Towards the end of the Archaic Age, the custom of gift giving from the groom to the bride’s father was replaced by the exchange of a dowry (proix) from the bride’s father to the groom. The proix was an indirect way for the father to provide for his young daughter, without having to allot the family’s land, which was set aside for the son/s of the family. The money in the dowry was to remain intact throughout her life. The husband could only borrow from the fund; however, he was to repay it at a high interest rate—eighteen percent. Although the proix was, for the most part, managed by the young girl’s husband, the father remained in control of her life to a certain extent, by exercising a degree of power within her marriage. For example, if the couple divorced, the husband was to return the entire dowry to the father. Hence, to a point, the proix, served as a “guarantee of reasonable behavior”, according to Sue Blundell.
Dowries had other social purposes, since a father was not likely to raise more girls than dowries he could supply. Therefore, from time to time, a father might allow an infant daughter to die by “exposing” her, if he could not afford such responsibility. Also, wealthier men of the same clan were known to assist poorer members, by providing the financial resources for a dowry. This also underscores the importance of the function of a close-knit extended family or clan.
Even though Athenian women did not own land, they were able to dispose of certain types of property, such as furniture, clothing and jewelry, which were commonly acquired through wedding gifts (anakalupteria). The value of this sort of property could be substantial, particularly amongst the upper class families.
Divorce
In Athens, a divorce was neither difficult to obtain, nor considered the social dishonor one may assume. Through a procedure called apopempsis or ekpempsis, the husband could order his wife removed from their common home and back to the guardianship of a father or brother. On the other hand, if the divorce were initiated by the woman (apoleipsis), a male guardian would have to petition the archon for it, on her behalf. Apheresis, was yet another type of divorce originated by the father of the bride for reasons of physical mistreatment or mishandling of the proix.
The most popular ground for divorce was adultery (moicheia). Nonetheless, the importance of birth legitimacy in this society made this a very severe transgression. Because women were regarded as the “seduced” ones, their punishment was not as grave in contrast to that of men. A woman may have had to live the rest of her life in social humiliation for this type of infraction; however, a man could be punished with his life.
Women in Sparta
Beyond Athens and other similar states, there were communities that afforded women somewhat more favorable conditions. For example, it is well known that Spartan women participated in strong physical training, similar to that of men. They were also privileged to other rights, not widespread in most city-states.
Unlike Athenian women, the role of the Spartan woman within the home was not only limited to performing the chores but also to establishing the rules within that sphere. The reason for this was that since Archaic times, Spartan society was designed around a system that produced powerful soldiers. Therefore, males lived in military barracks between the ages of seven to thirty.
In stark contrast to the lives of classical Athenian women, Spartans were less confined to the household and could even own land. They were also more candid and self-assured towards the males in their family. As Plutarch points out in his Life of Agis,
“Spartan men were always subject to their wives and allowed them to interfere in affairs of state more than they themselves did in private ones.”
There is not much known about inheritance laws in Sparta; however, women were able to inherit part of their father’s land. Her portion was, nevertheless, half of her brother, if she had one. On the other hand, if the father did not possess male heirs, she would receive the entire property, without having to marry a male relative, as necessary in Athenian law. Consequently, a great deal of property fell into women’s hands. In his Politics, Aristotle provides insight about this by claiming that “women in Sparta have too much freedom and own two-fifths of the land.”
Women’s Clothing and Grooming
Greek women’s clothing was simple. There were two basic styles of tunics, usually made of linen or silk. Prostitutes wore saffron-dyed materials that were somewhat transparent in texture. Amongst reputable women, the most popular tunics were the chiton, which was made of two rectangles fixed firmly at the shoulder by pins or jeweled clips. The second, was the peplos, this was created from a single piece of cloth that wrapped around the body and was secured with a large pin on the shoulder. Both styles were belted at the waist with a thin strip of woven fabric. Around the house, a shorter and less confining version of these tunics was worn. Some women wore an undergarment that served as a bra that wrapped around the chest area, underneath their attire. To go outdoors, women would cover their clothes by wearing a cloak-like garment called himation. With respect to footgear, thong style sandals, as well as ankle-strapped styles, were popular. Some women were known to wear shoes with cork platforms that increased their height appearance.
Housewives, as well as prostitutes utilized cosmetics. A white complexion was highly cherished since it was proof that a woman was rich enough not to have to be exposed to the elements. In order to achieve this look, they used a powder made of white lead for the face and accentuated their cheeks with rouge made of mulberry juice. Some, also darkened their eyebrows and eyes with soot and wore fragrances. Women, as well as men employed olive oil to soften their skin. They eliminate dirt from their bodies by rubbing the oil and scraping it off with an instrument called strigil.
Even though their garments were simply made, their jewelry and hairdos could involve intricate work. All women, with the exception of slaves and women in mourning, wore their hair long. Generally, it was tied back in curls or braids and held in place by nets or ribbons. Fake curls appear to have been used at times, as well. The wealthy wore hair ornaments and headbands made of gold and silver.
Home Life
A thorough rationalization for the relegation of Greek women to the home appears in The Householder, written by Athenian soldier and philosopher Xenophon, in early fourth century BCE. In a particular section, a dialogue between a couple explains that it is “nature’s way” for men to work outside and the women inside the home. After all, “men were built to endure the harshness of weather and women were given the greater facility to love and nurture newborn babies”.
Fathers and husbands felt that contact with the outside world posed a threat to a women’s chastity or fidelity. Therefore, according to Sue Blundell, it was customary for men or slaves do the shopping in the marketplace. Thus, whenever women left the home they were always chaperoned by a family member or slave. However, women in Athens were permitted to participate in religious festivals, funerals and go to the theater or visit with friends.
Social class and economic necessity also determined a woman’s scale of public experience. For example, women of the middle and upper class did not have outside jobs, nor did they run errands. Amongst the poorer women, however, complete confinement was highly unlikely. Poorer houses did not have their own water wells in the courtyard, or a slave to go fill the urns with water from the community fountains.
Even within the household, women were kept segregated from unrelated men. It was fashionable amongst the higher class men to host after-dinner drinking parties called symposia. Although female entertainers and prostitutes were urged to attend, wives and daughters were prohibited from participating in this kind of affair. Throughout these types of events, women would typically retire to their quarters, known as gynaeceum or gynaikonitis, where they engaged in more appropriate activities, such as spinning, weaving, etc.
Women’s Education
Women’s activities also included paying bills and keeping track of household finances. This indicates that, at the very least, women were somewhat educated. Fathers and husbands, possibly, passed down their bookkeeping skills to their wives and daughters. However, manual skills such as cooking, spinning and weaving were passed down through the women.
Although paintings on artifacts show that some woman may have known how to read and write, Athenian women did not receive formal schooling simply because there was not a compelling need for it. Since the oral word was the main form of communication in Ancient Greece, illiteracy did not pose a significant hindrance. Nonetheless, this did reinforce the traditional belief that women were intellectually inferior to men.
Some men also felt that educated women constituted a threat to their own order. Consequently, it is believed that many of the men consciously encouraged their women’s state of ignorance. During Classical times, Athenian schoolboys were often taught a aphorism that said,
“A man that teaches a woman to write should recognize that he is providing
poison to an asp.”
Contrary to this, in Sparta, women received physical training, as well as intellectual instruction as men did. On this matter, Plutarch adds that by “making stronger bodies”, women would bear stronger and more “successful pregnancies”. Xenophon also alludes to women’s involvement in wrestling and discus throwing, and Plato attests to their training in music. This generated a number of female poets, during Classical times, in the Peloponnesus region. Although most of their works have not survived, we learn of the existence of Cleitagora, Telesilla, Myrtis and Corinna, from the references of several philosophers. Because none of these women were Athenians, it is strongly supposed that Athens’s complete barring of women from education was uncommonly restrictive for a Greek state.
Pregnancy and Childbirth
The so-called scientific wisdom of Greeks doctors of these times was riddled with mistaken theories, particularly concerning women’s bodies. The school of medicine founded by Hypocrites, “Father of Medicine”, in the fifth century BCE, documented many of these beliefs.
Greek scientists thought that a woman’s womb was somewhat of a “wild” phenomenon that roamed up and down the body causing a series of symptoms. For example, if it traveled to the head, it was thought to produce tiredness and frothing of the mouth. If it stirred towards the chest area, it might cause the loss of voice. In the article On Virgins, it is indicated that when a girl begins menstruating, she is likely to have delusions, fevers and make “rash” judgments. It was believed that this manifested itself because she had not yet experienced sexual intercourse, thus the mouth of her womb was not yet “opened” and the blood backed up into the lungs and heart producing these unpleasant symptoms. In these cases, doctors would immediately recommend marriage and pregnancy, which was said to resume the “normal” functions of her body.
However, becoming pregnant was thought to make her more susceptible to other kinds of “ailments”, such as religious “pollution” or impurity. In order to avoid being “infected” she should refrain from contact with the dead or criminals. Pregnancy and childbirth were dangerous times for women and many, under the age of eighteen, died during, or immediately following, childbirth.
As a matter of course, women gave birth in the women’s quarter, assisted by the maia (midwife) and a few female family members or friends. The delivery took place in a seated position, on a birthing stool, or directly onto the helpers lap. One Hippocratic author depicts a particular childbirth, where four female helpers held the pregnant woman’s arms and legs and gave her ten hard shakes, “in order to induce the birthing process”. Then, she would be placed on a bed and she would be agitated repeatedly, again. After the child was delivered, they would both be cleansed in a ritualistic bath, in order to remove any “pollution”. The birth would be announced to the community by placing an olive stem (for a boy) or a piece of wool (for a girl), on the front door of the house. Shortly afterward, the mother would visit a shrine to Artemis and offer her fine clothing in gratitude.
The maternal mortality rate during childbirth was extremely high. It is believed that up to twenty in one hundred women would die while giving birth. This was mainly due to the high proportion of teenage pregnancy, their ignorance about hygiene, pour nourishment and lack of medical treatment.
As far as infant mortality is concerned, the rates were even higher. Mark Golden, who is noted for his studies of ancient Greek children, estimates that the numbers reached upwards of thirty five percent within the child’s first year of life—compared to one in a thousand, today in the United States. A Greek woman might have experienced several pregnancies throughout her life, but at least one or two of them would be lost. According to J. Lawrence Angels studies, the interval between pregnancies was about four years and his examination on skeletal remains indicates that women averaged 4.3 pregnancies in a lifetime. In accordance with these calculations, the Athenian population would have grown with each generation, and indeed Aristotle stated that Pericles’ citizenship law was enacted because of the large number of citizens. There is no sure way to establish the demographic mix of Athens during Classical times (proportions of men to women, number of men dead on battlefields, etc). However, it can be said that homosexuality, anal intercourse, accessibility to prostitutes, and dislike of women, all served as methods to control the population.
Sexuality
As discussed in the Divorce section on this paper, adultery with its heavy penalties, was not a prudent option for men or women, and taking all factors into consideration, the Athenian environment was not conducive to homoerotic encounters amongst women. Consequently, masturbation must have been viewed as an acceptable outlet for women’s sexual appetites. There are several vase paintings that depict phallic instruments being utilized by women to satisfy themselves. Additionally, there are allusions made to such devices by the respectable wives in Lysistrata:
Lysistrata: This is something I’ve been tossing about many sleepless nights.
Calonice: It must be getting thin if you’ve been wearing it down…
In this sexually deprived environment, resorting to onanism is not difficult to understand. Although Plato created a fable where he aimed to explain the ‘natural’ origin of .women’s homosexuality, there is not substantial proof of lesbian relationships taking place between female citizens. On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that our limited availability of sources may not have been concerned in describing sexual behavior other than that of males.
We may perhaps, consider the probability of lesbianism among the respectable women of Athens, against the absence of important factors present in Sparta and Lesbos, where it is known to a certain extent, that homosexuality between women did exist.
It is also documented that Athenian prostitutes’ range of sexual diversion, included homosexual affairs, as well. Again, depictions on vases, illustrate prostitutes showing phallic-like instruments designed to stimulate to women at once.
Nevertheless, the gap between “respectable” women and prostitutes was so broad that it is difficult to infer from one group to the other; rather, we must consider the latter a case unto themselves.
Women’s Occupations
Despite the general restrictive nature of women lives, particularly in Athens; Greek women’s contributions to the community and public life was in no way inconsequential. Women held a wide assortment of jobs outside the household; from midwives to prostitutes, and they were also responsible for playing important roles in public religious worship.
In Athens, those who worked outside the home were either poor citizen women (aste) or foreigners, both slave and free. Citizen women were employed as midwives, nursemaids, textile workers or laundresses, for example. Although there was no stigma attached to working women of these classes, amongst the upper class it was considered socially unacceptable.
We discover the types of employment taken by women from comments in various written works. For example, Demosthenes writes that some women worked as grape pickers. In Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, he mentions women working as barmaids and also selling garlic, bread and other types of goods at the local market. However, it is important to emphasize that selling was socially and legally satisfactory, as long as the value of the products were small. By law, in Athens, women or children could not perform dealings that exceeded a medimnus in value (approximate quantity of barley to sustain a family for six days).
Other women were involved in professions that while not illegal, carried with them a negative reputation. Such occupations were those of low-class prostitutes, high-class courtesans and entertainers, as well. However, certain men considered them as indispensable to their lives’ order, as their own wives. Demosthenes illustrated this social reality in a famous quote from Against Neaera:
“Courtesans we keep for pleasure, concubines for daily attendance upon
our person, but wives for the procreation of legitimate children and to
be our faithful housekeepers.”
In ancient times, the prices for prostitutes’ services ranged from cheap, for the low-class pornai who operated out of brothels and outcast areas, to very expensive for those highly educated “companions”. State officials fixed the maximum prices and prostitutes incomes were taxed accordingly. The prostitutes (pornai) working from brothels were, most often, slaves owned by the man that managed the enterprise. Streetwalking-type prostitutes, were commonly freedwomen (metics) or aste (women citizen) forced into the trade by necessity.
On the other hand, the high-end courtesans, known as hetairai, were generally foreign women who entertained men in rented quarters or houses and earned high pay for their brand of “entertainment”. The reason that a hetairai enjoyed higher earnings was that her services not only included sex, but also provided men with her company in meetings and social settings. Robert B. Kebric, a scholar from the University of Kentucky, feels that these women were amongst the most beautiful and educated of the times and if a courtesan was to succeed she was to be able to hold her own in matters of philosophy, politics or art. After all, their clients were the “elite” of this society. Aspasia, notable hetairai, became Pericles’ mistress. They even had a child, and remained living together until his death. In his Life of Pericles, Plutarch examines the nature of this relationship and talks about the extraordinary power that allowed her to captivate the leading statesmen of her day.
When it came to entertainment, hiring women for a dinner party was as much part of the ‘prepping’, as shopping for food and wine were. Dancers, singers, actors and acrobats were sure amusement for party attendants. Entertainers earned more than servants or weavers; yet, they were often seen as objects, rather than human beings. These types of performers were either slaves or former slaves who upon obtaining their freedom would travel around with a party of entertainers for hire.
Older Women
Because of the age difference between men and women at marriage, a great number of Athenian women became widows very young—in their late twenties or early thirties. It is therefore not surprising that most of these “older women” became grandmothers very young in their lives, as well. Widows, who could still bear children, had a great chance to marry again, if their dowry was of a decent amount. Should she have a son/s and remain single, she would most likely live amongst her late husband’s oikos or stay in her old home where she had resided, along with her husband’s heir. The son—to whom the dowry would pass on—was legally obliged to support her.
An “old age” reward enjoyed by women who had passed menopause was the additional freedom of movement allotted to them by men’s notions of propriety. A great part of the women workers already discussed were, most likely, post menopausal. According to Socrates, midwives had to be beyond childbearing age. The basis for this respite of restraint, is very well summarized by fourth century orator Hyperides, in the following aphorism:
“A woman that leaves the house ought to be at the stage in life where people
who meet her ask, not whose wife she is, but whose mother.”
Women Slaves
Great portions of the slave class were men, working in mining, agriculture or the manufacturing industry. It is not easy to estimate how far down the social scale ownership of slaves went, but it is likely that at least most peasant farmers would have had at minimum one slave to assist with the work of the farm. In addition, middle class citizens would have been able to afford at least one domestic servant. Regardless of a household’s wealth, it would have been atypical for the number of slaves to surpass ten.
It appears that most of the domestic slaves were women. Their jobs included shopping, cooking, cleaning, childcare and wool working. Amongst the more affluent, slaves held more specialized roles, such as cook, nurse or housekeeper. Only under uncommon circumstances would slaves be allowed to marry and raise children. Casual sex relations among slaves were, in most cases, not permitted. On the other hand, sex with the master of the house, was a different matter. However, there is evidence to suggest that these types of affairs were not necessarily accepted as a matter of course. Therefore, in the event that a child was born from this sort of union, it would most certainly, have been abandoned or “exposed”.
Religious Rituals
Greek females’ participation in religious rites and observances, constituted their most significant activity outside the realm of the household. It would be impossible to examine, within this paper, the numerous cults in which Athenian women played a part. Some of the most important ones, however, were the cult of the Olympian goddess Athena, the Mysteries of Demeter and Korē at Eleusis, and the Thesmophoria, which was exclusively a female celebration. Only free women of “unblemished reputations were allowed to take part in this last festival. For three days they were chaste in preparation for this event and continued to abstain throughout its entire course. Men’s only involvement was, if they were wealthy enough, to bear the costs of the festival as a liturgy or tax, in behalf of their wives.
Another main religious festival was the Panathenaea (“Rites of All Athenian”). This annual event was dedicated to Athena and it was comprised of religious ceremonies, feasts, and musical and athletic contests. It is believed that the celebration began with a large procession of marchers of all social classes—including metics, slaves, soldiers, women and children. Of particular note were the girls from the groups of children, called kanephoroi, whose role was to carry sacred baskets on their heads. These girls were, specially selected virgins, from the noble class. And, their virginity was an important factor in their role. To hold the girl from partaking in this event was to cast a black cloud on her social status and character. Females also tended to the Panathenaea’s most principal element—the peplos, Athena’s sacred robe. Month’s prior, the high priestess of the goddess, started the creation of a new robe on the loom. Four girls—the arrephorois- who were between the ages of seven and eleven, assisted her. Two or more, called the ergastinai, actually weaved the robe. This peplos would be used to dress a wooden statue of Athena at the Erecteum temple, replacing the one from the year before.
The most famous, however, of all Greek women, were not the Athenian women involved in the rituals, but rather the inhabitants of Phokis (city-state in central Greece). This was the location of the temple of Apollo (God of Light, Healing and the Arts), and its legendary oracle. The oracle was actually a priestess that was believed to be a medium between the gods and the people. Therefore, she was able to impart divine answers from Apollo, to the questions of any pilgrim who arrived at this site. One of the two exceptions to the rule of priests officiating at temples of male gods, was the Delphic oracle (the other was the female oracle of Zeus at Dodona). At Delphi, the priestess bore the title of Pythia (after Apollo Pythios, one of the most popular names for the god).
According to Greek archeologist Manolis Andronicos, the Pythia of Classical times was a woman over fifty years of age, not necessarily a virgin (in earlier times she was a young virgin). However, when she took on this duty, she would have to abandon her husband and children and move into the sanctuary. From that point on, she was to remain chaste and follow strict religious rules. As a sign of purity, she typically wore the garments of a young girl. It is not known, however, how the Pythia was selected. Nonetheless, it is clear that she did not have to be a noble, nor did she require special preparation or education. Although, originally, there was only one Pythia, when the requirements of the oracle made it necessary, there were two more added. When a pilgrim entered the temple, she was already sitting at the tripod, at the shrine, known as adyton. The prophetai were the priests who assisted her by delivering the responses to the pilgrims. Responses were generally ambiguous and obscure. When they related to the destiny of cities, for example, religious and public authorities would squabble extensively about their interpretation.
With respect to women’s involvement in religious cults and ceremonies, scholars like Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, aim to explain, by pointing that:
“The ‘politically oppressed’ often turn to ecstasy {here, meaning religious rapture}
as a temporary means of possessing the power they otherwise lack. Orgiastic
rituals, secret cults, trances and magic provided such outlets, especially for
women, who could not justify meeting together for any other purpose.”
However, in the same vein, scholars like Sarah Pomeroy, argue that the existence of exclusively women’s festivals can have a different explanation. One particular theory is that women’s cults were survivals from matriarchal periods in history, when all religion was in the hands of women. Yet another hypothesis is that in earlier societies, women managed the gardening and, therefore, were also involved in fertility cults. In any case, women’s relationship with birth and fertility is evident, and so, it is not difficult to value the need to validate women’s influence in this area.
The Hellenistic Change
The level of change experienced by women during the Hellenistic period following, varied considerably with the region and class in which they lived. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that there was an erosion in the “lop-sidedness” between women and men, during this era. Consequently, women’s status, to a certain extent, became more favorable. Politically, the women of the royal Hellenistic families made the most important improvement. Beyond this limited circle, however, political competence was an unfeasibility.
Of more importance were the changes that gave women the right to own and control property. Egyptian records are proof that women were able to act as buyers, seller, lessors and lessees of land. In Greece, women were recorded as property owners, money borrowers and slave owners, and in Sparta, some became very wealthy. There is also literature that suggests that there had also been a reduction of the physical and ideological constraints on women, as well.
Although the gender gap had not been eliminated, Hellenistic art gives us insight on how the representation of nude men and women is often handled through overt displays of eroticism. In Egypt the cult of Isis began attracting many worshippers of both sexes, as well.
The increased mobility of migrating men and women involved social displacement and economic hardship; however, these factors to a great extent allowed the softening of the social reins of women. Furthermore, public values were being replaced by a more individualistic ideology.
The degree to which this transformation affected the everyday lives of women should not, however, be overstated. Nor should the resulting changes in male-female relations be seen as an entirely new trend. The slow privatization of male interests had been noticeable even in the Athenian culture of late fifth century, and in the fourth century it became even more well defined. In other cities, outside Athens, their respective spheres were, very likely to be less sharply distinguished. We can, therefore, infer that if we had sources from other city-states, the changes brought on by the Hellenistic era would not appear as impressive.
Yet, the scale of the political revolution during these times, was irrefutably large, and it is hard to believe that this would not have exacerbated the progression of ‘realigning’ the gender roles gap. At the very least, this process allows us to learn a bit more about what women were doing during the Hellenistic period. Sadly, however, the voices that tell us about these matters too are, once again, still primarily that of men…
♦
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