Women During The Greek Period

In much the same way that a woman was not held responsible for acts of adultery,

Our world has been a male dominated society from the beginning of time. In most cultures, especially in ancient times, women were thought of as secondary to their male counterparts. Women were considered a possession just as a house or piece of property is considered a possession. The role of women in these early societies did not receive an education but was to take care of the household and have children. The women of the Minoan and Mycenaean ancient Greece cultures held much more roles than homemakers and mothers; they were allowed more freedoms and rights also oracles, priestesses, and political advisors yet they are also seen by men as nothing more than a mere possession.

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.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

One of the most striking differences between ancient Athenian women and ancient Egyptian women was the ability to hold positions of power. Egyptian women were monarchs and held other positions depending on their social status. (Capel 1996, 176) Women were allowed to participate in low ranking government jobs, especially during war when the men are off fighting and leaving behind their positions. However, these positions were not kept for long because the men upon return automatically earned their position back by being the superior sex (Watterson 1991,).

Greek Woman was considered to be submissive which means once you are married to a woman, then she is in your full control. The woman in ancient was not allowed to own the property, in one way we can also relate that the woman had fewer rights than the man because they could hardly express their feeling. The woman was not considered as the citizens.

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.'

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.

From the two readings Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion by Matthew Dillon and Vestal Virgin, Sibyls, and Matrons by Sarolta A. Takacs both talk about what women’s roles were in Roman and Greek Religion. In Chapter 6 of Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion, the author talks about prostitution and how women became of it and how it was viewed in the Greek Religion. In Chapter 4 of Vestal Virgin, Sibyls, and Matrons, the author explains the Vestal Virgins and their role in the Roman religion. Women from both readings played a huge role in each religion from being a prostitute to being a virgin however they both had different views of sexual fornication outside of marriage, religious practices, and worshipped a different goddess.

All types of art have a message they are trying to pass to the world some of which may be straightforward and others hidden. For this reason, it is very important to understand, interpret and critically analyze the art in order to get the intended message. The major theme that I am going to analyze is the viewpoints and representation of women in artwork. Some artists have depicted women as mother figures, wives and lovers. They describe the women as caring, loving and protecting them from harm.

Since the beginning of the Greek civilization, women have been seen has objects; docile, passive figures who are held at the mercy of men. (Buckingham-Haitfield) While women were supposed to stay within the household, men took control of the world slowly destroying the planet with toxic and hazardous chemicals. The image of women has been this way for centuries, with very little change up until past hundred years. Women began to fight back against the social construct and took matters in their own hands. They began to fight for their social independence, no longer did women want to be seen as passive and docile; they want to be strong and active within their community and especially their environment. Many women take charge by creating environmental

Art has evolved in ways only one can imagine, however; their imagination does not have to go far because all one has to do is turn on the computer and connect to the World Wide Web to get information on everything. Architecture, sculpture, and painting has been around for ages, then photography made its way on to the art scene in the 1820’s and has taken leaps and bounds to establish itself as fine art The evolutions of styles are also examined. The role of diversity in the development of the arts and how it changed throughout the 20th century is examined. The role of women and their influence on the various arts is

“Art is a product of its time. It is a result of the social, political, and religious context in which it was made” (Cruz). For the aforementioned reason, it is imperative to take into consideration the culture, time period, and the gender of the artist because those individualities have a major influence on the depiction of the women in art. For example, gender is a cultural classification, hence, various artists might have portrayed the identity of the female in a different way. Moreover, gender roles are a set of stringent behaviors and expectations set by the society based on the biological sex of a person. The art works were predominantly created by male artists, thus women were represented based on what the society considered to be

Gender is the social and self-identified categorization of people in a specific society. This refers to their behaviors, actions, and general role that the play in their society. Sexuality, however, is the identity of sexual relations based on whom you’re attracted to (9/5). For example, Ancient Greeks held men at a higher status than women. Education was a huge part of the Greek culture but, women were not a part of this. Liberal education was education one needed in order to be a free person so, women who weren’t educated, which was most, weren’t considered free. The roles that they played were based upon their gender, Men were educated workers while women were uneducated and confined. They used gender in order to create hierarchies and this progressed into social order in their society. They also used sexuality do this, but it’s a bit more complicated. In Ancient Greece, Greek men would have sex with younger men. This was all very regulated and that’s why it is so difficult to establish a specific sexuality. “Older men and younger men shared sexual relations under very scripted circumstances,” although these relationships were publicized, homosexuality wasn’t entirely accepted (9/26). The nature of these relationships was partly educational, partly sexual. A young boy, depicted in Greek art without a beard, would “mentor” an older man, depicted in Greek art with a beard. The older man (erastes) would teach the young boy (eromenos) life experiences, how to be a man, and

Throughout history, women have had held various roles in society and religion. Mikaelson’s Ancient Greek Religion: Religion in the Greek Family and Village describes the roles of each family member in Greek religion. Eratosthenes and the Women: Reversal in Literature and Ritual describes the position of women in religious rituals. Though women in Ancient Greece had limited rights and held a subordinate position in society, they had a significant position in Greek religion and its religious practices. In order to entirely explicate the roles of women in Ancient Greek society and religion, Mikaelson’s Ancient Greek Religion and Eratosthenes and the Women: Reversal in Literature and Ritual, as well as a comedy by Aristophanes called Lysistrata staged in 411 BCE, will be examined. Greek religion was a significant element in Ancient Greek civilization and it is important to understand what the extent of the roles of women was in Greek religion and in its society. After comprehension of this subject, it will be possible to compare the roles in ancient Greece to our current societies, which will allow us to see where modern societies are compared to ancient civilizations.