Patriarchy In The Ancient World

Women in history made a large impact on everyone's lives today, even though most of them did not get the credit woman deserve. Many times a woman has taken on large leadership roles and are not given the amount of recognition that men in their position do. For example, they could be a great Queen, and/or help end a war or fight but not get any credit while men in their position are showered with recognition. In history, many women are overlooked for all the hard work they put into helping out the world, especially in leadership roles.

Gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia were clearly defined (teachmiddleeast.edu). Generally, men worked outside of the home and women stayed inside of the home while focusing on raising their children and keeping up with work that took place in the home. However, there were exceptions; we know of women who were “bartenders” and even women who were priestesses, but with limited responsibility. Due to the fact that some were from socially higher families and owned large amounts of property, those women were not allowed to marry. Women at the time were given much less freedom than men, however, women were more protected than men, which is seen in Hammurabi’s Code of Law, specifically in his 130th law:

Similarly, traditional patriarchal views force women into the role of wives, which is extremely restrictive and plays a large part in the subjugation of women.As shown above, women in the patriarchy are limited to domestic work, in which a woman’s only opportunity for economic advancement would lie. However, no wage is paid for housework. Women cannot gain money and other such necessary items by themselves, instead, “what they receive depends not on their labor, but on the power and will of another”, leading them to be economically dependent (Gilman 7). They must rely on their fathers and husbands to provide for them. As a result of this economic dependence, women are forced to change themselves to suit the qualities men desire, in effect giving authority to men. Another result of women’s economic dependence on men is the requirement that women become wives or risk losing their livelihood. In becoming wives, women are restricted further. In Lysistrata, Lysistrata advises the women to “give in- but be bad

There is no denying that women have been great leaders in history – from Helen of Troy and Celopatra to Queen Elizabeth and

Throughout history, most societies held women in an inferior status compared to that of men. This was often justified as being the natural result of biological differences between the sexes. In many societies, for example, people believed women to be more emotional and less decisive than men. Women were also viewed to be less intelligent and less creative by nature. However, research shows that women and men have the same range of emotional, intellectual, and creative characteristics. Many sociologists and anthropologists maintain that various cultures taught girls to behave according to negative stereotypes (images) of femininity, thus keeping alive the idea that women are naturally inferior.

The Greeks, as other civilizations, used art to portray each stage their society was going through at certain periods of time. So, how did the ancient greeks portrayed gender roles and social statutes through art? I will prove that through the development of art, the ancient greeks, in specific the Minoans demonstrated the social status and gender roles of their inhabitants, as well as the beginning of the creation of their history.

In the world of Ancient Greece, a large array of deities were worshipped. Each god had their own forms of identification in which they used to express themselves. This includes things such as personality, style, sexuality, and many other things. One of these forms of expression was gender. The Greeks seemed to focus more on the two typical genders, which are male and female. Some Greek gods seemed to play into certain gender roles, but others portrayed traits of the opposite sex. In this paper, I will be analysing the possibility that the Greeks believed the female and male genders were closely connected and that is why many of the gods are described with blended aspects of gender.

Many achievements we learn from women were examples of those who were seen as “submissive” and “domesticated”. If women were seen showing characteristics that were not comparable to being a “lady” they were not adhering to their “gender role”. If a woman were to stray from the gender role then her legacy would be told as if she is “crazy” or that something is “wrong” with her. There are many historical female figures whose service was not adequately mentioned during the course of

Throughout history, the role of women has been minimal. Many of them were seen as objects, and the Greek woman was no different. Women in ancient Greece basically had no rights. A female’s whole life was centered on her children, husband, and family. The ancient Greek woman was of a lower social status than the males. Greek women played a demeaning role in Greek society and were only seen as wives, mothers, and housekeepers.

in terms of power and wealth.1 As a result, women seldom had a choice in whom they married.

From wars to nature, history allows humans to expend their knowledge and become better than those you did not have the knowledge. Humans face major modern political and environmental issues, therefore people place less focus on social issues, which sometimes are the roots of other varies problems. By reading Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, one notices the progress that both men and women have made towards women roles and rights, but also many similarities to modern society. Women have and continue to be very important to the up keeping of the household and family values, resulting in preconceived notions in regards to their responsibilities and morals. As women have become more educated and joining the labor force that has combated the preconceived notions and standards that women have continuously faced in history.

Woman in the ancient world when viewed together can be seen to have played a role as second class citizens, however when viewed individually throughout the different cultures of the ancient world the role of woman alternated to a certain extent from region to region. Depending on where you went during ancient times, woman were held to different expectations in their place in society, politics, and family lifestyle. The variation of the role of woman went off the basis of religion, agriculture, status, and primarily the values of that culture. Though there were many similarities in the position of woman in the ancient world.Primarily, the role of woman varied from one early society to another.

Based on Euripides’ portrayal of women in Medea, Classical women violate standard rules of the Athenian patriarchy and go beyond Athenian gender ideology by showing dominant characteristics such as power and intelligence. Based on my research Classical women were held back and suppressed by political law and societal standards. It is claimed that women were so suppressed that they practiced strict seclusion away from the civic sphere were not to affiliate themselves with any man unless accompanied by their guardian. As Medea shows, this strict seclusion is not the case as most of the plot of the play took place outside of her home. The significance of Euripides challenging the Athenian view of women in his work is not an outcry to “speak for” women but instead questions the values of the Athenian polis (state/community) to highlight it’s failings.

Most of ancient history gender stratification balanced on one crucial fact: women have children and men cannot. This automatically increases their value. As the society moves farther away from the risk of annihilation, the roles of the females trend towards the domestic sphere where the primitive hunter-gatherer society requires a greater contribution from girls to survive. Gender roles within particular cultures such as the Asian, African, and Native American societies varied depending on the means of garnering sustenance and religions of the periods, but regardless of similarities, each isolated community formed singular opinions about women distinct from others developing at the same time.

THESIS STATEMENT In Ancient Greece, women were viewed as inferior to men; however, this did not stop women in literature from seeking power and breaking the confined societal roles. PURPOSE STATEMENT Through research of women in ancient Greece and analysis of The Agamemnon and The Medea in literary and critical works, the role restrictions of women and how and why two commanding women breached those restrictions are made clear. INTRODUCTION