Spartan Women: Accius, fr. 31-32

Roman authors often treated Spartan women similarly to the mythical Amazons; authors often idolized, objectified, or hypersexualized them.

Nihil horum similest apud Lacaenas virgines,

Quibus magis palaestra Eurota sol pulvis labor

Militia studio est quam fertilitas barbara.

--Accius fr. 31-32

There’s nothing like this among the Spartan women,

For them, exercise and sunshine and dust and hard work

And military training are more important

Than common pregnancy.

ACCIUS	MAP:
Name: Lucius Accius Date:  170 – 86 BCE Works:  [lost]	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Accius was a freeborn child of a freedman parent; he was born in Umbria (modern Italy) but later moved to Rome. He wrote several tragedies based on Greek myths, but these are no longer extant; only fragments remain of his writings.	REPUBLICAN ROMAN LITERATURE