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[4]

But Lycurgus thought the labour of slave women sufficient to supply clothing. He believed motherhood to be the most important function of freeborn woman. Therefore, in the first place, he insisted on physical training for the female no less than for the male sex: moreover, he instituted races and trials of strength for women competitors as for men, believing that if both parents are strong they produce more vigorous offspring.


Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 7. E. C. Marchant, G. W. Bowersock, tr. Constitution of the Athenians. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1925.

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  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), MATRIMO´NIUM
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (2):
    • Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, The Archaic Age
    • Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, The Late Archaic City-State
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