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gender in ancient greece
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With respect to their differing philosophical beliefs, philosophers Plato and Aristotle would ultimately argue with respect to women and their place in society, the home, and their relationship with politics. Although, Augustine was not a philosopher, he would often make references about women. Most often, Augustine would abide by the teachings of his religion in explaining women and their place not only the confines of a marriage, but also, in relation to God. The importance of their views with respect to women, politics and religion have arguably shaped the ideals and social morals of current Western thought and ideologies.
Women in Society and the Household
With respect to women and their place in Greek society, it was essentially based on the family unit. Initially, the household and/or Oikos were composed of both free individuals and slaves. Basically, the Oikos were under the dominion of the head of the household, and were bound by a set of complex family relationships. “The household covered not only the members of the nuclear family, but the whole physical and economic unit, including property, and land, and there was strict limitation of succession by inheritance.”1 Interestingly, with respect inheritance, marriage and property, the primary concern was for the preservation of the family, their survival and the survival of the Oikos. “Typically a man would marry when the property was divided on death…and would eventually establish his own Oikos…thirty or thirty five appears to have been the normal age for a man to marry.”2 It was stated in Athenian law that sons succeed their fathers, and all sons were to share the inheritance. However, a family with no sons, the inheritance would most often be left to the daug...
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31 Blundell, Women in Classical Athens, 12-3.
32 Fred Miller. 2009. Aristotle’s Political Theory. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/ (Accessed July 6 )
33 Stark, Feminist Interpretations of Augustine, 57.
34 Stark, Feminist Interpretations of Augustine, 56-7.
35 Bella Vivante, Daughters of Gaia: Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World (Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. 2007) 116.
36 Vivante, Daughters of Gaia, 116-117
37 Chan, Political Philosophy, The Republic Book V
38 Chan, Political Philosophy, The Republic Book V
39 Brown, Plato’s Ethics in the Republic
40 Pomeroy, Spartan Women,61-3.
41 Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 54-5.
42 Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 63.
43 Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 59.
44 Cahn, Political Philosophy, 225.
45 Stark, Feminist Interpretations of Augustine, 57.
Pomeroy2: Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Oxford UP.
In ancient Greek society women lived hard lives on account of men's patriarch built communities. Women were treated as property. Until about a girl’s teens she was "owned" by her father or lived with her family. Once the girl got married she was possessed by her husband along with all her belongings. An ancient Greece teenage girl would marry about a 30-year-old man that she probably never met before. Many men perceived women as being not being human but creatures that were created to produce children, please men, and to fulfill their household duties. A bride would not even be considered a member of the family until she produced her first child. In addition to having a child, which is a hard and painful task for a teenage girl in ancient civilization to do, the husband gets to decide if he wants the baby. A baby would be left outside to die if the husband was not satisfied with it; usually this would happen because the child was unhealthy, different looking, or a girl.
Loyalty to the household is one of the foundational values of Grecian cultures. Both Antigone and the Odyssey portray the benefits of this devotion to kin, yet also expose the tensions that can arise while keeping an allegiance to a household. Polis, the city-state, was grounded in the concept of oikos, or households. Ancient Hellenic women were expected to uphold certain standards within society, such as burying the dead family members, pledging allegiance to the household of the betrothed, or marrying into a new household following the death of a husband. Consequently, massive repercussions, even death, could arise if a woman did not fully pledge allegiance to a betrothed household or abandoned her current family without justifiable cause.
There isn’t enough literature from this time period from the lower and middle classes of society, and the view of women we have comes from writings of the upper class males. As much of an enigma that the women of Athens were, it is clear that “women were for the most part legal nonentities,” (O’Neal 117) that were denied any association and participation in the intellectual life of their city. The women were not involved in getting an education, and never learned to read or write. O’Neal writes, “The principal spokesmen of fifth century Athens, Pericles and Thucydides, disdained Athenian women.” (O’Neal 117) Based on their writing, and on surmountable evidence, it can be assumed that women had only two roles in Athens - a wife, or a mother. A girl was ideally married at 14 or 15 years of age, and there was necessity that the bride was a virgin, otherwise she was shamed and sold into
Throughout ancient civilizations, women were lower than men. In some civilizations like Mesopotamia society, women were below slaves. It is not shocking that they would still not be equal to men. In Roman society, women had more independence and people were more encouraging of women being educated in philosophy. In the Hans society, women did not have any freedom. They were required to follow what the men told them. By examining Gaius Musonius Rufus’ essay and Ban Zhao’s essay, the views of women were different. Woman in Roman society had more freedom and women in the Han’s society were required to fulfill her responsibilities.
Lefkowitz, Mary F. and Fant, Maureen. Women in Greece & Rome. Toronto/Sarasota: Samuel-Stevens. 1977. Print
Semonides of Amorgos (c. 625 B.C.) An Essay on Women ( lines 10-12) Semonides of Amorgos. “Women.” c. 7th cent. B.C.E. Trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien. Web. 7 Oct. 2014
According to research, the role of women in classical Greece was extremely limited. Men and women were segregated all over in the Greek society, even in the home (Source 9). Women were secluded in their homes to the point of not being able to leave their own quarters except on special religious occasions or as necessity dictated (Source 10). All women were tightly controlled and confined to the home to insure that their husbands were provided legitimate male heirs. Beyond this, women had no true value (Source 6). Clearly, male domination in Greek society was like enslavement to women. A marriage contract dated 92 B.C. can be located in Women's Life in Greece & Rome by Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant which defines unacceptable behavior within the union of marriage. The document requires that both husband and wife be chaste within the context of the household, but although nothing prevents ...
In ancient Greece, women of wealthy families lived a life of segregation amongst the walls of their own homes. Due to the rapid expansion of Athens and more people moving from rural spaces to urban spaces; the duties of women moved from outdoor jobs, like agriculture, to indoor and less important jobs, like taking care of all the house duties (Pomeroy 1975, p71). Despite the fact that there were a number of roles that women played in the Athenian society, including prostitutes and priestesses, Xenophon believed that the most respectable work for an Athenian woman was to be a model wife. This main role was divided into three sub-roles that had to be done in order to be the perfect wife: take care of children, look after the shared property and to be responsible for her servants.
Lefkowitz, Mary R., and Maureen B. Fant. Women's Life in Greece and Rome. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Much like world war two when men went away to serve in battle, the women took care of the property and managed the home. Spartan Husbands spent most of their time with other men in the military barracks; since the men were rarely home, the women were free to take charge of almost everything outside of the army (Fleck). Women owned forty percent of land in Spartan society. In comparison, Athenian law did not allow a woman to participate in a business transaction involving anything that’s value exceeded the sum of money equivalent to that needed to feed a family for five to six days. Thus, why Athenian women had no control in owning property. Also, if she wanted to buy groceries at the local market, she would needed the approval of a male guardian (father, brother, husband). An Athenian woman could have owned a slave, yet she would have a lacked the authority to sell them away. This power again was given to the males of the household. She might have had a claim to land as well, yet she would not even have had the right to use it let alone sell it. In ancient Athens, then, it is probably better to speak of rights and not of ownership when it comes to women’s
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.
The position of women in Classical Athens has often been described as subordinate in comparison to men. Women were categorized in very particular ways: Athenian women were wives, while those who migrated to Athens from other city-states were slaves or prostitutes. Countless literature, from tragedy to comedy and political texts, reinforces the notion that citizen women were meant to serve their husbands within the confines of the oikos and produce legitimate sons in order to further the glory of men while non-Athenian women served their purpose towards men through sexual pleasure. While there may be partial truth to these views, Athenian women played a crucial role in the religious sphere. Religion was directly linked to civic identity and was a fundamental and sacred element of not only a city-state, but to Greece as a whole during the Classical period. Surviving documentation has demonstrated that Athenian women played a vital part to specific religious traditions, such as the participation in the festivals of Thesmophoria and Adonia. Furthermore, there exists evidence that proves women could also acquire the position of priestess for particular cults, a position that increased their reputation and status in a culture that considered them inferior. These marginalized women used religion as a way to carve out a sacred and protect space for themselves, using it to create a sense of freedom in their lives and to bridge the gap in equality between them and the dominant men.
Mythology was very important to the men and women of ancient Greece. They worshipped the gods and goddesses, wrote poems about them, and based a great deal of art work off of them. The people of Greece looked to the gods and goddesses for help in all aspects of their lives; including health, agriculture, and war. Reading about Greek mythology can inform people about the society of Greece itself because the Greek gods were created by the people of Greece. Three main goddesses who were worshipped by the Greeks were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. These three goddesses represent three different types of women in Greek society. Sarah Pomeroy, author of Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, believed that “the goddesses are archetypal images of human females, as envisioned by males” (8). Pomeroy understands the significance in the differences between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and what those differences meant for the women of Greece who were required to follow three important rules. The first rule was for the women to live a life of domesticity and motherhood. This was very important to the men in the society. The women were the only ones able to bear children. Also, if they were forced to stay in the house, men could keep a greater control on their wives, and not have to worry about them having affairs. The second important trait was virginity until marriage. Its importance to the Greek culture lied in the fear of a woman’s power. The men of the society felt it best that a woman remained a virgin until she was married; however this same attribute was not required of a man. Their belief can be explained by this quote written by P. Walcot in the article “Greek Attitudes Towards Women: The Mythological Evidence”: “The Greeks believed women...
There is something in every person that defines who that person is. It shapes how the individual lives their life, and what they believe. Something that acts as a lens which effects how a person sees everything. This is commonly known as a person’s worldview. Plato and Augustine were two highly influential philosophers who expressed their worldviews through their writings. In each worldview there is often a central idea or point that is fundamental to entire worldview. Plato and Augustine have similar worldviews in the sense that both have a central point around which everything revolves. They differ in that Plato sees that point as the Good and Augustine sees it as God, and each central point has a different role, type of existence, and way of being attained.