Women in ancient Sparta their wealth. He attributed the state's precipitous fall during his lifetime, from being the master of Greece to a second-rate power in less than 50 years, to the fact that Sparta had become a gynocracy whose women were intemperate and loved luxury. All Spartan women, not just the richest, would have taken advantage of helot labour to perform the domestic tasks that elsewhere in Greece would have fallen to free women. Activities such as weaving which were considered women's work elsewhere in Greece were not considered fit for free women in Sparta. Therefore, women were more preoccupied with governance, agriculture,
Women in ancient Sparta period. The extent to which education for girls was restored under the reforms of Cleomenes III is unclear, but it may have become voluntary rather than compulsory. State-supervised education for girls was once again restored in the Roman period, the agoge having been once again abolished in 188 BC. Women also took part in gymnastics and dance as physical activities, so they could give birth to healthy babies. Literacy was, in Sparta, a skill limited to the elite. There is evidence from the Classical period that some women could read. For instance, anecdotes about Sparta are preserved which feature mothers