The Spartan Family

Abstract

According to many scholars in Sparta the family was marginalized, “minimized as a unit of either affection or authority, and replaced by overlapping male groups”, and “model Spartans” loved their State, not their families. The evidence does not support these opinions. They originate from the general vision of relationships in (fabulous) Sparta, not from the analysis of source material. In fact family ties played an absolutely vital role in (historical) Sparta. This is confirmed by adoptions, property-related calculations prior to marriages, diligence in furthering the careers of family members, marital manoeuvres such as “wife-sharing”, which protected the interests of the family, and even by solutions in the treatment of the tresantes. The author believes that a “model Spartan” did not suffer from a conflict of loyalties; he loved the Family as much as the State.