In popular culture, ancient Sparta is renowned for its fearsome warriors. However, it is also recognized as one of the most favorable ancient Greek societies for women. Female citizens enjoyed greater education and autonomy than their counterparts in other city-states. Classical scholar Andrew G. Scott notes that Sparta’s practice of allowing a woman to be married to two men at once further underscores its uniqueness within ancient Greece.
Scott writes that ancient sources indicate this practice existed, though the duration of the custom and its prevalence remain unclear. He suggests it may have been a natural outgrowth of the Spartan approach to marriage and childbearing.
“The purpose of marriage at Sparta was the propagation of healthy offspring,” he writes. “In such a system, a marriage’s value was calculated solely by its ability to produce children.”
Andrew G. Scott, “PLURAL MARRIAGE AND THE SPARTAN STATE“
Spartans believed the healthiest children resulted from the healthiest parents. Both men and women were encouraged to engage in physical exercise to improve their potential as parents. To increase desire, and thus the likelihood of healthy children, husbands and wives were kept mostly separate. A married Spartan man continued living with other men while his children were young, with paternal duties shared among the men of the society. This practice reflected Sparta’s highly egalitarian social structures, where all young male citizens were expected to live, study, and eat together.
Scott writes that bachelorhood was actively discouraged, driven by the immense emphasis placed on producing children to contribute to the state’s success. By one account, unmarried men could be forced to march around the public square in winter, wearing only a tunic and singing humiliating songs about themselves. In contrast, men with three sons were exempt from military service, and those with at least four paid no taxes.
One form of plural marriage involved a young woman marrying an older man. As the woman was considered healthier, the couple could take on a younger male partner. Any “superior” children from this union would join the older husband’s household. Alternatively, a single man could father children with an already-married woman. This offered an option for men who preferred bachelorhood but still needed to fulfill their civic duty of producing children for the state.
Scott writes that another possible use-case was for brothers to share a wife, limiting the division of their inheritance. Additionally, a woman with two husbands maintained the potential to conceive a child even if one husband was away on a military campaign. Unfortunately, information about Sparta primarily comes from outside observers, leaving us uncertain about how the people involved in these marriages truly felt about them.
Edited by Brajabandhu Mahanta
Based on An Article “PLURAL MARRIAGE AND THE SPARTAN STATE” by Andrew G. Scott
