Most people think of ancient Athens as a city representing freedom and democracy, and of Sparta as a highly constrained society. Modern schools of thought teach us that recent democracies are modeled on Athens, while martial dictatorships are modeled on Sparta. However, history shows us that women had much more autonomy in Sparta than in Athens. In fact, the democratic aspects of Athens were available only to free men who were citizens of Athens. Moreover, to claim citizenship, an Athenian had to prove that both his parents were "astoi." For the father, being "astos" meant that he was an Athenian citizen, but the mother could not be a citizen. Women were never citizens, but only able to transmit the rights of citizenship to their sons (Perry, et al, 1992, pp.60-61). The political structure of Sparta, on the other hand, provided more liberty for more people, especially when those people were women. This goes against our generally held beliefs, yet there is much evidence for it.......
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