Ancient Greek And Modern Standards Essay

A scorned wife spoke this in one of Sophocles’ lost plays. Sophocles has seized the essence of what it means to be a woman in Athens at this time.

In no other city-state did women enjoy the same freedom and status as Spartan women. As a military-driven society, the Spartans realized that “regardless of gender all Spartiates had an obligation to serve the militaristic end of Sparta.” With this focus in mind, women were allowed more freedom, rights, and independence. Spartan women were

Loman, Pasi. "No women no war." greece and Rome, seacond series, Vol.51,No1 , 2004: 34-54.

Women have played important roles throughout history. They have been responsible for the rise and fall of nations, sustaining families, and have been the focal point of worship in ancient religions. Moving forward in history, women's roles have continually changed. Their status as matriarchs changed as the more advanced ancient civilizations rose. The patriarchal societies of ancient Greece and Rome viewed women differently from some societies of past eras. The study of the economic and political status of women, their rights, and their contributions to both these ancient societies reveals how views change throughout history.

When comparing power levels and women’s rights, Sparta was a leader in its time. Athens and Sparta, though both Greek city-states were different in the way they operated. More specifically, Sparta was different in the way that they treated their women. Athenian woman were treated quite appallingly compared to the standards of today’s women. The stem of this difference seems to lie in how these two city-states were governed. Sparta, known for its’ militaristic ways, was an oligarchy and Athens, known for its’ philosophers and thinkers, was a democracy. Sparta’s oligarchy was ruled by a counsel of 5 men, on being a lawmaker or giver. The lawgiver’s name was Lycurgus. Lycurgus was

Studies concerning the lives of women in classical Athens have sparked much controversy because, despite the apparent fascination with femininity manifested in art and drama, we have no evidence voicing the opinions of the actual women themselves. This presents a

            Before comparing the women of the Odyssey to those of Athens, it is beneficial to take a look into the lives of the latter.  A respected woman was to have characteristics including obedience, virtue, refinement, productivity, honor, beauty, talent and intelligence (social consciousness).  Sarah B. Pomeroy has studied this aspect of ancient life and

Troy lies in ruins after Greek armies win the Trojan War and ransack the city. The Trojan Women is not to a great extent a tragic account; however a depiction of a tragic situation of the horrors of war and its aftermath, whereby Euripides dramatizes the hardships of war and to some extent is an ironical illustration of hope. Euripides often uses unconventional views of Greek society, particularly the life of women and slaves; in the “The Trojan Women” we establish that the slave women encompass a nobility state of mind that stands in unusual contrast to the inhumanity of the victorious Greek warriors. The terrors of war have hardly changed within thousands of years. We can say the same about war now, Euripides was trying to say with his play

On a warm sunny day in 672 BC a group of young boys stood on top of a hill eagerly waiting for their first lesson in combat. Just down the hill, in a small public school, were many girls sitting patiently to learn what it takes to be a strong women. This scenario is very unusual to most places in the (date) yet very common to the ancient Spartans. Sparta is known for their intense military and for being one of the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece. Sparta had a much different outlook on men and women than any other city-state in Greece.

Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t

12). The lives of women in Classical Athens. 13). Sparta and Gortyn. 14). Women and religion Part. IV.

Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. The societies of ancient Egypt and of the Greek city-state of Sparta provided a rare contrast. Both Egyptian and Spartan women could own property and engage in business. According to Dr. Peter Picone, the author of “The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian” states “the Egyptian women seem to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man”. Also he states that legal rights were on a class boundary more than a gender boundary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite different from the women of their neighbor, Athens. As you well know, the women of Sparta were bold, freer, and well educated. Also with the Sparta women, everything depended up money, which would determine your rank in society. While some of the Spartan citizens have quite small properties, others have very large ones; hence the land has passed into the hands of a few. And this is due also to faulty laws; for, although the legislator rightly holds up to shame the sale or purchase of an inheritance, he allows anybody who likes to give or bequeath it. Yet both practices lead to the same result. And nearly women held two-fifths of the whole countries; this is owing to the number of heiresses and to the large dowries that are customary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite

The classical cities of Athens and Sparta are known for their many differences in societal constructs (Frey, Bergez & Joseph, 2004), government systems and political views. However must profound difference, was the differing roles for Athenian and Spartan women during the Classical Period (Frey, Bergez & Joseph, 2004), evident in their social, religious, political and economic areas of life, impacting the extent of freedom and power they could possess (O’Pry, 2012).Classical Greek culture had strong gender segregation and roles (Clark, 2009) but women while lacking political power were fundamental to the moulding society referred to as liminal the initial stage of a process (Fisher, 2007). Through closer analysis and comparison of women’s

Despite Athenian and Spartans being associates of the same influential nation, these two states or ‘Peloi’ and denominations of people in Ancient Greece in (400BC) were substantially different. The women in their own distinct societies endured several problematic issues and experienced inequity, demoralisation and condemnation. The notion of women and their purpose was typically conjectured by men in society, specifically Aristotle who claimed that women brought ‘disorder, were evil, were utterly useless and caused more confusion than the enemy’ . However despite misogynistic, biased and loathsome perspectives of women, both Athenian and Spartan women have all played exceedingly significant roles and contributed substantially to the prosperity of Ancient Greek society in their own inimitable ways.

The Greeks contested of a hand full of city-states. Which where many individual governments that would join together if an intruder or war started. Because they were individual governed, many different political and social view took place. The most radical views were on the subject of women. In Ancient Greece the majority of city-states sited with the views of Athens on the matter. All but one, the outsider was Sparta. Thought this essay, it will investigate question, what are some similarities and differences of the role of women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Though the following topics of: Marriage, freedoms and isolation, and last of all politics and land.