Spartan Women

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 2002 - History - 198 pages
This is the first book-length examination of Spartan women, covering over a thousand years in the history of women from both the elite and lower classes. Classicist Sarah B. Pomeroy comprehensively analyzes ancient texts and archaeological evidence to construct the world of these elusive though much noticed females. Sparta has always posed a challenge to ancient historians because information about the society is relatively scarce. Most existing scholarship on Sparta concerns the military history of the city and its heavily male-dominated social structure--almost as if there were no women in Sparta. Yet perhaps the most famous of mythic Greek women, Menelaus' wife Helen, the cause of the Trojan War, was herself a Spartan. Written by one of the leading authorities on women in antiquity, Spartan Women reconstructs the lives and the world of Sparta's women, including how their status changed over time and how they held on to their surprising autonomy. Proceeding through the archaic, classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, Spartan Women includes discussions of education, family life, reproduction, religion, and athletics.

From inside the book

Contents

EDUCATION
3
BECOMING A WIFE
33
THE CREATION OF MOTHERS
51
ELITE WOMEN
73
THE LOWER CLASSES
95
WOMEN AND RELIGION
105
GENDER AND ETHNICITY
131
SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF SPARTAN WOMEN
139
WORKS CITED
171
INDEX
185
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2002)

Sarah B. Pomeroy is Distinguished Professor of Classics at Hunter College, City University of New York. Her many books include Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History (ed.) and Women in the Classical World (ed.).

Bibliographic information