From The Ancient Style To The Classical Era Spartan Girl Education Research

In the Sparta city-state from the Archaic period to the Classical period,the characteristics of militarization run through all respects of the social life,creating a conservative and militant social atmosphere.Spartan men lacked cultural accomplishment and lived a simple and harsh group life.However,girls in Sparta received elaborate cultivation and education.This thesis takes girls' education in the Sparta city-state from the Archaic period to the Classical period as the research object,which not only explores the basic condition of Spartan girls' intellectual and physical education but also interprets religious and social significance behind Spartan girls' education,and more importantly analysis its influences on politics,military affairs and also gender construction.In this thesis,I will spread out discussion mainly from four chapters.The first chapter discusses the special growth background of Spartan girls,which is co-determined by the militarization in Spartan society and the unique cultivation to girls.It is the special growth background that brings public education to girls,which is quite different from common family education.The second chapter focuses on the performance of Spartan choruses of girls,which is the main form of girls' cultural education in Sparta.The analysis in the second chapter involves the following principle aspects: lyric poet Alcman and his Partheneia;the organization,religious activities and social function of Spartan choruses of girls.The third chapter focuses on Spartan girls' physical education including sports training and competitions,which discusses certain sports and competitions Spartan girls carried out,such as running races,horsemanship,wrestling and so on,and especially analysises their religious factors.The fourth chapter discusses the social significance of Spartan girls education from the characterisrtics of the girls' education and the influence of it on gender construction in Spartan Society.Through the study of girls' education in the the Sparta city-state from the Archaic period to the Classical period,we found that in the ancient Greek society where disparity of social status between the sexes was a very common phenomenon and the female education was generally ignored,girls' education in Spartan society was worth praising among the whole Greek world.However,the primary purpose on their education was on preparing them for their future subordinate role as wives and mothers of warriors.From the above,this study not only helps us change the inherent prejudice against Sparta that ancient Sparta is a milirarized society almost advocating force,making us forming a more objective understanding of ancient Sparta society,but also helps us to have a more profound understanding of female social status and gender relations in ancient Sparta.