys reached 7, they would be distributed into troops and live together brought up together. They slept together by Squadron and troop on mattresses in which they made up for themselves.
• "The boys are accustomed to live, play and taught together all while learning how to live with one another."
• They were enthusiastic about song, which in style were “plain and unpretentious, while their subject matter was serious and calculated to mould character.”
• At festivals, the old men would sing first – “we were once valiant young men” – then the men in their prime – “but we are the valiant ones now; put us to the test, if you wish” – and finally the boys – “but we shall be far mightier.” Evidently even fun activities were meant to convince the boys to excel. The poets Terpander and Pindar portray the Spartans as “the most musical and the most warlike of people.”
• Xenophon
• “If an honourable man admired a boy’s character, and wished to become his friend in all innocence, and spend time with him, Lycurgus approved, and thought this was a very fine form of education. If however a man was clearly physically attracted to a boy, he saw this as a heinous disgrace, and ensured that there was no more physical love between men and boys as between parents and children or brother and brother. I am not surprised that many find this hard to believe (including Plutarch?) as many cities tolerate love between men and boys.”
• All the males were together referring 'himself as father, tutor and commander of each boy'- this rule promoted equality as then no one person would be better than everyone else.
• Kritias
• “Lakedaemonian boys drink just enough to bring the minds of all to cheerful optimism, their tongues to friendliness and restrained laughter…to eat and drink is appropriate to making them think and work, nor is there a day set aside for unrestrained drinking.”
• Custom to drink from the same wine cup and not to name people to drink their health.
• Ways of ensuring obedience and discipline to the state and its laws
• Plutarch
• ways of ensuring discipline and obedience, 'trained children to eat their food and not be fussy' ' not to be frightened of the dark or of being left alone' Desire to eliminate fear phobia and weakness to subscribe to culture of militarism and become toughest soldiers possible through obedience and discipline They had somebody to reprimand and punish the boy who slipped up.
• If a boy is caught, he receives many lashes of the whip for proving clumsiness.
• ‘the others kept their eyes on him, responded to his instructions, and endured their punishments from him, so that altogether this training served as a practice in learning ready obedience.’
• Plutarch, obedience: Captains of troops would punish the boys and they would accept it. “Their whole education was aimed at developing smart obedience, perseverance under stress, and victory in battle.”
• There was always someone nearby to reprimand the boys, and those two years older than them became their tutors (they were called eirens). They would serve the eirens meals like slaves and collect food. They eirens would punish boys in the presence of elders, and have to justify them if his punishments were too harsh or too light.
• Xenophon
• Lycurgus put a Paidonomos, a Spartan of the same class as those in power, in charge of the boys – he could “assemble the boys, inspect them and punish any faults severely. This official is also given a group of young men with whips for floggings when necessary; the result is considerable respect and obedience there.” If their instructors were gone, “any citizen nearby could give the boys whatever instructions seemed necessary and punish any misconduct.” As a result, all Spartans respected whoever was in charge.
• Lycurgus decreed that any boy who shirked his harsh training would lose all future privileges; thus, all other Spartans would make the boys do their duties so that they did not lose their privileges. The boys had to walk in silence, looking down, with hands inside their cloaks, to improve self-discipline – “you would be more likely to hear a stone statue speak.”
• If two Spartans were fighting, and a passer-by broke them up but they carried on, they were punished severely, so that “passion never becomes stronger than obedience to the laws.” “If a boy tells his father he has been beaten by another man, it is a disgrace for him to not beat him too.”
• Kritias
• they drink a moderate amount to to tie "their tongues to friendliness and restrained laughter"

Spartan Education System

 Overview

• Successful completion of the agoge was a prerequisite for Spartan citizenship. Public education was provided for girls as well as boys
• Spartan education was famed for its exceptional harshness and emphasis on physical skills and endurance. It was also characterised, however, by an astonishing degree of self-government, freedom and responsibility
• Furthermore, literacy in Sparta was higher than in any other Greek city-state, because only in Sparta was there a high degree of literacy among women as well as men. Spartan ("laconic") rhetoric style was admired throughout the ancient world, attesting to its high quality - a product of the agoge
• Spartan public education was the subject of extensive, and controversial, discussion even in the ancient world
• No other contemporary state provided for, and in fact required, its citizens to go through the same "upbringing" or agoge
• Unfortunately, because we must rely on descriptions of the system provided by outsiders, we have a kind of "mirror image" of the Spartan agoge
• Observers reported that which struck them as unique or different from education in their own cities, rather than reporting systematically about Sparta's system of education
• Equally distorting for the modern historian interested in Classical Sparta is the fact that most of our existing ancient sources in fact describe a Spartan educational system that was reinstituted in the Hellenistic period after what may have been nearly a century in abeyance
• It is often very difficult to distinguish "traditional" from "innovative" features of the described schooling
• Nevertheless, a number of characteristics of this education can be surmised

First Point

• It is important to note that collective education was considered so important that the  agoge was not only a compulsory prerequisite for citizenship, but all adult males bore an equal responsibility for rearing good citizens
• This was manifest in the laws that required boys in school to address all older men as "father" and gave any citizen the right to discipline a boy or youth under age
• All citizens were directly involved in the education of the next generation in another respects as well: at the age of 20, before being awarded citizenship at 21 and serving in the army, young Spartans acted as instructors in the agoge for their younger classmates
• Last but not least, despite the emphasis on public education, it would be absurd to think that parents did not take a very personal and intense interest in the education of their own offspring
• Numerous quotes demonstrate the pride and sense of personal accomplishment that Spartan mothers felt with regard to their sons

Second Point

• The principal goal of public education was to raise good future citizens
• One aspect of this goal is obvious: future citizens were by definition professional soldiers, and so the educational system very clearly sought to create physically hardened men, capable of enduring hardship, pain, and deprivation
• The emphasis of education was thus on athletic activities and military skills
• Less obvious and often overlooked by modern observers is the fact that the goal of producing good future citizens was not fulfilled by producing good soldiers alone
• Ideal future citizens were democratic, self-sufficient and independent. Thus, despite the harsh discipline, Sparta did not seek to break her youth or make them subservient
• Instead, they were taught democracy from the very start of their schooling - not in theory but in practice. On starting school at the age of seven, the boys were organized into units, teams, or "herds" - and elected their own leaders. Some sources suggest that they also "elected" their instructors from among the eligible 20 year olds