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A Comparative Study of the Role of Women in Athens and Sparta 【Abstract】Ancient Greece, shared many similarities in the role of women, and they had their own characteristics in this as well. The reasons for the similarities lie mainly in the economic base of the society and the moral shackles on women, while the reasons for the differences depend greatly on the formation of the society and the purpose of education. 【Key ords】was man and the status of women was low. Such was the case with Athens and Sparta, two important city-states in Ancient Greece. In spite of that, Spartan women did enjoy relatively high status, power, and respect that were unreachable for Athenian women. The similarities between the role of Athenian women and the role of Spartan women In the aspect of marriage and family Generally speaking, marriage in Athens and Sparta had two main steps, engagement and getting married. A woman had no right to state her opinion and select her spouse. The selection of the marriage partner of a woman was done by the woman’s father or guardian. And a mother was usually ruled out from her daughter’s marriage. When making the marriage contract, it doesn’t matter at all whether the woman was on the scene and whether she agreed. That is to say, a woman was in a total passive status in her own marriage. Likewise, the divorce was also dominated by men. Though women had certain divorcing initiatives, men had after all more privileges over women in marriage. A man could drive his wife out of the house at any time through a simple procedure and he had no obligation to state any reasons. But when a woman wanted to divorce, she had to present a specific written statement to the archon on reasons why she wanted to divorce. And the archon might turn down a woman’s statement if her husband refused to get divorced. In families, women were restricted in homes most of the time and many shackles of morality, decency and propriety were placed upon them. To great extent, the functio