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Roles Of Women In Ancient Greece

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The role of women has differed from one period to period and from country to country. The changes have occurred according to the changes of societies and their people beliefs. In Athena, there were differences in the women role in many aspects. Their roles were limited to being either wives or mothers. However, they became having some rights in their family, civic and political lives. Women were devoted themselves to their husbands. Kay O’Pry who is the writer of "Social and Political Roles of Women in Athens and Sparta" explains the stages of women 's lives at its time. Before they get married, they were controlled by their fathers then the responsibility fell to their husbands. Also, they were married in their early teens to an older husband. Marriages were planned and the bride did not meet her husband until the betrothal details had been achieved. Moreover, one of the most important things was virginity because a man must be a father to his children especially since citizenship in Athens depended on the birthplace of both parents. Furthermore, if a woman asked for a divorce, she could …show more content…

The women of Sparta had more freedom than women from other Greek cities. This freedom began at birth from their families who treated females as well as male. Spartan women had to be almost as educated as men because they took care of their interests when the men were away at war. Also, they were not married off as soon as they reached puberty or until the age of eighteen to become physically mature. Moreover, women’s role was one of maternity. Sparta’s interest was not for the number of children but for the production of healthy male children for the Spartan military and healthy female children for reproduction. Also, Spartan women could own property and could dispose of it how they willed. Finally, they role in politics was like the other women in Greek. They couldn’t participate in

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Another example is that every Spartan girl at age eighteen would have to take a strength test. If they pass, they are set up to get married, but if they fail, they were not allowed to marry and lose their civilian’s rights. This shows that Spartan women roles were taken seriously that they would take a test where their life and rights would be at stake. Thus, women roles played a big part in Spartan

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The book “Spartan Women” by Sarah B. Pomeroy seeks to reconstruct the lives and the world of the Sparta's women; including how their legal status changed over time and how the women held on to their amazing autonomy. Susan B. Pomeroy generally analyzes ancient texts and to construct the world of most noticed females. Sarah B. Pomeroy is a Classist author in the twenty-first century. Throughout this paper, what will be discussed is: the author credentials, the book’s main aim, the book’s evidence, and the author writing style of the book. Spartan Women would be a powerful credible source to learn the life the Spartan women endured during their time.

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“Education was very important in Athens. From their mothers, girls learned how to cook and sew and run a home, and how to be a good wife and mother. Boys went to school. They studied public speaking and drama and reading and writing. Sons of nobles went to high school for four more years of learning about the sciences and the arts and politics and government.”

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412 Words | 2 Pages

Spartan Women were encouraged to become intellectual and strong, they were able to marry and create their families at a much later point in their life, and finally the Spartan women was in way more control of her household, herself, as well as her husband than any other greek women was in history. They were not looked at as second class citizens, their opinions were valued and the woman herself was respected. To put it as simply as possible these ladies were pretty kick ass. Not only were Spartan women beautiful they were also encouraged to broaden their intellectual endeavors. Young girls were given a public education!

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1005 Words | 5 Pages

In Ancient Greek Civilization, women were viewed as submissive. A man always controlled the women; that either being the Father or Husband. Women were forced to stay in the house and complete all household duties. Women were not even granted the right to attend assemblies, participate in politics, or even represent themselves in court. Having little to no overall power in your society can have a huge burden on Women but this can also fuel certain Women to strive to change the society they live in.

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In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.

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Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.

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Socrates’ admiration for Sparta’s unique principles revealed, that not only were Spartans different from the rest of the Greeks, but how restricted the right to an education was to women in other parts of Greece. In Athens, wealthier families hired tutors to teach their daughters the basics of writing and reading, but the rest of the Athenian girls had no “formal” education. In rare occasions, daughters of Athenian aristocrats, particularly females of the noble Athenian family, were sent to live with one of the many female cults that served numerous temples of various goddesses to acquire knowledge from them (Lewis,

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The Spartan women were able to own plots of land and run their own households, they even got an education. At Athens, got a little amount of formal education and had less

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Women’s roles has changed dramatically throughout history. By looking at the lives of women, it would be possible to tell how the civilians at that specific period of time were living. In this paper, women’s lives in mainly three civilizations would be discussed, the Sparta, the Athens, and the Hellenistic era. In Sparta, women were needed to live at home, while their husbands remained in military barracks until the age thirty.

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There were many cases of bribery in the government that wasn't taken seriously by the court. In Sparta power was given to citizens through the assembly which consisted of all male citizens in Sparta, but in theory anyone could participate. The government had an elaborate system of checks and balances to make sure that no branch had more power than another. Also contrary to popular belief the Spartans treated there slaves bette than the Athenians. The slaves in Sparta were actually known as helots who were lower class citizens.

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In ancient times, there is a general sense that women were simply items and slaves to their husbands. Ancient Greece specifically has a renowned reputation of favoring men. Men possessed the dominant role in public affairs and events while most women were pressured to stay at home. Very few records extensively discuss women; the records focus mostly on men. Despite the lacking records, it is certain how ancient Greeks viewed their women and their relationships with their male counterparts.

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After all, the women that lived there were granted more rights than most that lived elsewhere. They also allowed girls to get an education. They had a pretty good social structure as well with full citizens at the top, noncitizen in the middle, and slaves at the bottom. Probably one the most renowned facts of Sparta is their military strength. The army was incredible, they even beat Athens in the Peloponnesian War.

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852 Words | 4 Pages

In the Greece civilization, ladies were not given a position, they were thought to be not as much as slaves. Rome’s general public was separated into

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981 Words | 4 Pages

Over generations, the role of women in society has shifted and changed immensely, improving upon many aspects of rights and values that women have. The changes occurred gave women opportunities to provide ideas, to have the same rights as men, giving women freedom, leading to many contributions of many significant and valuable events. But from current roles of women being equal to those of men, how women stood in ancient society significantly differs and contrast with ours today. Throughout history, the role and significance of women were always outweighed by the dominance and influence of men. The role of women in ancient times varied throughout, depending on the place and area in the world, in which women had different roles and impacts on their own society.

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