Women in Ancient Greece and Rome

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Women in Ancient Greece and Rome

• Prehistoric Images

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Anatolian Images
woman with arms raised in typical gesture of
mourning
3rd millennium BCE
Vase with the sense of a pregnant woman carrying
a jar
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Painted Vessel (Backed Clay), from Hacilar , 2nd
half of 6th millennium BC Pottery made by women?
(Types of evidence)
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Bronze statuette of a Woman Nursing a Child
from cemetery Early Bronze Age Turkey, end of
3th millennium
Twin Idol, Gold Alacahoyuk, tomb H, Early Bronze
Age, 2nd half of 3th millennium BC
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Prehistoric Greece
The culture of the Cyclades (Cycladic Islands)
The Bronze Age is characterized (duh) by the use
of bronze. Three civilizations develop in three
different parts of the Greek world
Mycenaean culture develops in the mainland of
Greece
The Minoans lived on the Island of Crete
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Prehistoric Greece
The Cycladic culture is known for its figurines
(also called idols) which were found in tombs
and could be objects of personal devotion (like
icons in modern Greece).
Cycladic culture was closely allied with the
Minoan civilization.
Idol Vroma Flying fish R. Basic
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Prehistoric Greece

• Minoan culture was characterized by
• palaces, built on an open plan, with a great many
  rooms, but without fortifications

• an apparent focus on the ocean, including
  seafaring and trade

Thera Freso, R. Basic
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Prehistoric Greece
There are many images of women, often portrayed
in positions of authority
Fresco, R. Basic
Minoan civilization may have been more
egalitarian with worship oriented toward female
deities
Sacred images often focused on the mysterious
labrys (double ax), and on bulls, including the
enigmatic representations of bull-leaping
Priestess, Thera fresco, R. Basic
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Prehistoric Greece
Mycenaes Lion Gate, R. Basic
Mycenaean art tends to emphasize hunting and
warfare, while other indicators (i.e. grave
goods) argue for a warrior-dominated society.
In contrast, Mycenaean palaces are fortified with
huge walls and built to withstand siege.
Mask of Agamemnon, Artchive
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Prehistoric Greece
In about 1400 BCE, the volcanic island of Thera
exploded in a disaster whose atmospheric effects
were felt around the world. Probably, ashfall
ruined agriculture for years. Possibly, a tidal
wave destroyed the Cretan navy and led to the
fall of Minoan culture.
Thera fresco, R Basic
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Prehistoric Greece
Minoan civilization suffers a major setback.
Soon, the local writing system, Linear A,
disappears. Linear B, a form of Greek, used by
the Mycenaeans, appears in Crete.
Warrior Vase, R. Basic
Minoan civilization is dead, but Mycenae
flourishes. Linear B tablets reveal a complex
economic and religious world. Many of the names
of classical Greek gods appear on these early
bronze age tablets.
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Prehistoric Greece
Troy
On the coast of Asia Minor, another Bronze Age
City flourishes. Like the Mycenaean cities, it is
heavily fortified. The archeological record shows
that it was destroyed by fire, not once, but
several times in about 1300-1250 BCE, and again
in about 1200 BCE.
Greeces earliest and most respected poet, Homer,
composing in about 700 BCE, sang about the Trojan
war. Perhaps he referred to this city.
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Prehistoric Greece
Troys destruction was part of a series of
destructions in the wider Mycenaean world. All
the highlighted sites on this map were destroyed
by fire within about 100 years of each
other. Greece entered a dark age of less
prominent material culture, and an absence of
writing.
Cities destroyed by fire, c.1200 BCE
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Prehistoric Greece

• Minoan figurine
• faience (quality workmanship, highly specialized
  technique)
• iconography
• goddess? priestess? something else?
• exposed breasts in Cretan culture
• feminine presence, feminine values?
• feminine aesthetic, nonviolent society?

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Minoan Culture

• Minoan Culture as defined by 19th-20th century
  archeologists
• female-oriented, goddess-worshipping
• loved art, free-flowing images, nature, worldly
  pleasures, flowers, etc.
• wealthy and settled, not war-like
• destroyed by war-like Mycenaeans c. 1450 BCE

Is this a reality or a fantasy fueled by
patriarchal misconceptions?
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Minoan Culture
Procession of lion-headed genii bringing libation
jugs toward seated female deity raising chalice
Mycenaean

• how do we know shes a deity?
• whats the significance of the chalice?
• what do we learn about the culture?

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Minoan Culture
Detail of a sacrifice from the Hagia Triaha
Sarcophagus. Minoan (Crete), 1450- 1400 BCE.
Female figures with fair skins, males darker.
Why?
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(No Transcript)
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Mycenaean Culture
fresco fragment depicting Mycenaean woman late
13th century BCE
What are this womans attributes?
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Mycenaean Culture
Late Bronze Age tablets from Pylos palace
records referring to women

• Seven corn-grinding women, ten girls, six boys.
• 38 nurses, 33 girls, 16 boys, one da-, one ta-
• 21 spinning women, 25 girls, 4 boys, one ta-.
• At Pylos six sons of the headband-makers and the
  musicians and the sweepers six boys deficit
  five men.

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Mycenaean Culture

• At Metapa ---- women barley reapers. 6 women
  reapers, their father a slave and their mother
  among the Kythereans 13 women reapers, ----- 3
  women reapers, their father a slave and their
  mother a slave of Diwia, 1 woman reaper, her
  mother a slave and her father a smith 3 women
  reapers, their mother a slave and their father a
  smith.

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Mycenaean Culture

• Karpathia, the female key-bearer at Pa-ki-ja,
  and she holds the confines of two communal plots
  but though under an obligation to perform, she
  does not perform so much seed x measures of
  wheat.
• OQ holds a communal plot, so much seed x
  measures of wheat.

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Mycenaean Culture
Huamia, servant of the god, and she holds as a
lease a geras of the priestess so much seed 18
measures of wheat. Eritha the priestess holds the
lease of a communal plot from the village so
much seed 48 measures of wheat. Eritha the
priestess holds this, and she claims that (her)
god holds the freehold, but the village says that
she merely holds the lease of communal plots so
much seed 468 measures of wheat.
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The Iron Age
Greece was changing. Some poleis (city polis)
lost prominence, others grew larger. Greeks
colonized the coast of Asia Minor and Southern
Italy. By 750 BCE, national sanctuaries at Delphi
and Olympia were formed. Agriculture intensified
and population grew. The first poets whose works
are preserved in writing, Homer and Hesiod, were
composing their epic works.
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Mens Social Roles
Social Roles varied from society to society some
widespread phenomena Farming work or overseeing
farming work on ones own land Service in the
military Participation in government to the
extent allowed by the states constitution Partici
pation in rituals of ones state Education of
ones children
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Womens Social Roles
To marry and bear citizen chidlren To care for
the household resources To spin and weave To
participate in the states religious rituals
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Sexuality
Sexuality was not a matter of the partners
gender (male vs. female) but concerned active vs.
passive roles. Active roles were appropriate for
grown men, whether the partner was male or
female Passive roles were appropriate for women
and teenaged men, but not for adult males How far
did the reality match the ideal? Public vs.
private? Hard to say
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finis