Both Greek and Roman societies had vastly different norms and expectations for women, where Greeks focused on having women remain at home, while Romans allowed women to have a more active role in society. In Rome during the civil war (1st c. BCE- 1st c. CE), society faced an unprecedented disturbance,where there was an increased emphasis on individuality, family structures were unstable and men were more absent (weather overseas, flight or in exile).This increased the pressure on families and gave women a larger role in society while simultaneously giving women a share in the political and public burdens. During this time, sine manus marriages became more common, where the father retains authority over her, and the woman is not part of the …show more content…
By upholding the laws in place. For example, in The Murder of Eratosthenes, the patriarchal structures in place that are meant to restrict women are what allow Euphiletus’s wife to get away with the affair.. Euphiletus’s wife has own space all to herself/to share with women, due to the fact that in Athens around 400 BC women were to have their own separate spaces from men. In addition to this, the wife was on the ground floor in order to facilitate taking care of the baby, allowing Eratosthenes to have easy access to her. These social norms, separate areas, as well as her role as a mother and caring for the baby, is what allowed the affair to go on for so long. For if the father took care of the baby as well, or they had not been in separate spaces, then the affair would have fallen apart sooner and would have been much harder to carry out. Along with these is the participation in religious rituals and funerals, which were one of the few times that women were allowed out of the house. On both of these occasions, Eratosthenes was able to get to the wife in some way. On one occasion he spotted her at the funeral, and on another she went to the religious ritual with his mother, both providing …show more content…
For example, in the Classical Athens, in Lysias Against Neaera, we follow the case of a woman named Neara, now in her seventies, being prosecuted for being a prostitute when she was younger as well as marrying an Athenian while being a foreigner herself, which at the time was against the law. What allowed Neara to be a prostitute and make a living for all those years was the alliance she created with Stephanous. While they were married she worked as a prostitute and “Stephanus helped her by blackmail; if he caught any rich unknown stranger making love to her, he used to lock him up in the house as an adulterer caught with his wife, and extract a large sum of money from him”. This worked in favor of both Neara and Stephaus, because Neara was able not only to continue working as a prostitute and make a living, but get the benefits an Athenian citizen would have at the time and navigate the Athenian system even as a foreigner. Simultaneously, Stephanus was able to profit from Neara’s work and have enough money to maintain the household. It was this alliance between Stephanos and Neara that allowed Neara’s daughter to marry King Archon. Stepahnos talked to King Archon and set up her daughter Phanos with him, which would not have been possible otherwise because