The People of Sparta
Women in Sparta had many more rights than women in any other of the five main city-states in Greece. When the men were in training the women weren’t weaving and taking care of the kids. They were doing that, but they weren’t complete housewives. They were able to participate in government, they were able to protect themselves because they were trained to defend themselves like the men, but not nearly as brutally. When the women were at home they were taking care of the kids, but they were also taking part in society. Women in all the other city-states are citizens, but in Sparta they take part in government because while the men are training for war and military. Ares, the patriot god of Sparta, is not married, and is the god of war. It only makes since that the Spartan people have the best military. Not only do men train, but so do women. It not only makes sense, it also makes them stronger. Instead of grabbing random men from the city-state, they have men to do the job full time. If you were a fisherman in any other city-state, they would cone to your house and say, “Hey, we need you for the military!” Where in Sparta they would just say, “We need you, you, you, and you for this war. Lets go!” The men in Sparta would retire at age 30. They were taken away from their families at the age of seven and started very brutal military training right away. The reason the Spartan people started being so brutal is because they had a slave revolt and not only did the slaves almost win, they almost destroyed Sparta completely. The Spartans wanted to make sure it never happened again, so they became the most brutal and fierce city-state in Greece. They always kept a close eye on the slaves to make sure that nobody was trying to rise to power. If you went to war against them you were pretty much dead the second you walked on to the field. In training they were taught to lie, cheat and steal. If they got caught they were whipped in front of the whole town, including their parents, and if they made a sound they punished more severely. They got taught to lie cheat and steal so they were able to survive. The people of Sparta were very different from all the other people in the other city-states because they had to be, that was how Sparta saw it. That is who they were told to be, and how they were told to live. It was just who they were and we can't take it back.
