"Silence is a woman's glory." Although this may have held true during the times of ancient Greeks, and although the un-silence of a woman is her glory today, one finds within Greek political theory, a critique of the idea. Regardless of that the ancient code for how women should be, especially exemplified in Athenian culture, philosophers, especially Euripides have questioned this idea in relation to the idea of Athenian democracy. I will use Aristotle's Politics, Suppliant Women and Children of Heracles by Euripides to show that although women weren't technically "citizens", they spoke and acted as if they were. Euripides's plays portray women who have the abilities to act politically.
In the Politics, Aristotle had definite criteria of what a citizen is, what they embodied, and why women couldn't be considered citizens. Determination of citizenship was a screening process for the soul in which only freemen would be able to succeed for slaves didn't have the qualities and the women were politically repressed: "Although the parts of the soul are present in all of them, they are present in different degrees. For the slave has no deliberative faculty at all; the women has, but it is without authority."(Pg. 4)
A citizen was also someone that took part in the democratic process for definition of being a citizen was one "who holds a judicial or legislative office" (Pg. 6). I interpret this as Aristotle stating that if women had authority to serve the public they would have been able to become citizens granted that they were inferiors. "It is clear that the rule of the soul over the body, and of the mind and the rational element over the passionate, is natural and expedient; whereas the equality of the two or the rul...
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...omen were politically powerless not because they wanted it that way but because it was men's power that made women powerless. These men did not advocate a democracy that included women. Women were told to "bear pain" which had multiple meaning behind the phrase. It was supposed to be bearing pain of childhood, bearing the pain within their life, to grieve, and to bear or "delight" their husband.
So how would the democracy be like if women were considered as citizens? Euripides took that under consideration and he wrote plays like Suppliant Women and Children of Heracles that showed women making crucial decisions and acting "like men." Perhaps his plays were written in vain and most men saw it as entertainment or perhaps it made the male citizens of Athens wonder how life would be if their mother, sister, or wife were able to help them in the public realm.
Cole's article is not to attack Aristotle on his views of where a woman should be placed within the social and political order, in accordance to the Classic Greek period. Her intrigue is within "surveying some central values of that particular social and political institution," (Sterba 79). At first she begins with Aristotle's view on gender and class in ethics. Making a definite point among the social/political class, ancient Greek women and slaves were only allowed their male citizens to think for them. Being dependent on men silences the women and slaves without a voice to speak out, for the women work while the men socialize with others, the men assume that the women do not need a voice. According to Aristotle, even a woman's virtue is to be subservient to all males. As a part of common life the woman is considered the pack horse and the mother to raise the children, for the men. With all the work that women put into their specific households, some education and training would mature from the experience. It was thought again by Aristotle within; Deliberation, Education, and Emancipation, that woman did not possess the aptitude for practical reasoning. For whomever possessed practical reasoning carried with them authority on their decisions and the action pending. From these three classic Greek examples of how women were considered mentally and treated physically, the author Cole provides a progressive outlook of how women could have gained social and political power in a society of male dominant figures.
...brought this power imbalance to the open, however, by exploring what would happen if women took the initiative to claim the dominant rold in society. The women, when able to successfully overcome the men and take power in the city, left the men with no choice but to either fight to regain the power, as they attempted to do in Lysistrata, or succumb to the women’s plans, as they did in both Assemblywomen and, eventually, Lysistrata. In relinquishing their power to women, the men forfeited their masculinity and became stereotypically feminine while the women also forfeited their gender norms to stay in power. Athenian unions, therefore, subsisted on a constant inequality of power kept carefully balanced by each partner staying in their designated role in the marriage – the husband the strong moneymaker living outside of the house, the wife the submissive homemaker.
Women had very few rights, they lived as prisoners, serving men 24 hours a day. Women were sheltered from society, restricted to their husbands and their husbands houses, crying out for help and justice but there is no one to there to hear their screams. In the play Antigone when the title character had to sneak out of the house to meet up with Ismene. Ancient Greek men ruled a lot like over protective fathers with teenage daughters. Men were also scared of women gaining confidence and begin thinking on their own or worse taking action or speaking out against men, like in the play Antigone where Antigone confronts Creon by burying Polyneices after Creon strictly stated that no one bury him. If someone were to bury him, the whole Polis would stone them to death. When Creon found out that someone buried Polyneices, he did not even consider that it could have been a women that did it.
Throughout my life, I've heard the phrases, "Women shouldn't serve in the Armed Forces; no, I wouldn't want a female president; a woman's place is in the home." Even though our society is drifting from these extremely sexist views, opinions like these are still widely held. Women were mistreated much the same in the ancient Greek civilizations. The views of our society, regarding the social and sexual roles of women, are mirrored in the ancient Greek tragedy, The Bacchae.
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
Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.
Women in classical Athens could not have had an extremely enjoyable experience, if we rely on literary sources concerning the roles of women within the Greek polis. The so-called Athenian democracy only benefited a fraction of the entire population. At least half of this population was female, yet women seem to have had very little influence and few official civic rights. `The position of women...is a subject which has provoked much controversy.'
Taking a look at the Parthenon, 442-438 B.C. Athens, there are many scenes, which display women in an active purpose of their society. The Parthenon frieze is said, "to be viewed as a representation of the fifth-century Athenian citizenry participation in their annual Panathenaic procession" (Connelly 53). The east frieze manifests the royal family preparing the sacrifice of the youngest daughter in memory of Erechtheus and the parthenoi. It is customary for the Parthenon's family to have large number of female members. Parents that evince three daughters would immediately signify that they were an Athenian royal family. Greek catastrophe shows virgins of noble birth sacrificed to ensure victory in war. Thus, in the event the youngest is sacrificed the other sisters gave their lives as loyalty not only to the sister, but also to the polis. The Athenians commemorate the dead hero and heroines and celebrate their first victory. It was assumed, "boys go to war, girls go to sacrifice, both for the good of the polis" (61). This scene states that in this era women were looked as equals as long as it was for the well being of the polis. If Athenian soldiers sacrificed their lives on her behalf, she ...
...s that they weren’t just slaves; they were women, sisters, wives, and daughters, just like the white women (DOC C). The women of this time period reached out to expand ideals by showing men that women were going to be involved in political affairs, and they had a right to do so.
In fact there is evidence in the 1st century BC of Priene, a woman named Phyle became the first woman in office as a crown bearer, who also paid for a cistern to store water, and water pipes for the city( “A Woman in politics: Phyle, Wife of Thessalos”, page 227). In addition there was evidence of a female philosopher named Hipparchia from the city of Maroneia, a female doctor and midwife named Phanostrate, from Athens in the 4th century BC, and a harpist named Polygnota from Delphi in 86 B.C. ( “A Woman Philosopher: The Life of Hipparchia” page 227; “ A Professional Women: Phanostrate, Midwife and Doctor”, page 227; “ A Professional Woman: The Theban Harpist Polygnota, Daughter of Socrates”, page 228). In addition there have been discovered letters dated back from 90-120 AD, which were actually birthday invitations from an officer 's wife named Claudia Severa to her friends and sister . With these sources, one can’t conclude that females had no other roles in the ancient world. Although a majority of women were forced into the life bearing kids and just caring for the household, because that was the ideal role that was given to them and there was no other role to look up to, not all females were restricted that life. Females like Phyle and Phanostrate were both married and in addition was a doctor, or politician. Also, the
Women in ancient Greece are an interesting subject and only so much is known about the exact day to day lives of them however from what records remain it would seem that they were kept at a relatively low level on the social hierarchy. Even in Pericles ' Funeral Speech which seems to be an almost utopian discretion of aspects of Greek life Pericles himself states that “Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men whether for good or for bad.” Pericles states that the greatest of women should be the ones whom are not noticed but still preform there tasks while not catching the attention of men. Adding to this even the great philosopher Aristotle bags on the women of Greece simply by stating that ”female [souls are] inoperative” With this simple statement Aristotle makes it seem that women are somehow broken and can never live up to the same standards as men. Even Xenophon, The Economist rambles on...
The Ancient Greeks formulated what they believed to be a true democracy. Everyone was to have a say in the political scene, every man had a vote and no one should be disadvantaged. At the same time, however, the society was very much a patriarchal one. Power resided with the male; the leader, the logical and strong enforcer. Women, viewed as emotionally erratic, illogical and weak, were marginalised. Men were given the most noble of duties surrounding the glory of war; women were faced with trying to raise a household.
Along with the political system, Athenian civilization was unlike any other city state in ancient Greece at the time. Women, slaves, and foreign residents were treated as second class citizens to Greek males. Women stayed at home to bear the children, and were frowned upon by society if them could not bear a male to carry on the family name. Aristotle wrote about the Athenian’s view on women, claiming “a woman is, as it were, an infertile male. She is a female in fact on account by an inadequacy”. It was common for
Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them. This is evident in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the nurse. During the time period which Medea is set women have very limited social power and no political power at all, although a women’s maternal and domestic power was respected in the privacy of the home, “Our lives depend on how his lordship feels”. The limited power these women were given is different to modern society yet roles are still imposed on women to conform and be a dutiful wife.
In Greek classics, it is common knowledge that in that era women and men were considered unequal. Men were superior, and in most cases women were not even fit for citizenship. It is in this atmosphere and time period that Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata. The play itself is supposed to be a comedy, although the actions of the women do not seem amusing. Instead, the women’s actions, especially the main character Lysistrata, seem incredibly brave. Lysistrata rounds up her “troop” of all the women in Athens and a Spartan woman. They take charge of the acropolis and refuse to settle for anything less than a peace treaty to end the war. The only problem with this is, in ending the war, they will be bringing back the men from their duty and end up in the same social caste system as they were from the beginning. Aristophanes seems to make the point that – the only power women hold is their sexuality (Rex Par. 7). The Athenian women can withdraw from their husbands for however long they like, they still end up givi...