Page 36 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Greece

In Sparta, girls were treated more equally than anywhere else in ancient Greece.
About time too! Oh, wait . . .
Of course – that means they were treated equally HORRIBLY . . .
Although they Weren’t sent off to Spartan training camps in the mountains like boys, girls had
to train to be sTrOnG AnD FiT athletes, and they raced with the boys during festivals.
FANCY THAT!
Girls in Sparta actually got to go to school, and also learned how to race horses and wrestle. There was even an all-female chariot racing competition. That sounds a bit more fun than weaving and baking bread!
Do you ever wish . . . your life was more exciting? Well, in ancient Greece it could get pretty wild – though you
may not have liked it much.
Warfare was a big part of life back then. In Athens boys trained as soldiers from when they left school, but in Sparta training began much earlier, and young boys would be turned into tough warriors through brutality and hardship. Sometimes they didn’t even get a hot-water bottle or a teddy to cuddle.
If you were an ancient Greek child it’s quite likely your dad or even grandad could be called on to fight in wars. Greek soldiers were called hoplites – which had nothing to do with jumping up and down on one leg (unless the other had been chopped off by an enemy soldier with a big sword).
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