Plutarchus, Apophthegmata Laconica, Lycurgus 12 (Mor. 227d): Lycurgus and the introduction of female athletics in Sparta

Plutarchus, Apophthegmata Laconica, Lycurgus 12 (Mor. 227d): Lycurgus and the introduction of female athletics in Sparta

46 - after 120 CE

Historical Anecdotes

Literary source

When someone else desired to know why he instituted strenuous exercise for the bodies of the maidens in races and wrestling and throwing the discus and javelin, he said, "So that the implanted stock of their offspring, by getting a strong start in strong bodies, may attain a noble growth, and that they themselves may with vigour abide the birth of their children and readily and nobly resist the pains of travail; and moreover, if the need arise, that they may be able to fight for themselves, their children, and their country."

Frank Cole Babbitt, Plutarch’s Moralia, vol. 3, 172a-263c (Loeb Classical Library 245), Cambridge, MA 1931.

ἄλλου δὲ ἐπιζητοῦντος, διὰ τί τὰ σώματα τῶν παρθένων δρόμοις καὶ πάλαις καὶ βολαῖς δίσκων καὶ ἀκοντίων διεπόνησεν, ‘ἵν’ ἔφη ‘ἡ τῶν γεννωμένων ῥίζωσις ἰσχυρὰν ἐν ἰσχυροῖς σώμασιν ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα καλῶς βλαστάνῃ: αὐταί τε μετὰ ῥώμης τοὺς τόκους ὑπομένουσαι ῥᾳδίως: τε ἅμα καὶ καλῶς ἀγωνίζωνται πρὸς τὰς ὠδῖνας: καὶ εἴ τις ἀνάγκη γένοιτο, δύνωνται ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν καί τέκνων καὶ τῆς πατρίδος μάχεσθαι.’

Gregorios N. Bernardakis (ed.), Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. 2, Leipzig 1889.