Queen Gorgo of Sparta’s most
famous quote was an answer to an Athenian woman, who asked why “only Spartan
women rule their men.” The answer, that
only Spartan women gave birth to men, was far more than a witty retort, it was
a profound commentary on the differences between the societies. The most
important point, of course, is that Gorgo did not claim Spartan
women were superior at all, but rather that Spartan men were superior to their
contemporaries.
Readers need to keep in mind that at no time in Spartan history was Sparta “ruled” by women. Spartan women
were hardly Amazons, who scorned men and took the battlefield themselves. Spartan women could not vote in the Spartan Assembly, and they
could not be elected to office, neither the Gerousia nor the ephorate, nor lesser positions such as magistrates. Every contemporary of Gorgo knew this, so
the question was never meant to suggest Spartan women had political power, but
rather that they had influence over their menfolk to an exceptional, indeed
“unnatural,” degree.
As Gorgo’s answer likewise
illuminates, Spartan women did not live separate, lesbian lives, disconnected
and divorced from their male relations and focused on themselves. The image of Spartan women living apart and
satisfying their sexuality among themselves is a modern myth, based on the
patently false misconception that Spartan males were “far away” “most” of the
time. In fact, ancient wars were short affairs
and only conducted during the campaign season, so that Spartan husbands were
never gone more than half a year and that very rarely. (Not until the
Peloponnesian war did Sparta campaign year after year; throughout the archaic
period Sparta was at war only sporadically with years of peace in between.) Furthermore,
the barracks and messes at which Spartan men ate were much closer to the
temples, markets and public buildings at which the women congregated than the
work-places of most modern (commuting) husbands.
On the contrary, Spartan women
viewed their role as completely integral and indeed traditional. As Gorgo’s reply underscores, a Spartan
woman’s principal contribution to society – like that of her Athenian
counterpart – was to produce the next generation of (male) citizens. There was nothing odd, offensive or sinister
about respectable women in the ancient world identifying with the role of
mother. The idea that women might have
other societal functions other than wives and mothers is a relatively new
historical phenomenon and far from accepted in many parts of the world from
Afghanistan to Africa.
As Gorgo so brilliantly
summarizes the situation, the difference between Spartan women and the women in
the rest of the ancient world was not one of a fundamentally different role,
but rather a difference in the way men
viewed that role. Athens was a
virulently misogynous society. Its greatest philosophers viewed women as
“permanent children” and the doctors attributed everything from stomach illness
to asthma in women to a “wandering womb,” for which the best cure was sex (with the
woman’s owner/husband of course.) Women could not inherit property, nor indeed
control more money than was needed to purchase a bushel of grain. They
were largely uneducated and almost all were illiterate, so it is hardly surprising
that their educated husbands, usually significantly older husbands considered them congenitally stupid. The discrepancy between the education and maturity of husbands and wives was aggravated by the fact that
female children were fed less nutritious food in smaller quantities than their brothers, and
were denied fresh air and any kind of exercise. The result was females stunted both physically and mentally, married as
soon as they became sexually mature, and usually dead by the age of 30 or 35. In
short, Athens' laws and customs condemned women to ignorance, stunted grown and
an early grave – assuming they were allowed to live at all.
There is little doubt that in
Athens far more female infants were exposed than males. As it was aptly put in
an Athenian law case, even a poor man would raise a son, while even a rich man
would expose a daughter. The archaeological evidence supports the historical
record; Athens suffered from a severe demographic imbalance in favor of males,
something that is most similar to sex ratios in China and India where the
systematic murder of female infants (either as embryos through abortion or
after birth through exposure or neglect) is still widespread.
Sparta did not suffer either from
the misogyny that created the imbalance in the population, or from the
consequences. In fact, by the late 5th Century BC, Spartan women appear
to have significantly outnumbered men.
This imbalance may have been the real reason for the Spartan custom of
“wife sharing.”
Returning to Gorgo's most famous quote, I would like to show how I put it in context in Book
III of the Leonidas Trilogy, Leonidas of
Sparta: A Heroic King:
Eukoline shoved her veil off her head and
turned on Gorgo to ask in a tone that mixed disapproval with amazement, “Why
are you Spartan women the only ones who rule your men?” She did not mean it as
a compliment.
“Because we are the only women who give birth
to men!” Gorgo snapped back.
“As if I hadn’t given birth to two sons?”
Eukoline retorted indignantly. “Athens has five times the number of citizens
Sparta has!” she added proudly.
“Athens has 40,000 males who think that
making clever speeches is the pinnacle of manliness.” All Gorgo’s pent up anger
at what she had seen since her arrival [in Athens] boiled over. “That’s why they are afraid
to educate their daughters and keep their women in the dark ― physically and
mentally!” Gorgo could not resist adding, “Sparta’s men prove their manhood
with their spears and need not dismiss good advice just because it comes from
the mouths of women!”
