Iconography Of Athenian Women

When learning about a subject, such as Athenian women, one’s first instinct is to look at a book concerning the subject. History books and other written material can be excellent primary sources. They can tell us a great deal about the Athenian Woman. Written material can show us how Athenian women lived and what their roles in society as well as the family were. However, there is also an alternative way to research Athenian women, and this way is through iconography. Iconography can be defined as the study of visual images and symbols in a work of art. By looking at iconography concerning Athenian Women, we can get certain information that we would not have gotten from written material. From iconography, we can obtain different images of women from the way they are portrayed in the various pieces of artwork. This can show us how they were seen in society or what others thought of them. We can also look at the way they were portrayed in artwork in different periods in time. For example, in black-figure, scenes of mourning and the fetching of water are common, as opposed to red-figure where slaves and domestic work are were more popular. From this information, we can then examine how the image of the Athenian woman has changed and possibly determine why. We can examine pottery and artwork from different periods in Athens. Regarding Greek pottery, there seems to be two distinct eras, black-figure and red-figure. Black figure pottery was popular from the 7th to 5th century BC. Red-figure pottery then appeared around 520 BC. Each period had its own distinctions from the other in what they depicted and how they depicted it.

Regarding the life cycle of the Athenian Woman, there are certain things that Greek pottery shows as well as so...

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...away to war. This is commonly referred to as the departing warrior scene. In this representation, a young man stands at the center and is receiving weapons, surrounded by his family. The women bring arms and armor to the man. The portrayal of the Athenian woman changes somewhat from black-figure to red-figure. In black-figure works, interactions between characters are rare and proper. As we move to red-figure, the scenes are more focused on the relationships of the individuals. There is a more intimate setting compared to red-figure. We are able to see the emotions between mother and son and mother and father. This scene full of emotion supports the idea that the mother is linked to expectations concerning maternal devotion and self-sacrifice.

The role of women in such scenes is interesting, as there is a change in the type of representation from black-figure to red