Trojan Women: The Use Of Costuming In Ancient Times

Fashion was very important to both men and women in ancient greece. There were many fashions in ancient greece that would seem very odd to us today. Some of those fashions were tunics which are long, silk dresses which both men and women wore. Most of the fabrics that they used are fabrics that are still very common in modern day america. There are some similarities of ancient greece fashion to modern day america.

The book is intended for an academic audience that is already familiar with Greek history and mythology. The book is also valuable to those who are interested in women’s studies, and the role of women in ancient cultures. I found the author’s descriptions of women in ancient Greece to be interesting because she integrates portrayals of women in art, mythology and literature from two eras that depict how women lived and were perceived in early Greek civilization. Understanding how women were portrayed in ancient society helps one to understand the progression of women’s roles in society through

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 life of Spartans were rough, they endured harsh lifestyles through hard training, tough childhoods, and they were often at war. Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

Even being from the same time frame in history, the Roman women from Sparta and the Greek women from Athens were completely different. Their ideas, habits, and daily activities were majorly impacted by the community they lived in. Some of the main differences between the lifestyles of these women include the rights they were given under the government, the daily and professional attire of the women, and the marital and divorce rituals of each of the women. Though they had many different things about them, they also had some similarities that connected them together. Both the Athens and Sparta have two completely different statuses for their women in the society, in many different aspects as well.

Nudity was seen, as a very modest as there was no indication of immorality. Spartan women spoke freely to men and engaged in many conversations with males, which is absolutely different from Athenian women who stayed in doors and away from any other man. All in all, these women continued to be the best woman they could offer for their men whether they were female citizens of Athens or Sparta. Works Cited Fantham, Elaine, et al. Women in the classical world: image and text.

In “The Trojan Women,” there are four enduring women who dominate the play and only two men who say anything at all. Moving us with their rants and dramatic reactions, these women engulf the audience in overwhelming grief and irresistible pride. Euripides emphasizes these four women to help us understand one of his main themes. Hecuba with her pride, Cassandra with her virginity and uncanny wisdom, Andromache with her misery and heartache, and Helen with her powerful, seductive reasoning all represent superior illustrations of feminism throughout the play.

The depiction of women in Greek drama are in opposition to the gender roles that pervaded Athens. Greek dramas such as Medea and Antigone portray women with strong minds who can be commanding like their male counterparts. However, the real social system was very patriarchal, and women were not even allowed to attend the theatre. This essay intends to analyze the disconnect between the depiction of women on the Greek stage and social norms as well as purpose a purpose for such disparities.

The women of Sparta enjoyed more freedom than women from many of the other Greek city-states such as Athens. Ancient Women’s historian Sarah Pomeroy writes in her book Spartan Women, “We know little about Spartan women, but it is not so readily conceded that we do not actually know much about Spartan men either.” What we do know is that Spartan women were known for their natural beauty, and also that they were forbidden from wearing any kind of makeup or enhancements. Spartan women were provided education most, unlike most other city-states. They were not able to have careers or make money. All of their money was provided to them by their family or the government. A proper Greek woman would not usually set foot outdoors, other than to perhaps

I think the designer chose to a concept of realism and simplicity because they did not want to take away from the message behind the play. The play has a strong message so as a costume designer it was probably very important to design clothes which would not take focus away from the message of the play, and realism and simplicity were key in doing that. There was definitely a color scheme of browns, olive greens, black, and grays. Most of the male costumes consisted of pants, ties, dressy button ups shirts, and jackets and the color scheme stayed the same in those outfits. Vivian was the only character who wore dresses out of the color scheme which included a red and floral dress. Also the last outfit wore by Jefferson consisted of a light blue shirt with jeans. I think the designer went with more colorful pieces at the end in order to portray a change in the character’s attitudes and to bring a sense of light and color to the triumphal

The royal and noble women had greater access to fine materials because of their social status, as well as being allowed to wear richly decorated clothes. However, they were still restricted to certain styles. Even though, they are part of the upper class anyone who didn't follow these clothing rules was subject to punishment. People in this class were fortunate enough to be able to wear luxurious fabrics and furs, such as silk, sable, velvet and satin. Since the queen is the highest person in that era only herself and immediate family members wore purple, and they were the only ones allowed to do so.

The social structure of Athenian society included Freemen (aristocrats, middle ranks and thetes), Metics (those from outside Athens) and slaves (“The Greeks”). Spartan social structure was based on how well one served the city state. The class structure is as follows, Spartiates (military professionals), Perioeci (freemen) and Helots (serfs, treated slightly better than slaves) (“Sparta” 2). Basing the social structure of the state on service gave Sparta a great excuse for differentiated treatment of men. In Athens, only boys went to school and were educated in various subjects, whereas girls were kept at home to restrict their abilities to the domestic arts. Spartan girls and boys were educated and challenged mentally and physically, males and females were seen as almost equals in education (“The Greeks”). Educating young girls created a society that Spartan women wanted to contribute to. In Athens, wealth was flaunted, as people often enjoyed foreign luxuries (“The Greeks”). Displays of wealth were highly discouraged in Sparta (Creighton 34). Food, clothing and speech were kept minimalistic to create a uniform image of Sparta (Creighton 34). Minimizing gaps in social class created a society who fiercely protected each other and that was willing to sacrifice everything they had for the state. For the above reasons, Spartan society superseded

The Change in the Role of Women From the Ancient World to the Roman World: The topic of the role of women is a topic that I feel is worth discussing as I find it to be particularly interesting and relevant to the contemporary world. This is because, as will be shown later in the essay, we can see big developments in the role of women as well as seeing some similarities in the role of women in the two different societies and times. Women were previously perceived as being inferior to men in every way. Over time, this view has changed and women have become increasingly more equal with men and have been given more freedom. However, women are not yet equal to men in society and there are instances in which we can see the role of women has not

For men clothes represented if they were wealthy or not. If they had good style, and the expression of who they are. The rich men always wore high dollar leather shoes and suit coats and vests. They always kept themselves clean and shaved.

The people who lived during the Elizabethan Era were not allowed to wear whatever they like or desired. Their Fashion choices had to be followed by a strict law! The English people chose to establish social classes by the colors they wore and this had an affect on costumes used in theatre. Queen Elizabeth I followed the sumptuary laws, which was only certain classes were consent to wear specific fabric and colors. Therefore in plays the actors could only wear certain colors for their costumes that displayed what role and class their character was in. The clothes worn during this era was a result of Queen Elizabeth’s sumptuary laws, which had an affect on costumes used in plays, and each color a person wore had a significant meaning.