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Talk

Archaeology NOW Talk

Spartan Gynecocracy?

The Myths And Reality Behind Spartan Female License And Power

Thu 8 Feb 2024

Djanogly Theatre

Past event

This event has now passed.

Past event

This event has now passed.

The Spartans' supposedly powerful and licentious females have long been a source of fascination.

The most well-known example being it’s famed Helen who left her Spartan husband for a Trojan love. In this talk, Ellen Millender, Omar & Althea Hoskins Professor of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Humanities at Reed College, and Fulbright University of Nottingham Scholar 2023-24, offers a reassessment of such popular images in order to illuminate the extent to which Sparta and its men were, as Aristotle claimed, ruled by women.

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