With reference to our ancient literary sources, discuss the role of women in Sparta. Does the depiction of women influence the way the Spartan “ethos” (character) is portrayed in the ancient literature?
Ancient sources
(a) Herodotus (use index; the main Spartan female is Gorgo)
(b) Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus or Plutarch on Sparta, translated by R.J.A Talbert, Penguin Harmondsworth 1988 (937.02 PLUT-1 LIVE-1 1988 c.2). See especially, “The Sayings of Spartan Women”
Forrest, W.G., A History of Sparta, 950-192 BC, New York, 1968 (938.02 FORR)
Kennell, Nigel M., The gymnasium of virtue: education & culture in ancient Sparta, Chapel Hill, c1995 (370.938 KENN)
Michell, H., Sparta, Cambridge, 1964 (938.9 MICH c.4)
Pomeroy, S. B. Spartan Women, Oxford, 2002.
Powell, A., Athens and Sparta: constructing Greek political and social history from 478 BC, London, c1988 (938/269 C)
Cartledge, P., ‘Spartan wives: liberation or licence?’, Classical Quarterly 31 (1981) 84-105.
Kunstler, B., ‘Family dynamics and female power in Ancient Sparta’, Helios 13 (1986) 31-48.
Redfield, J., ‘The women of Sparta’, Classical Journal 73 (1978) 146-161
Includes bibliography and in-text citations where appropriate.
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