Julian Mayugba
Professor Antonio Acevedo
HIS 210-ONR01
16 February 2017
Unit 2 AS3-Part3 Women in Ancient Greece Women in ancient societies all had one universal purpose, childbearing. In ancient Athens, girls were sent at a young age to their husbands for this purpose. In ancient Sparta, however, girls were encouraged to participate in sports and were educated. Aristotle believed that these freedoms weakened the morale of the Spartan state, while Xenophon and Plutarch believed that it benefited the Spartans. The freedoms and equality Spartan women had counters Aristotle’s characterization of a “good wife” in his story “On a Good Wife.” Aristotle, who lived in Athens for the majority of his life, depicts the ideal wife as a wife that is ruled over by her husband. Athenian women were considered inferior when compared to men. As a result of this, Athenian women had fewer rights than their Spartan counterparts. The general purpose of Athenian women was to bear children, take care of the children, and obey her husband. Girls in Athenian society usually did not receive a formal education and were rushed to bear children when they were “ready,” usually in their teens. In contrast, Spartan women were somewhat equal to men. Spartan women were trained and educated, but the Spartan government did not train girls as much as men. The focus for …show more content…
Aristotle, who had lived in Athens for the majority of his life, believed that women had to obey the husband. Ancient Athenian women were essentially raised as children machines, and this had restricted their freedoms. Spartan women, however, were raised in a similar way to their male counterparts. They were educated and trained through exercise. As of result of the different upbringings, Spartan women were raised strong and Athenian women were dominated by