The Sayings Of Spartan Women From Plutarch

Sayings of Spartans Women One historical source used to gain a greater understanding of Spartan culture, and more specifically the role of women in the society, is the Sayings of Spartan Women from Plutarch. This source compiles multiple quotes that were attributed to Spartan women. These quotes cover many of the sentiments of Spartan women on a variety of topics relating to Spartan society. The most common theme of these sayings focus on honor of Spartan males and the influence women held in the Spartan culture. Furthermore, it is important to understand the context of this account of history and what it means for the reality of the roles women played in Spartan society. Ultimately, this text gives an account that shares some light into the

First, given the time period Plutarch was an active historian centuries after the fall of Sparta and likely never met a Spartan. The collection of quotes in The Sayings of Spartan Women were collected through second-hand sources. These sources were more than likely from male historians during the time period of the Spartan Empire. Thus, it is important to recognize that the collected quotes were filtered through a male perspective. This likely means that quotes that focused on issues men focused on, such as honor, war, and politics, were more likely to survive and be collected by Plutarch. Moreover, because of this male perspective, there are likely many quotes from Spartan women reflecting on their role in society that were not compiled. Given this context, it is hard to read this text and understand it as a completely accurate reflection of the role Spartan women carry out. However, this issue does not invalidate the text entirely. The quotes within this text still show that Spartan women had a more active role in commenting on society and governance than women from other societies had during this time period. Ultimately, this text is not a mirror of Spartan society and the role of women in it, however, it shows a broader representation of the involvement Spartan women were able to have in their

This war lasted from 431 BC - 405 BC, one of the longest in Spartan history. Moreover, this war was a pivotal moment that saw the transfer of power in the region move from Athens to Sparta. Leading up to the beginning of this war, there were several causes, both long term and short term, that brought these two great powers to the battlefield. Furthermore, it is important to understand what caused this war to continue for thirty years. Ultimately, this war led to a major power shift in the Greek region and led to Spartan supremacy for the following