Changes

However, one aspect of its history that may surprise many is women's role in that society. While scholars view the city-state as a militaristic and conservative society, it was also quite complex. Women generally had greater freedom than elsewhere in the Greek world. Spartan women will be shown to have played a significant role in society, the economy, culture, and even the state’s politics.

Sparta or Lacedaemon was for centuries one of the most important powers in the Hellenic world. Sparta was in the south-east of the Peloponnese in modern Greece. The early history of the Spartans is murky. Sometime in the 8th century, the Spartans began to reform their social and legal system because of chronic instability. The semi-legendary Lycurgus was the leading proponent of these reforms and created a system focused on the army and victory on the battlefield.<ref>Plutarch, <i>Life of Lycurgus</i> 15. 3-4 </ref>