Warrior Society Vs Spartan Society

“Learn to love death's ink-black shadow as much as you love the light of dawn.” This is a quote taken from ancient Spartan society that was said to the young men who were in the process of becoming soldiers. While Sparta is most popularly known as a warrior society, it had many other characteristics that made it revered. No other civilization during the Classical Era can be compared to that of Sparta. Sparta’s legendary warriors, women, and politics made it a true iconic civilization during that time period.

Of course, the main topic for discussion is that of the men and soldiers. From the moment of a Spartan girl or a boy came into the world, the military and the city state were the center of every Spartan citizen’s life. Male babies
While women didn’t go through military training, they were required to be educated along similar lines. The Spartans were the only Greeks not only to take seriously the education of women; they instituted it as state policy. This was not, however, an academic education (just as the education of males was not an academic education); it was a physical education which could be grueling. Infant girls were also exposed to die if they were judged to be weak; they were later subject to physical and gymnastics training. This process of education also involved teaching women that their lives should be dedicated to the state. The women became astute and self reliant after this process. In most Greek states, women were required to stay indoors at all times (though only the upper classes could afford to observe this custom); Spartan women, however, were free to move out and had an unusual amount of domestic freedom for their husbands, after all, didn’t live at home. Spartan women were quite amenable and enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35% of all land and property in Sparta. The laws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women. Unlike women in Athens, under the guise of Spartan law, if a woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit, the woman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative. Spartan women rarely married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they