Spartan inheritance law was crazy progressive compared to the rest of Ancient Greek inheritance law.
When a Spartan man died, his public state-given farmland went back to the state. However, his private land would go to his wife.
A lot of husbands died young in Sparta due to their militaristic culture, and when they did their widows would often grow their inheritance over the course of their life before their own deaths.
Upon their deaths, their land would pass equally to both their male and female children.
So, a young woman who married a wealthy man would most likely inherit his fortune young. Then inherit their mother’s fortune and grow their own, becoming super ultra-rich.
They would then pass that on to their children and on and on creating a crazy snowball inheritance effect.
🔸History