the role of women in ancient Greek

1. WOMEN IN ANCIENT GREECE

5. The Athenian men lived in this context. But, How did the Athenian women spend their lives?

6. Athenian democracy gave no legal or politic rights to women . What society expected from women was that, after marriege , they applied for the care and the management of the home and they were ...

7. And they were as invisible as possible

8. Marriage Fathers or legal tutors arranged the marriages to her and to him. The marriage was an economic matter. Love was unimportant to get married.

9. Wife , Concubine and Hetaera Once a man appeared in court, saying: “ We have hetaerai for our pleasure, concubines for our daily cares and wives to have legal children with and they were faithful guardians of our home” In PSEUDO-DEMOSTHENES’ oration: AGAINST NEAIRA

10. WIVES: Wives lived with their husbands, carefully secluded in their home and bore them legitimate children. But , to become a wife, she had to have a dowry. The husband had to give the dowry back if they got divorced .

11. Concubines: A concubine didn’t get married, but maintained personal and sexual relations with a married man who she used to attract herself through her beauty, cares and flattery, since he was her protection and her sustenance. Her children didn’t have the same rights as the legitimate children. The State or the law took no part in this kind of relationship

13. ASPASIA AND PERICLES

14. P. Mazon, editor of Aristophanes’ works, wrote: “ Nobody would have minded If Pericles had liked boys , if he hadn’t done well by his first wife , but to most people it was scandalous that he would consider his second woman as a human being , that he would live with her without secluding to the women’s room , that he would invited his friends with their wives. That was all too surprising to be natural, and Aspasia was too brilliant to be an honest woman.”