Spartan Women among the Romans: Adapting Models, Forging Identities Author(s): Sarah B. Pomeroy Source: Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 7, Role Models in the Roman World. Identity and Assimilation (2008), pp. 221-234 Published by: University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in Rome Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40379356 . Accessed: 04/07/2014 09:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Academy in Rome and University of Michigan Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volumes. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 146.96.24.14 on Fri, 4 Jul 2014 09:41:17 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 11 ♦ SPARTANWOMEN AMONG THE ROMANS: ADAPTING MODELS, FORGING IDENTITIES SarahB. Pomeroy did the Romansdistinguish respectable Greek womenfrom Romans? Why did they considerSpartans different from the others? In thischapter I willdiscuss the complex and changingrelationship between gender and ethnicidentity. I selected the Spartans for this investiga- tionbecause theywere the most distinctive and ethnicallyidentifiable of Greekwomen. "Ethnic identity"refers to inheritedcultural traits that are often observable only by comparison with people who do notexhibit these traits. Ethnic identities can be carvedout by members of the group being defined,by establishing similarities among them, or maybe conferredby outsiders. For thisstudy I use postcolonialtheory as currentlyapplied by ancient historians and feminist theorythat has becometraditional among historians of women. I firstcombined these approaches in Womenin Hellenistic Egypt, looking at theinteraction between Greek settlers and Egyptiansand theireclectic participation in themixed culture of Ptolemaic Egypt.1 In thatwork I showedthat the rateand qualityof Hellenization varied according to genderand thatconquest did notresult in the imperialpower overwhelming and eradicatingthe indigenous contribution to therelationship. In thefollowing chapter I applythis model to Spartanwomen under Roman domination. LiteraryModels We willlook first at the west, then east across the Adriatic, beginning with images of Spartan women in Romanliterature. Of courseall Romanswith any education would be familiarwith Helen as she is depictedin epic.The firstSpartan woman described in literaturewas beautiful,wealthy, daring, deceitful,and, as a maturewoman, chose her own husband; she was thearchetypal "power blonde." DoubtlessHomer's Helen was theultimate model for allusions to Spartanwomen in Latinpoetry. Cicero(Tusc. 2.36) quotesa verseabout Spartan maidens engaging in wrestlingand militaryexer- cise.Propertius (3.14) describesa Spartanwoman wrestling nude with men, boxing, throwing the discus,hunting, riding, girding on a sword,wearing her hair in a simplestyle, and walkingopenly withher lover without fear of some husband. The poetwishes his mistress Cynthia would choose to livewith him thus. Ovid (Her. 16.151-52)depicts Helen wrestlingnude. Vergil (Georg. 2.487-88) refersto theloud voicesof Spartangirls celebrating Bacchus in themountains. It was in prose,however, that intellectuals in the Romanworld considered Spartan women as a groupthat had evolvedin a specificsocial context.Romans thought that the Spartanpoliti- - cal system- withits mixed constitution, checks and balances,and governmentby theelite was comparableto theirown and farmore congenial than the democracy of Athens.2 If to theRomans 2 Pomeroy 1984,121, 124, 130, 135-36,152-53. For affinitiesbetween Rome and Sparta:Baladie 1980, 293-95. This content downloaded from 146.96.24.14 on Fri, 4 Jul 2014 09:41:17 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 222 SARAH B. POMEROY Greecewas "theother," it was theGreece of Athens.In Greekthought, on theother hand, most ofwhich emanated from Athens, Sparta functioned as "theother." It followsthat both Rome and Spartawere similar to eachother in being different from Athens. Discussions of differences between Romanand Greekmores focused on subtledistinctions between the laws of Numa and Romulus, on theone hand,and ofLycurgus on theother. Prose writers variously praised and criticizedprovi- sionsfor women and marriagein archaicRome and Sparta.Referring to Spartans,Cicero (Rep. 4.6) prefersRoman to Greekrules about women, advocating that a censorteach men to governtheir wivesrather than, as theGreeks do, allowwomen to be supervisedby a gynaikonomos("praefectus," a magistratein chargeof women), a postthat was commonin HellenisticGreek states.3 Certainly Aristotle'scritique of the Spartan constitution and his condemnationof women not only for licen- tiousnessbut also forthe failure of thestate would have inevitably constituted part of thediscus- sion,as it does explicitlyin Plutarch'sLife of Lycurgus (14.1), where he statesplainly that Aristotle was incorrect.Nevertheless, in his Comparisonof Lycurgus and Numa (3.5) Plutarch,in agreement withCicero, praises the demeanor of Roman women as theywere said to be in thearchaic period, whenthey were under their husband's control, and he criticizesthe laws of Lycurgus that allowed Spartanwomen to dominatetheir husbands. Plutarch'sviews were influenced by Plato and Xenophon,both of whomwere also popular amongthe Romans. Plato's Republic was a Utopiathat incorporated elements of an idealizedSparta, nota blueprintfor any actual society. Yet some Romans considered the Republic a "how-to"manual presentingrole models for them rather than a workof social criticism.Epictetus reported that at Romewomen were carrying copies of Plato'sRepublic because theysupposed that he advocated communitiesof wives.They were quotingPlato to justifytheir own licentiousness,he alleged, but theymisinterpreted him in supposingthat his advicewas to entermonogamous marriage and thenpractice promiscuous intercourse.4 Xenophon 's pictureof Sparta was closerto thetruth than the reflectionin Plato's Republic,5but althoughRoman authorscite some worksof Xenophon specifically,there are no clearreferences in Latin to his treatiseon theSpartan Constitution.6 In anycase, if the Romans did not actuallyread Xenophon 's monograph,they nevertheless will have gottenthe informationat second hand throughPlutarch, an admirerof Xenophon.7Xenophon willhave been one ofhis informantsabout the daily life of Spartangirls, including their excellent nutrition,drinking wine, physical training, and freedomfrom weaving (which was the usual job of Greekwomen). Plutarch had been to Romeand Spartaand wrotefor both Greek and Roman audiences.8He participatedto the fullestin the debateon Spartanand Romanwomen. Though Plutarch'savowed subject is thewomen of the remote past, there is no doubtthat he is influenced by his contemporaries.Plutarch largely approves of the healthyregimen Lycurgus designed for Spartangirls and, as I havementioned, asserts that Aristotle was wrongto accuse Spartanwomen oflicentiousness: but his ideas and ideals concerningthe appropriate behavior of Greekwomen, exceptSpartans, are essentiallyconservative and traditionalin theGreek world, and barelyreflect thechanges of the Hellenistic period.9 3 SinceCicero mentions drinking, and was discussingSparta 6Munscherl920,63,106. inthe previous paragraph, he is probablyreferring to Spartan 7 women. On Plutarchand Xenophon,see Pomeroy1999b, 36, and 4 passim. Arr.Epict. diss. Fr. 15 = Stobaeus3.6.58 and see Schenkl 8 1965,455-60, 462-75. See mostrecently Stadter 2002. 5 See further 9 Miinscher1920, 51, 63, 107,114 and Pomeroy See furtherPomeroy 1999b and Nevett2002, esp. 84, 2002, 148-49. 87-88, 95. This content downloaded from 146.96.24.14 on Fri, 4 Jul 2014 09:41:17 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPARTANWOMEN AMONG THE ROMANS 223 TheInfluence of Ethnic Identity on GenderRoles Like the Spartanwomen Aristotle had criticized(but unlikeother Greek women), Romans were neithersilent nor secluded.10 Both Sparta and Romewere warrior societies ruling alien territories, withthe result that long absences of men left women in charge.Aristotle did notapprove of women exercisingsuch power in defaultof men.In bothSparta and Rome somewomen controlled vast amountsof wealth that had comeinto their hands through dowry and inheritance.Since the fourth centuryB.C. Spartan women were conspicuous in theirownership and managementof real property and otherforms of wealth. In imperialSparta economic status was stillbased on landholding,and Romansrespected that indication of old wealth.Aristotle {Pol 1269bl2-1270a34)had criticizedthe Spartansfor allowing women to ownso muchproperty that some men could no longercontribute to theirsyssitia and losttheir status as fullcitizens. The Romans,on theother hand, beginning with thelex Voconia(169 B.C.),repeatedly tried to preventwomen from obtaining large fortunes, fearing lestmen might lose theirrank in thehigher property classes in thecensus and thusbecome exempt fromheavy military obligations.11 In bothSparta and Rome one ofthe reasons women acquired wealth was thatfamilies were smaller,and womenwere