t that their husbands did not live at home. However, there were some things that were strictly prohibited for the Spartan women. They were not allowed to wear jewelry, cosmetics or perfumes, or attractive clothing. The hair was cut extremely short and their bodies were masculine compared to a young boy. This was all to ensure the simplistic lifestyles expected from the Spartan society.Not until the age of sixty was the Spartan male free to go home and live and to leave the barracks. At which time many elders concentrated on governmental duties.So, then with a society that was supposed to have been so strong and so well managed it is not really clear what happened. Only that Sparta's leaders were aware of issues pertaining to the state, one being, the declining numbers of citizens. They tried to counteract the declining birthrate in a variety of ways. First, the institutional control upon male marriage was altered. . In the fourth century it was normal for males in their twenties to marry, but until age thirty they were severely restricted in performing the normal roles of husbands. They could not reside with their wives, meetings were limited, and they were not permitted to go into the marketplace to obtain their family necessities.Second, incentives were established to encourage a greater number of sons. A father of three sons was given exemption from military service and fathers of four exceptions from all public duties. In addition, older men with younger wives were permitted, and encouraged.The one big aspect of Sparta's decline was failure of Sparta's leaders to deal with extreme economic difficulties facing poorer families. The problem required radical solutions such as redistribution of land or a restructuring of the economic base. The Spartan leaders never bothered taking on the task of fixing these problems.For these reasons, leading Spartans ignored the economic problems of poorer citizens, and the compromise ...
