Sexual Fluidity in Ancient Greece

The exquisite society to emerge will be governed by an elite comprised of gay poets. One of the major requirements for a position of power in the new society of homoeroticism will be indulgence in the Greek passion. Any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from a position of influence. All males who insist on remaining

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive.

During the early era of the Golden age and late of Classical age of Ancient Greece, from the years 520-321 BC womens roles were significantly different between the two mainly Greek city state Athens and Sparta. These roles that the women presented had huge differences in a way women were portrayed in their societies. Both cities were very different in many ways, the females were raised very differently, and had different duties they had to perform. For example if you commit adultery by Spartan women it was considered tolerated and encourage in their society on the other hand adultery in Athenian women was not even considered and substantially have very few consequences. Unlike the Spartan women Athenian women were treated as unimportant citizens in a lot of ways. They were classified into three different classes. The lowest class which were considered as slaves, the citizen class, and the Hetaerae which were considered as prostitutes, but they were allowed to have education and go to marketplaces, and have rights. With Spartan women they were taught to read and write, also were expected to protect themselves and the children since men were barely around. They were definitely different from other Greek cities and were mainly raised to act as warriors because of the responsibility of owning and protecting their homes. These womens had three considerable lifestyle differences how they were raised , How were their marriages, and what responsibilities they had. These will serve

The repeated emphasis on honor, wisdom, and virtue is a recurring theme throughout greek homosexual relationships. The archetypes of the two male partners: the younger lover known as the ‘beloved’ (eromenos) and an older lover (erastes). Cantarella asserts that “love relationships, were also, in fact, intellectual ones that in some ways saw the beloved as the disciple and the lover as the master of life, ethics and civic education” (Cantarella, 8). It will come as no surprise that such relationships were especially prevalent among the upper class and were considered a denotation of wealth and station.

Imagine being a woman in an ancient society. A society where are considered weak and vulnerable, females aren’t allowed to work outside of the house, have no education, and continuously get disrespected by men. This was the reality for all women in Greece no matter their social class. Ideas like feminism, or equality amongst all genders were not heard of. It goes to show that when in Ancient Greece, men had more power within the government, inside the household, and in society compared to women.

However female homosexuality was never acceptable and was punishable by death. In contrast to the Roman views of female homosexuality, Ovid’s story about Iphis[3] suggests that he supported the behavior.

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

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

The title of Sarah B. Pomeroy's book on women in antiquity is a summary of the main categories of females in the literary imagination and the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, over a period of fifteen hundred years. Beginning with goddesses, Pomery retells some Greek myths, outlining the social functions of female Olympians – the goddesses are archetypical images of human females, as envisioned by males. Desirable characteristics among a number of females rather than their concentration in one being are appropriate to a patriarchal society. Demosthenes states in the fourth century B.C. this ideal among mortal men, "We have mistresses for our enjoyment, concubines to serve our person and wives for the bearing of legitimate children (Pomery 1995)." Pomery’s goal in writing this book was to detail and outline the true significance of women in all other their roles in antiquity.

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.

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.

Readers of the three Greek plays, Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, can easily gather an abundance of information about the different cultural details within the Greek society at that time. One of the major cultural values that can be picked up from these three plays, is the roles of women in this society. The roles of women can be observed through a comparison between them and their male counterparts.

In Athens, Ancient Greece, it was hard to be a woman because women were not only considered the weaker sex next to men, but also had very little rights, “Our noble magistrate, why waste you words on these sub-human creatures…” (Aristophanes 199). The women of Athens around 400 B.C.E. were mainly seen as sexual objects and housewives, not by only the men, but the women themselves. This shows in Aristophanes writing:

During this century, women were present, but they weren’t thought to be nor do much where they lived. This idea was common amongst almost every civilization during this time. In Greek civilization, they had this attitude towards women. In Ancient Greece, women had very few rights, especially compared to those of their male counterparts. Women were unable to vote, own land, and inherit things. They were also not allowed to run for any position in office, nor attend public assemblies. Some women during this time were also prostitutes. The