Thread by @jessnevins

Spartan's women's cults were public--the Spartan state's emphasis on public life required it. So they were open admission, and unusually well-attended.

They tended to celebrate the health, beauty, and fertility of the Spartan women--all things the Spartan state boasted of. 2/?

Spartan women had their own, women-only cults, celebrating the Greek goddesses we all know. During the celebrations women sang, danced, raced,
feasted, dedicated votive offerings, drove chariots in processions, and wove
clothing for cult images of the gods. HOWEVER-- 3/?

Spartan women weren't Athenian women. Spartan women grew up educated & trained in athletics. Spartan women were the marvel of the classical world, a bunch of tall blonde Amazons. So when Spartan women celebrated, it was w/a lot more racing & athletics & a lot less weaving. 4/?

And since Spartan women were allowed to drink wine (again, unlike their Athenian counterparts--classical Athens was horrible for women--female infanticide of ~20%), Spartan women's cult celebrations got...jolly. Raucous. Off the hook. NOT LEAST BECAUSE-- 5/?

Well, this is going to require some backstory.

An integral part of Spartan society was the relationship between men and "paidika," "little boyfriends." Boys were sent to all-male dorms around age seven. Almost immediately, they were chosen as paidika by older men. 6/?

The same dynamic was applied to girls, who were in all-girl dorms. Starting at a pre-pubescent age, they were chosen as girlfriends by older Spartan women. So Spartan women grew up in a wlw atmosphere. Moreover, Spartan girls exercised together (and w/boys) nude or almost so. 7/?

Soooo...Spartan women's cult celebrations were women-only, populated by older women & their younger lovers, all of whom were used to being nude around each other, all of whom were sexually experienced from a young age. So the celebrations were bawdy all-night booze fests. 8/?

As a general rule (individual cult celebrations varied considerably), women at the celebrations drank unmixed wine (the strong stuff) and ate cakes in the shape of breasts and vulva.

These drunken celebrations were considered an essential part of women's religious lives. 9/?

So--individual cults. There was the cult of Artemis Orthia. Artemis was the goddess of fertility for humans & animals and was the protector of mothers and children. Sparta had a statue of Artemis that they claimed had been given to the city by Iphigenia & Orestes. 10/?

Now, Greek gods & goddesses had epithets--Apollo The Wolf, Zeus the Keeper of Oaths, and so on. Sparta was unique in having Artemis Orthia, "Artemis the Straight/Upright." What that means, no one is sure of. Upright because her statue was positioned upright? Morally upright? 11/?

I tend to think that, in view of the celebrations' boozy quality, Artemis Orthia was "upright" because no amount of alcohol could get her drunk. But I'm in the minority. Artemis Orthia's sanctuary was next to the exercise grounds. This matters because of a myth. TW for rape. 12/?

TW: rape.

The myth was that the legendary "hero" Theseus, as an old man, saw Helen (later "of Troy") dancing at Artemis Orthia's sanctuary as a young girl, was struck by her beauty, & kidnapped & raped her, inventing anal sex.

Funny how Edith Hamilton et al omit that one 13/?

This myth is relevant because it gives us an insight into how Spartan women likely viewed Spartan men. Spartan women, on their wedding night, had their heads shaved, were dressed in men's clothing, and forced to have anal sex with their husbands.(It's all the men knew about) 14/?

(Nothing against those who love teh butt sexxx. But I think everyone would agree that it was not what the average Spartan woman--who, 99% of them, had never had sex with a man before--would have wanted from her husband on their wedding night). 15/?

(Moreover, wedding nights were expected to be quick for men--have brief sex with your wife, then return to your unit to begin drinking. So wedding nights were likely short & painful for women, on whom the burden fell to force the men to transition from anal sex to piv sex) 16/?

Moreover moreover, women didn't move into men's households until they became pregnant & even after women were expected to socialize with women friends and relatives. So I think it fair to conclude that for most of Spartan women's lives men were (likely unwelcome) interlopers 17/?

The relevance of this is to our consideration of Spartan women's religious & interior lives. The women worshiped goddesses in all-women celebrations & told myths abt men preying on women, in a society in which involuntary anal sex was normalized. So: separatists, probably. 18/?

We don't have the evidence to know much about Spartan women's interior lives & we have to be careful about imputing our emotional norms to them, since they were women to consider aberrant behavior to be normal. But it'd be human nature to dislike men in these circumstances. 19/?

So: back to Artemis Orthia. During the rites there was lewd dancing--Artemis was the goddess of fertility, so shaking a dirty leg made sense. These dances were the "kallabides." Select women, wearing wooden masks, wore men's clothing and put on wooden phalli for the dances. 20/?

There's a surviving vase from the Orthia sanctuary that shows a "komos" (revel) in progress. It shows women dressed as men dancing with women, and women having sex with a woman dressed like a satyr. (Satyrs were of course symbolic for the Greeks of wanton licentiousness). 21/?

Interestingly, the head priestess of the Orthia cult was in charge of the ritual whipping that all Spartan youths underwent. (Many died from it.) Vanishingly few Greek women had this sort of power: controlling men (the boys who were whipped) and independent of men's control. 22/?

More interestingly: the head priestess of Artemis Orthia RELAYED THE COMMANDS OF THE GODS, just like the Oracle of Delphi. Writers, here's your Strong Spartan Female Protagonist. 23/?

As a sidenote, when the women ran races during the cult celebrations, they wore a peplos (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peplos) which exposed the right shoulder and breast, Flashdance-style. The peplos went to mid-thigh--shockingly short to other Greeks. Spartan women didn't care. 24/?

Another cult was that of Helen ("of Troy"). The cult worshiped Helen alone--*not* in concert with her husband. Sometimes with her brothers, but mostly as an independent woman. Divine Helen was concerned with the welfare of marriageable girls & endowed ugly girls with beauty. 25/?

There's a bas relief of the Demeter cult (also concerned with Spartan women's fertility) that includes a mortar & pestle (for fertility drugs), a strigil (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil), and--this is very unusual for Greek art--a loincloth that was worn only by menstruating women. 26/?

This one's my favorite. Sparta had a few different cults of Aphrodite. Mothers of brides sacrificed to "Aphrodite Hera," Aphrodite as Zeus' wife--a usage of Aphrodite that was unique to Sparta. More widespread was the worship of "Aphrodite Areia": "Aphrodite the Warrior." 27/?

Aphrodite the Warrior was originally unique to Sparta, but over time worship of her spread. Her temple had two storeys--the only two-storey temple known to Pausanias (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias…). Spartan women saw themselves as Extra Feisty--hence Aphrodite the Warrior's origin 28/?

Now, Spartan women were never taught how to fight. That was the men's job. But there were Spartan myths about their women fighting. (Presumably these myths were projections of how Spartan women thought about themselves). One of these myths gave rise to Aphrodite the Warrior. 29/?

This myth is historical rather than divine & is a fabulation of an actual event, one of the earliest of the Spartan wars against the Messenians (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenia_…). So: Once Upon A Time the Spartan army went away to fight the Messenians, leaving Sparta empty of men. 30/?

Some Messenians, seeing Sparta lacking all its warriors, invaded Sparta, thinking it easy prey. The Spartan women put on their husbands' armor and thrashed the invaders. At the end of the battle some Spartan men returned and mistakenly attacked the women. (As happens). But-- 31/?

the women took off their armor, the men recognized their wives & a big orgy ensued. In gratitude for Aphrodite's role in bloodlessly resolving matters, the Spartans built a temple & dedicated a statue of Aphrodite the Warrior.

So the Spartans told themselves, anyhow. 32/?

(not too many more tweets to go).

Now, during the Roman period, a long time after Sparta's heyday, a Roman celebrity visited Sparta: Julia Balbilla (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Bal…). Balbilla came to Sparta to dedicate a shrine to her cousin, who was grandson of a deposed king. 33/?

Balbilla was famous throughout the classical world as a poet--she wrote in the same Aeolic dialect that Sappho herself did. She was famous for her piety (of course, most Spartan women of the era claimed to be pious). And she was famous for her entirely fabulous wealth. 34/?

Balbilla also never married, never had children, and was intimate friends w/the Roman Empress Sabina (wife of Emperor Hadrian). Now, everyone knew that Hadrian, though married to Sabina, was actually in love with Antinous (m). Sabina, for her part, was intimate w/Balbilla. 35/?

It was assumed that, just as Hadrian was in love with Antinous, so Sabina was in love with Balbilla.

So: Balbilla is a famous poet, incredibly wealthy, and as near as nevermind to an out lesbian. And she chose to come to quiet little Sparta to fund and dedicate a shrine. 36/?

To paraphrase one historian, we can speculate about the effect of Balbilla's visit on Spartan women. Balbilla is of royal blood & "embodied a glamorous mixture of dilettantism, piety, antiquarian learning, and self-importance." Much like Sarah Bernhardt visiting America. 37/?

And that's all I've got for today. Thanks for bearing with me, everyone!

Sources: Sarah Pomeroy's SPARTAN WOMEN, Elaine Fantham's WOMEN IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD, Paul Cartledge's "Spartan Wives: Liberation or Licence?" James Redfield's "The Women of Sparta"

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