No people has ever recognized the charm of women with greater enthusiasm than the Greeks. To them the fair sex was the embodiment of cheerful life, of the joy of being. To this conception we owe many of the most excellent works of art, among them several unsurpassed statues of Venus, the goddess of beauty and love.
In the treatment of their women the various branches of the Hellenes were not alike. But all took deep interest in the harmonious development of the body, of beauty and art. Gymnastic games and prize-fights were the favorite entertainments, especially among the Dorians, one branch of whom, the Spartans, became famous for their strict methods in rearing and educating boys as well as girls.
To secure to the state a race of strong and healthy citizens, the Spartans allowed no sickly infant to live, and girls were required to take part in all gymnastic exercises of the young men. Women were even admitted to co-operate in all public affairs. As great attention was given also to their education, the women of Sparta gained in time such great influence over their men, that the other Hellenes jokingly spoke of "Sparta's female government," a remark, which was promptly answered with the reply, that the women of Sparta were also the only ones, who gave birth to real men.
That the Hellenic women were treated with great dignity during the so-called "heroic age," and that they enjoyed far greater liberty than in later periods, is evident from the poems of Homer. In the Iliad Achilles says: "Every true and sensible man will treat his wife respectfully and take proper care of her." And in another place Homer declares that "besides beauty good judgment, intellect and skill in all female works are the merits, by which a wife will become a respected consort to her husband."
In the "Odyssey" Homer gives in Penelope a very attractive example of female faithfulness and dignity. He also makes Odysseus say to Nausikaa: "There is nothing so elevating and beautiful, as when husband and wife live in harmony in their home, to the annoyance of their adversaries, to the rejoicing of their friends, and to their own honor!"
Among the many deities, worshiped by the Greeks, one of the most attractive figures was Hestia, the goddess of the home or hearth fire. As explained in a former chapter, the constant fire, kept by aboriginal bands in the centre of their villages, became in time a sacred symbol of home and family life, and by degrees grew into a religious cult of great sanctity and importance. As women in ancient Hellas too were the guardians of this tribal fire, so its deity was believed to be a goddess, Hestia, whose name means "home—or hearth-fire." As the tribal fire was always kept burning so the fire
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