Quick question, please answer (1 Viewer)

[OutOfOrder]

Hey, just wondering
i have to write a structured report on sparta for an assignment, covering all areas.
One of the topics is: The Role of Spartan Women.
Does this mean i have to only talk about the ROLE of women, or just anything about women in general?


thanks

 

[Magister]

Re Role of Spartan Women

Hi!

You have to confine your material only to the role of Spartan Women, i.e. the part they played in Spartan society. Consider such aspects as their status, what they were expected to do to serve the state, obligations as women and wives.... Have a look at what Aristotle (Politics ) and Xenophon have to say about them. Another source which gives a more humanised picture is in Aristophanes' Lysistrata , especially the character of Lampito.(though there is a hint of stereotyping involved as well!) Other good sources include:
*W.G.Forrest, A History of Sparta
*A.H.M.Jones, Sparta
*Paul Cartledge-anything he has written; he is a contemporary expert on Sparta.

You can access the primary sources in full text on the Net.
Hope this helps.

Magister

 

[muhammad 1]

You should focus on the role. Spartan women had two main roles:
1. Maintain healthy bodies so they could produce healthy children
2. To maintain the status quo
However, remember that practically everything they did or everything about them contributed to these main roles in one way or another. This is why the 'role of Spartan women' is such a popular question. All aspects of their lives were based on these two roles. So I guess my point is, u can talk about anything to do with Spartan women as long as u justify it by relating it somehow to their chief roles - which is relatively easy.

Another thing. As Magister said, a good source to use for this question is Aristotle. He was very critical regarding the role of Spartan women. He believed it would lead to 'gynoikotratia' (a matriarchy). You can say that we have derived alot of info regarding the role of Spartan women from Aristotle. However, raise the problems of evidence associated with it ie. bias.

Hope that helped

 

[joel_x10]

if i were writing i would bullshit on about everything i knew