The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece

Summary

This World History Encyclopedia video explores the lives and rights of women in ancient Greece, focusing on Athens and Sparta. Athenian women had limited rights, often married young, and were expected to bear children and manage households. In contrast, Spartan women enjoyed more autonomy, could own property, and were better educated. Despite societal restrictions, some women, like Sappho and Agnodice, broke through barriers. The video also discusses the roles of women in religion and mythology, where they were often depicted as powerful figures.

Takeaways

• 🎓 In ancient Greece, women had fewer rights than men, with Athens being particularly notorious for its distrust and misogyny towards women.
• 🏡 Athenian girls were typically married off at a young age, around 13 or 14, while men married much later, around the age of 30.
• 👧 Female children in Athens had a higher chance of being abandoned at birth compared to boys, highlighting the societal preference for male offspring.
• 📚 Athenian girls were educated, but their education was aimed at preparing them for motherhood and managing a household rather than for personal intellectual development.
• 🚫 Women in Athens were expected to marry and had no societal place if they remained unmarried; love was not a significant factor in these arranged marriages.
• 🤰 Post-marriage, Athenian women's lives revolved around child-rearing and household management, with limited interactions with men outside the family.
• 🏛️ Women in Athens had no political rights, could not attend assemblies, and were under the complete authority of their husbands.
• 📜 Inheritance laws in Athens were designed to keep wealth within the male line, with women having little to no control over family estates.
• 🏹 Spartan women enjoyed more rights and autonomy than those in Athens, including the ability to inherit land, own property, and participate in business transactions.
• 🌟 Despite societal limitations, there were notable women in ancient Greece who broke through barriers, such as Sappho, Hipparchia, and Agnodice.
• 🏺 The roles of women in ancient Greece, particularly in Athens, were well-documented in the professions of 'pornē' (prostitutes) and 'hetaira' (high-class companions).

Q & A

At what age did Athenian girls typically marry?

Athenian girls typically married at around 13 or 14 years old.

What was the average marriage age for males in ancient Athens?

The average marriage age for males in ancient Athens was around 30.

What were the primary roles of women in ancient Greece according to the script?

The primary roles of women in ancient Greece were childbearing, rearing children, and managing the household.

How were women viewed in ancient Athens?

In ancient Athens, women were viewed with distrust and extreme misogyny, and were seen as good for only one thing: childbearing.

What were some of the exceptions to the typical roles and restrictions of women in ancient Greece?

Some women who broke through social and cultural restrictions included Sappho of Lesbos, Hipparchia of Maroneia, Agnodice of Athens, and Telesilla of Argos.

What was the role of a kurios in the life of a woman in ancient Athens?

A kurios, typically the father or another male relative, was responsible for organizing a woman's marriage in ancient Athens.

What were the three ways marriage could be ended in ancient Athens?

Marriage in ancient Athens could be ended by repudiation by the husband, the woman leaving the family home, or the bride's father asking for his daughter back.

How did the lives of women in Sparta differ from those in Athens?

Women in Sparta lived with greater autonomy and more rights; they could inherit land, own property, make business transactions, and were better educated.

What was the significance of the Thesmophoria festival for women in ancient Greece?

The Thesmophoria was a fertility festival honoring Demeter, and it was the most important festival for women, allowing them to participate in rituals and ceremonies.

What was the role of a 'hetaira' in ancient Athens?

A 'hetaira' was an upper-class woman who was educated and skilled in music or poetry, and she accompanied those who could afford them to various events as a kind of friend, not a date.

How were women portrayed in Greek mythology and what was their significance?

Women in Greek mythology were often portrayed as powerful and intelligent figures, such as Athena, Artemis, and Demeter. They played significant roles in religious beliefs and myths, despite the limited opportunities for women in real life.

Outlines

00:00

🏛️ Women's Lives in Ancient Greece

The video introduces the topic of women's lives, rights, and roles in ancient Greece, with a focus on Athens and Sparta. Women had limited rights compared to men and were primarily valued for childbearing. Despite societal restrictions, some women like Sappho, Hipparchia, and Agnodice broke through barriers. Athenian girls were often married off young, received education to prepare them for motherhood, and were expected to marry, with marriage arranged by male guardians. Women's lives revolved around the home, and they had limited interactions with men outside the family. Inheritance laws favored men, and women had little to no say in their own lives or property.

05:03

🏺 Spartan Women's Greater Autonomy

In contrast to Athens, women in Sparta enjoyed more autonomy and rights. They could inherit land, own property, conduct business, and were better educated. The Spartan law reforms by Lycurgus emphasized gender equality. Spartan girls received similar physical training to boys, and women managed finances and businesses in the absence of men. They could take lovers for strong offspring and were involved in political and social life. The work done by Athenian women was performed by female helots in Sparta, who had a status between slavery and equality. Prostitution was viewed negatively in Sparta.

10:10

🌾 Women in Greek Religion and Mythology

The video discusses the significant roles of women in Greek religion and mythology, despite their limited real-life freedoms. Goddesses like Athena, Artemis, Demeter, and Persephone held prominent positions. Mythical figures such as Medea, Circe, and the Amazons were strong female characters. The Thesmophoria festival and the cult of Athena offered women more freedom and respect. The Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, was a religious role exclusive to women. However, these religious roles did not translate to greater personal autonomy or power in society, as women were still subject to patriarchal laws and societal expectations.

Keywords

💡Athenian

Athenian refers to the people or culture of ancient Athens, one of the most prominent city-states in ancient Greece. In the video, Athenian is used to describe the societal norms and legal practices that governed women's lives in Athens, such as the expectation for women to marry young and their limited rights in inheritance and public life.

💡Misogyny

Misogyny is the dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. The video highlights that Athens was known for its extreme misogyny, where women were distrusted and seen as primarily suited for childbearing, which underscores the broader theme of gender inequality in ancient Greek society.

💡Hetaira

Hetaira, in ancient Greece, referred to courtesans, who were high-class female companions skilled in music, poetry, and conversation. The video mentions that hetaira were more expensive than 'pornē' and were seen as companions rather than prostitutes, illustrating the different social roles and statuses women could occupy.

💡Kurios

Kurios was a title for the father or another male relative who acted as a guardian in ancient Athens. The script explains that a woman's marriage was organized by her kurios, emphasizing the lack of autonomy women had over their own lives and decisions.

💡Thesmophoria

The Thesmophoria was a fertility festival honoring Demeter, goddess of grain and harvest, and was exclusively attended by married women. The video uses this festival as an example of a space where women could exercise more freedom and autonomy within the religious sphere.

💡Inheritance

Inheritance laws in ancient Athens were designed to keep wealth within the male line. The video explains that women were often excluded from inheriting property, which would instead go to brothers, husbands, or other male relatives, highlighting the gendered economic disparities.

💡Sparta

Sparta was another prominent city-state in ancient Greece known for granting women more rights and autonomy compared to Athens. The video contrasts the lives of women in Sparta, where they could own property and participate in public life, with those in Athens to emphasize the variability of women's status across different Greek city-states.

💡Porne

Porne, in ancient Athens, referred to prostitutes, both male and female, who were often slaves or those with no other means of making a living. The video discusses the legal and economic context of prostitution in Athens, where 'pornē' were a cheap option for sexual entertainment.

💡Athena

Athena was the goddess of wisdom, war, and crafts, and the patron goddess of Athens. The video mentions Athena as an example of a powerful female figure in Greek mythology, contrasting with the limited roles and rights of real women in ancient Greek society.

💡Repudiation

Repudiation was a way for a husband to end a marriage in ancient Athens without needing a reason, but he had to return the dowry. The video uses this term to illustrate the imbalance of power in marital relationships, where women had little control over their own lives.

💡Pythia

The Pythia was the priestess at the Oracle of Delphi who relayed prophecies. The video mentions the Pythia as an example of a religious role that granted women significant power and respect, despite the general subjugation of women in ancient Greek society.

Highlights

Athenian girls typically married at around 15 years old, while males married at 30.

Women in ancient Greece had very few rights compared to men.

Athens was known for its distrust towards women and extreme misogyny.

Some women broke through social and cultural restrictions, like Sappho of Lesbos and Agnodice of Athens.

Girls' education in Athens was intended to prepare them for motherhood and running a home.

Marriage in Athens was organized by the father or kurios, and love had little to do with it.

Once married, Athenian women's lives revolved around childbearing and household management.

Interactions with males who weren't relatives were discouraged for married women in Athens.

Athenian women couldn't attend assemblies and were under the complete authority of their husbands.

Inheritance laws in Athens aimed to keep inheritance out of women's hands.

Marriage in ancient Athens could be ended by repudiation by the husband, a woman leaving, or the bride's father asking for his daughter back.

Spartan women lived with greater autonomy and more rights compared to Athenian women.

Spartan girls received the same physical fitness training as boys, minus combat training.

Spartan women managed finances, ran farms, and operated businesses while men were away at war.

Prostitution was legal and state regulated in Athens, providing a means of living for many women.

Hetaira were upper-class women skilled in music or poetry, providing companionship to wealthy clients.

Women had more freedom and could escape the male gaze in religious festivals and cults.

The Thesmophoria was a fertility festival honouring Demeter, attended only by married women.

The cult of Athena offered women positions of power and autonomy.

Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, was a religious position for women, relaying prophecies.

Despite limited opportunities, powerful and intelligent women featured prominently in Greek mythology.

Transcripts

Did you know Athenian girls married at around  15 years old, while males married at 30?  

Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia!  My name is Kelly, and today's video is all about  

the lives, rights, and roles of women in  ancient Greece. Don't forget, the easiest  

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Women in ancient Greece had very few rights  compared to men, and due to our lack of specific  

information on most Greek city-states, we know  most about women and their lives in the two  

city-states best chronicled overall - Athens and  Sparta. In general, we have more information about  

some professions and roles held by women, such as  women in the home and prostitutes, and courtesans  

(or hetaira), than others. We know that some women  worked in shops (as crafts women), or bakeries,  

but our knowledge is slim. Bear in mind  that not only is our knowledge of women in  

ancient Greece incomplete but the ancient  accounts are not unbiased, and we don't  

necessarily know how the rules were applied and  followed in the everyday lives of Greek women.  

Overall though, Athens was known for its distrust  towards women and extreme misogyny, as women  

were seen as good for only one thing: child  bearing. With this being said, there were some  

women who broke through the social and cultural  restrictions placed upon them in ancient Greece,  

including Sappho of Lesbos; the lyric poet,  Hipparchia of Maroneia; the Stoic philosopher,  

and Agnodice of Athens, who was  the first female doctor in Athens,  

or Telesilla of Argos who led the women  of Argos in battle against the Spartans,  

just to name a few. But today, let's have a look  at the women who stayed within their restrictions,  

and what the roles, rights and lives of the  everyday women in ancient Greece looked like.

When a girl was born in Athens, she had a higher  chance of being abandoned at birth than a boy.  

Daughters of citizens would be educated  in writing, reading and mathematics,  

and then they would learn music, poetry, and  physical activities in the form of gymnastics.  

A girl's education wasn't intended to  increase her intellect and knowledge,  

but was to prepare her for motherhood and running  a home. Girls were expected to marry as a virgin  

and the typical marriage age for girls was 13 or  14, compared to a man's average age of around 30.  

Their marriage would be organised by their father  or another guardian known as a kurios, a title for  

the father or another male relative. All women  were expected to marry, since there was no place  

in Athenian society for an unmarried woman, and  love had very little to do with the whole thing.  

Once married, a woman's life was all  about having children, rearing them,  

and managing the household, although wealthier  families had slaves to aid the women at home.  

Interactions with males who weren't relatives  were discouraged, and women took up quiet indoor  

activities such as weaving. They could visit  the homes of friends and participate in some  

religious ceremonies and festivals, but other  than that, maidens, wives and mothers were  

expected to stay at home and stay quiet,  under the control of their male guardian.  

We still aren't quite sure whether women were  present at the theatre, but if they were,  

they were more than likely separated from the men.  Women in Athens couldn't attend assemblies and  

married women were under the complete authority of  their husband. As if it wasn't already bad enough  

to be female, women were expected to be faithful  to their husbands, to protect the legitimacy of  

the male line, but the same expectation did not  apply to men, who could and were expected to,  

freely enjoy the company of prostitutes,  concubines and courtesans - both female and male.

The laws around inheritance in ancient Athens  did its best to keep any potential inheritance  

out of the hands of women. If a woman's father  died and she had brothers, the inheritance  

would go to her brothers, and if she was an only  child, it would go to her husband or guardian.  

If a female inherited the estate of her father,  she then had to marry her closest relative,  

which was often an uncle, to keep the property  in the family. If a woman became a widow, she  

would once again have to marry the closest male  relative for the same reason. Women could have  

personal property like jewellery and clothing,  but since she couldn't make a will upon her death,  

all of her property went to her husband. In  ancient Athens, marriage could be ended in three  

ways - apart from the death of a spouse - with  the first way being repudiation by the husband;  

he didn't need a reason to end the marriage  but he had to return the dowry. The second way  

was a rare occurrence, and it was the woman  leaving the family home. She would then be  

legally represented by her new guardian, and her  social reputation would be damaged in the process.  

The third way was the bride's father asking for  his daughter back, probably to marry a man with a  

more attractive dowry. In this instance though she  could only go if she hadn't had any children yet.

The women in Sparta lived lives of  greater autonomy and far more rights;  

they could inherit land, owned property,  make business transactions, and were better  

educated than most other women in ancient  Greece. In the 9th century BCE, Lycurgus  

reformed the Spartan law and emphasised the  importance of equality between men and women.  

Girls were given the same physical  fitness training as boys - minus the  

combat training - and their education at home was  at the same level as the boys at public school.  

Motherhood was a big deal in Sparta as well,  but women were fiercely proud of their children.  

While men were away at war, women managed  finances, ran farms and estates, and operated  

businesses. Women could take male lovers in  order to have strong children if necessary,  

and they could participate in most of their  city's political and social life. The women's work  

of Athens, such as weaving, cleaning, and child  rearing were the work of female helots in Sparta.  

'Helots' weren't slaves but they also  weren't respected as equals either.  

Sparta was considered by the Spartans as the  best of all the city-states, as they felt  

a society operated at its best when men and  women were regarded as equals. Unlike Athens,  

the profession of prostitution was considered by  the Spartans as demeaning to both women and men.

There is evidence for lower class women holding  other roles like potters, merchants, and craft  

workers, but the source material available is  scarce. Women were expected to stay indoors,  

but the women you would often see outside  of the home were the slaves, the foreigners,  

and the prostitutes. The two professions that  have been well-documented though were the  

'pornē' and 'hetaira' of Athens. In Athens,  prostitution was legal and state regulated;  

it was the only way to make a living for  many women, and Athens as a hub for trade,  

saw many boys and men come through  the city with money to spend.  

What we call a prostitute today was known as a  'pornē' in ancient Athens, and they were the women  

and men who could be found in taverns, brothels,  street corners, private parties and by city walls.  

Many pornē were slaves - some freed and some not  - and they were forced to work by their masters or  

had no other way to make a living. The statesman  Solon, introduced a set price with the cost of a  

pornē at one oval. Six ovals equalled one drachma,  which was a day's wage for a labourer in Athens.  

Pornē could earn extra money performing tasks  defined as 'women's work', such as weaving and  

spinning wool, when not with a client. If a pornē  had a child, it would not be considered a citizen,  

and neither would its mother for that matter. If  the child was a girl, she would be raised to carry  

on the same profession, and if it was a boy, he  could be sold to an upper-class infertile woman,  

or be abandoned. The pornē were the cheap option  for sexual entertainment, which most men went for,  

but there was also the 'hetaira' who were upper  class women who were educated and skilled in music  

or poetry. Hetaira were more expensive than pornē  and their name translates to 'companion', which  

explains their roles well, as they accompanied  those who could afford them to various events as  

a kind of friend - not a date. To be a hetaira,  for some, was a chosen profession which allowed  

them freedom to live their lives how they wished,  and allowed them control over their finances.  

Hetaira, or female companion, could be hired  by a wealthy client to accompany him to a  

social engagement or a festival, and didn't  necessarily have anything to do with sex.  

Intercourse for money was only one  of the many services they offered.

Despite the way women were viewed in  Athens and elsewhere in ancient Greece,  

strong and important women featured regularly  and prominently in their religious beliefs. Up  

front is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war, and  crafts. Athena is the patron goddess of Athens,  

she is powerful, intelligent, and often depicted  as a helper and guide to heroes like Odysseus,  

Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles and Achilles.  She's a respected goddess who helped men succeed.  

Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, and  an excellent archer. Demeter, the goddess  

of grain and the harvest, and Persephone, the  goddess of spring, are fertility goddesses whose  

significance is apparent, since agriculture was  so crucial for ancient Greek communities. You also  

have women like the goddess's Hera and Aphrodite  causing trouble and making men lose their wits.  

There are powerful witches like Medea and Circe,  and the lovely, yet deadly, Sirens. The Amazons  

were formidable, mythological female warriors  who fought in the Trojan War. You have the Muses  

who were celebrated for both their beauty and  their inspiration of the arts, and Penelope,  

faithful wife of Odysseus, who is considered a  role model as the 'ideal' Greek woman. With so  

many male-created famous women, it is really quite  interesting that women were so limited in freedom  

and so thoroughly dismissed and distrusted. One  sphere in which women could exercise more freedom  

and even escape the male gaze altogether, was the  cult and religious festivals of ancient Greece.  

The most important festival for women was the  Thesmophoria, a fertility festival honouring  

Demeter. Only married women were allowed to attend  the Thesmophoria, although some ceremonies were  

performed by maidens. The cult of Athena offered  women positions of power and autonomy which  

allowed them to fully participate in the life  of the city from the time they were young girls.  

Some women continued on as Athena's clergy while  others left active service once they got married,  

but either way, they continued to participate  in the festivals honouring the goddess,  

and were able to enjoy positions of respect  and considerable power. Perhaps the most famous  

religious position for a woman was the Pythia, who  relayed the prophecies of the Oracle of Delphi.  

In general, women could participate in  rituals and ceremonies, and perform as  

priestesses for certain deities like  Demeter, Aphrodite and Dionysus.  

Unfortunately, they were denied the same authority  in their personal lives and were continually  

subjected to the laws created and enforced by  men, which were often then justified by the  

patriarchal religious tales, known today as Greek  mythology. Why do you think there are so many  

powerful and intelligent women in Greek mythology,  when opportunities for women in ancient Greece  

were so limited? Let us know what you think in the  comments below! If you enjoyed this video, make  

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