Women in Ancient History

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Women in Ancient History

• Primitive cultures
• Neanderthal Cro-Magnon
• Ancient cultures
• Egypt Sumer (reading)
• Babylonia (reading) Assyria
• Russian Nomads Israel
• Greece Rome

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Greece

• With the rise of the middle class, the nuclear
  family, which had previously been only a
  biological and social unit, became a political
  and economic unit.

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Grecian Justice

• Adultery was seen as a crime against the state
  since it corrupted the oikos
• Most Grecian women could not even leave their
  homes without permission from their fathers or
  husbands.

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Grecian Science

• Doctors came to conclusions about nature and
  biology based on the social status of women in
  their culture
• Women were colder
• Women were softer
• Women were more emotional
• Men were superior

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Greek Myths

• Creation myths In Theogony, Hesiod explains the
  creation of the universe
• 1. The female goddess Earth (Gaia) generates
  Heaven (Ouranos), and together they produce the
  Titans. Ouranos tries to prevent the birth
  of his children by holding them in Gaias womb.
  Gaia arms Kronos, her youngest son, who
  castrates Ouranos and declares himself ruler of
  the gods.

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• 2. Kronos and Rhea generate the Olympian gods.
  Kronos, fearing his fathers fate, swallows his
  children as Rhea brings them forth. She deceives
  him, saving her youngest son, Zeus, who
  eventually tricks Kronos into vomiting up his
  swallowed children, Zeuss siblings. War ensues,
  the Olympians win, and Zeus establishes himself
  as ruler of the universe.

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• 3. Zeus and Metis (Intelligence) marry, and Zeus
  swallows her when she becomes pregnant. He gains
  control over her powers of reproduction. His
  first child, Athena, springs from his head,
  symbolizing the male dominance of the
  universe.

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Goddesses

• Arthur points out that prior to the Hellenistic
  period, Athena was the most important goddess.

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• Athena, although a female immortal, is not a
  representative of nor very sympathetic to women.
• was born solely of her father, Zeus as he
  swallows his wife Metis and literally and
  symbolically gains her powers of reproduction
• identifies strongly with men, championing male
  heroes, engaging in military pursuits, and siding
  against women in disputes.

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• Arthur cites this rationale by quoting Athena
  from Aeschyluss Eumenides Athena says, There
  is no mother anywhere who gave me birth, and, but
  for marriage, I am always for the male with all
  my heart, and strongly on my fathers side (82).

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• Philosophy instructor C. Stephen Rhoades has
  pointed out that this association with males
  being the creative force of society was seen as
  the civilizing and productive force of their
  society.
• Arthur points out that part of the cultural
  ideology held that the men were conquering
  nature, which they clearly identified with the
  female.
• The myths, which were very important to their
  religious rituals, usually identify the worlds
  evils and societys destruction with women.

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• As the culture shifts to democratic notions,
  however, Aphrodite became one of the most
  important goddesses of the time and was depicted
  in many art works as the ideal woman, nude for
  the first time in history.
• Love and partnership are seen as more important
  during the Hellenistic period than containing or
  controlling women.

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Rome

• Ancient Rome was similar to ancient Greece in
  that it too began as an aristocracy however, it
  was not initially hostile to women and many works
  of literature from the early republic show that
  women can and could perform heroic deeds and be
  active politically and socially in addition to
  their domestic duties.

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• Rome was still an intensely patriarchal society,
  and women were strictly regulated.
• In Rome, as the middle class developed, the
  society came to be structured around a concept
  called paterfamilias, which meant that there was
  absolute male control in the family.

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• Women were prepared for a largely domestic role.
• Women had little rights for divorce early in the
  republic. And like in Assyria, Israel, and
  Greece, women who were victims of crime were
  often held responsible for those crimes.