Women in Ancient Times: from Matriarchy to Patriarchy

Throughout history men have been leading the battles, conquering worlds, discovering new lands, but behind every good man is a good woman! So, as I read this week, I learned an enormous amount of information about the diversity of the different roles women play according to where they might live or what era they grew up in. I will address the rights that women had, how they are viewed in society, the comparison between these women and the ones from the New Testament, the evidence to support my claim.

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.

The gender of a person is the masculine or feminine attributes of that individual with respect to the psychological and biological role in society. (Magar, 2009) A gender role can be defined as the way that a person lives in society with respect to its lifestyle. It can be argued that over time the major differences between men and women’s gender roles have faded. In the past traditional roles have been based in their society by their biological orientation. (Magar, 2009) Gender roles can also be described as the behavior and attitudes that are expected of men and women in a society. (Faqs.org, 2011) Although different cultures impose different expectations, many cultures have the same basic gender roles.

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

Women in antiquity did not have an easy life. In an era where man rules, women have limited freedom and few rights. Women’s roles differed little from Rome, Egypt, and China. There were few exceptions: women living in the city of Sparta had some nobility and rose to power, for example, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and military victory. Besides those above, women of that era were limited to an education, mobility, and their roles was housewives and childbearing. Women had little time to involve herself in the political goings on in that era.

Some aspects of the lifestyle ancient civilizations lived almost seem appalling or intolerable when compared to the very developed and carefully shaped the world inhabited today. One of these characteristics of previous societies that prove to be rather challenging to conceive in current times consists of the lack of rights, privileges, and equity women had. Society maintained this assumption of a man’s superiority up until the women’s rights movement of the early twentieth century; yet with the two sexes essentially equal in America today, imagining a restricted life as a female proves unfathomable. Looking back at the history of human kind, men almost always subdued women and treated them as property. When focusing on the first

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.

Unfortunately, the sharp instincts and intelligences of these early women in a way became their downfall, for many historians and archeologists accredit women with the discovery of farming. It is their belief that, while gathering foods for their tribes, women realized the connection between leaving seeds in the ground and the growth of plants. For a while these simple methods of farming were carried out by women, however, as more advancements were made in agriculture it was realized that farming could no longer be performed solely by women, as it demanded large amounts of strength that a woman wasn’t physically capable of. In addition, farming demanded large amounts of time so it began to become an expectation that a woman would remain home and take care of the house and children while her husband worked out in the fields. (Ellis 9) In his article “The Worst Mistake Made in History,” Jared Diamond discusses how women were no longer able to work as effectively, as it was expected of them to have more children, so their bodies as well as health became weakened. (Diamond 65) John R. Lukacs makes comparable discussions to Diamond, in his article, “Fertility and Agriculture Accentuate Sex Differences in Dental Caries Rates,” saying that women suffered from even greater health problems than their male counterparts and as a result the numbers of women in society were reduced. (Lukacs 901) It was

Ancient Greece was an extremely patriarchal culture, and could even be called misogynistic. However, in the midst of a society in which women were second-class citizens, the Pythia at the Temple of Apollo served as a beacon of light for women. The Pythia refers to a religious and coveted position that was filled by a succession of women from Delphi for over 400 years. These women acted as the mouthpiece for the god, Apollo. The Pythia was arguably the most powerful and influential position in Ancient Greece. People from throughout Greece and beyond would pilgrimage to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi to consult the Pythia. During the reign of the Pythia, these women were able to give responses that influenced politics, social change, blood-guilt,

One of the oldest beverages known to man is wine, an alcoholic drink made from fermented grapes. Wine has been enjoyed all around the world and Ancient Rome is no exception. Ancient Rome played an important role in its history. Wine carried religious, philosophical, and social implications for the Romans as it was a part of their daily life. The popularity of wine and drunkenness in Ancient Rome is clearly portrayed throughout poetry, art, literature and even laws. Although wine was eventually available to all, it’s implications for women were severe. An important connection between Ancient Rome and wine that is rarely discussed is the idea of denying women a right to drink. Today, it is not uncommon or distasteful for women to have a glass of wine but in Roman society, women’s overindulgence of wine was frowned upon. This paper will discuss women in Ancient Roman society and analyze sources from Valerius Maximus and Propertius to focus on how the role of wine reinforced the patriarchal system and oppression of women.

Both of these civilizations were patriarchies, causing a suppression of women throughout ancient Athens and Egypt. According to Turner: A patriarchal relationship is one in which the male head of household dominates the members of the house whether these are male, female, adult of juvenile. This patraiarchal structure is legitimized by legal, political and religious norms which give the adult male a virtual monopoly over the subordinate groups within the traditional household. In such a system, the wife cease to be a legal personality on marriage, and divorce is typically proscribed as a system for the dissolution of marriage (Turner 1987, 84-110). This system allows men to treat women as lesser beings and when abused, promotes such treatment.

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.

Women around the world have had a huge impact on how the patriarchy stands today. The many obstacles that women have achieved throughout time have made it possible for girls today to stand up for what they believe in. In ancient societies feminism was but a lost cause. Female warriors, queens, rulers, and empresses showed the way to many other women that it was possible females could leave a mark in history. Historians and archeologists have showed us only bits and pieces from the burials they have discovered. The other women that may have ruled in the ancient world are unknown to us but may have left a greater impact on the ones we know of today. Women of the modern world should look up to these fascinating patriarchal breaking icons. Although

Women in ancient Greece still have an impact on us today. They were very similar to us women nowadays and at the same time very different. There wasn’t just one type of women in ancient Greece though. There were women who lived in Sparta, Athens, and many other city states, those are just the main city states. Each city state had different lifestyles and traditions, so women in one city state were different from another. Women in ancient Greece didn’t impact us in one way, they impacted us in many ways.

Gender is the socially- constructed role and explanation of relationships between men and women. (Sport & Dev) In my opinion, I define Gender inequality as the unfair treatment amid both sexes. According to Sage Knowledge, "Gender inequality is allowing individuals of different opportunities due to perceived differences based solely on issues of gender."