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Eugenics and the Fall Of Sparta


Although marriage in Sparta began and happened like any other Greek marriage, adultery was not legally recognized and there was no punishment for such an act. This allowed for many men to sleep with other women. Rape was not looked down upon; it was a symbolism to show a warrior's masculine violence and violation1. The lack of legal action for rape and adultery allowed men to sleep with many women outside of marriage without being shamed for it but rather they were almost praised for it. If a man was under 30 he had to live in the barracks, even if he was married, causing men to sneak out to sleep with their wives or the wives of other men. Many men snuck out at night to sleep with women, because it was dark there was also no way of them knowing that they were sleeping with their wife or the wife of another man. Men slept with other women and got them pregnant but the child was not considered to be legitimate unless it was under wed lock. Marriage was really just a way of legitimizing child bearing. Spartans believed that the more children there were born under marriage, that the marriage would protect the children from being flawed in any way and that a masculine child would be produced as long as it was with in wedlock2. .
             The Spartans contradicted themselves in many different ways. Men were praised for raping women but were not supposed to have children outside of wedlock for the fear that their child would be born with deformities. There was no form of contraception back in the Spartan days, so this would mean that many women were impregnated before marriage. If there was no marriage in place, the child was not considered to be legit and in some cases would be abandoned or killed for the fear that they could not be strong enough to survive in Spartan society. The rules of the military prohibiting men to live with their wives if they were under the age of thirty was just another contributing factor, this caused men to sneak out and have sex with whoever they could and get back to camp before they got caught.


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