Preview

Ancient Greek Women Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
378 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ancient Greek Women Research Paper
In the capital of Ancient Greece, the city of Athens, women were treated unfairly. Woman were treated unfairly because men controlled their lives, women did not go to school, and women did not have the same opportunities as men. Men controlled women's lives. When they were girls their father was the head of the house, and after their gamos, which was a celebration where their father passed the girl onto their older husband. This would mean the teenage girl would get married to a typical thirty year old man. After their gamos the girl's husband would be in charge. Therefore, if she were to disobey the mans laws,she would be harshly punished. Some rules may include not answering the door, just so they wouldn't come face to face with other …show more content…
As girls they stayed home with their mothers learning how to tend to the house. They learned how to clean and cook while their brothers were at school learning subjects that are still used in modern civilization. While the girl’s fathers were in wars or doing other things the men did. The only real school-like thing girls learned was how to read. Another thing that girls learned about was their dowry, this was when the family of the girl was ready to sell her to a man for her to marry. (Casey Graham, Women And) Lastly, women did not have the same opportunities as men. In Grease they had drama, but even with woman characters men played every part. So women were not in the plays. Since women weren't allowed outside much they didn't get to have the same experiences. They weren't allowed to have certain jobs that men had. Nevertheless women were not citizens, they could not vote. Women were often thought of as property, much like the slaves. (Ancient Greek, Status Of) In the Ancient City of Athens women were very undervalued and treated poorly. It was very unfair, and unkind. Women in Athens were treated unfairly because men controlled their lives, they did not go to school, and they did not have the same opportunities as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The treatment and stigma towards women is constantly evolving. It varies from country to country, and it changing even today. As war driven cultures started to take over, freedom and respect for women decreased in ancient societies. Their freedom, rights, and societal status were ever changing in history. For this paper, the focus will be on the Ancient Minoa, Classical Athens, and the Roman Empire.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in Ancient Greece were often seen as inferior and unintelligent, they quite rarely made impacting decisions. Women were not allowed to own property or have a job that could earn them real money, they legally belonged to their father or husband. Despite the lack of power women had in Ancient Greece, Homer did not take that into account while writing. In The Odyssey, women are critical to Odysseus’ trials, and successes.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The cities of Athens and Sparta were both advanced for their time, but differed in their idea of appropriate women’s roles. While Spartan women were relatively important to the social and political spheres, women in Athens were considered nothing more than breeding machines to produce men for the society’s powerful army. Aside from the fact that both groups of women were married for the sole purpose of bearing children, there are hardly any similarities between the treatment of women in Sparta and Athens.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    All cities, Empires, and River Valley Civilizations treated women like the lesser of the two sexes. Why was Sparta the first to give women rights? In this article, we will compare Athens to Sparta. Sparta, however, was the first to give women a sufficient amount of their own rights. But why did Sparta finally decide to give women rights? Researchers say that it was their giant win over their rival city-state Messenia. Athens did not have a giant slave population 3 times the size of them, but with Sparta having that big of a slave population, it caused them to need to give women more rights so they could help out around the town.…

    • 2059 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The classical Greek civilizations of Athens and Sparta showed some similarities, yet also showed a large number of differences. For example, these city-states had completely different views about women and their rules on female freedoms show this. Athenian women, like most of the women in other Greek city-states, were considered to be useful only for child-bearing and domestic jobs. Sparta, however, was the oddball out, giving the women of their civilization many more rights and freedoms. “Teaching a woman to read and write? What a terrible thing to do! Like feeding a vile snake on more poison.” (“Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta”).…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athenian Men Roles

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page

    Have you ever wondered what the roles of Athenian men, women, and children were? Well, let’s start with the role of men. The men were into politics, and public events. The Olympic games were for men only, and while the men were entertained, the women were expected to stay home and watch the children. In Athens, pale skin was in style for women, showing that they were wealthy enough to stay inside while the men were in public. Next, let’s talk about the role Athenian women. The wealthy Athenian women were inside most of the time, while the men were outside dealing with the public. While they were inside for the whole day, they took care of the children, watched the slaves, prepared the meals, they sewed items like clothing, blankets, and more.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in the Odessey

    • 958 Words
    • 3 Pages

    barely any say in what they can do. Therefore, women are considered inferior to men in The Odyssey and in ancient Greek culture.…

    • 958 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Men are free to roam outside, but the women must stay inside.” (Unknown Athenian), this was true for most of human history, and Ancient Athens was no different. However in Ancient Sparta it was much different from the rest of Greece, and for that matter a majority of civilizations. Usually when people think of Athens they think of the Golden Age of Athens (480-322 B.C.) and think that men and women are prospering throughout Attica and it was more like the Roaring 20s of the 20th Century. And when people think of Sparta they see a society hell bent of taking over Athens and crush anyone who stands in their way. In either case nobody really takes much time to ask what were the women doing during this time period…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each of the sources suggests certain aspects about the roles that women played in Ancient Greek society. Three things it suggests about women are that not all women were of the same social status, women were generally used as slaves or laborers, but were still a vital part to Grecian society.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in classical Athens, according to many of the accounts of women's position in the Greek city-state, lived a life of domestic slavery. Men controlled politics and societal influence in the public setting, so the lives of women were no different from foreigners or slaves who also had no civil rights. The lives of women in classical Athens greatly contrasts the lives of women in America today; however both share similar family obligations. While the obvious differences are that women didn't hold political office, didn't own property, and women didn't work outside the home, similar to women in America today, women were the primary caretakers of the home.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sparta of ancient Greece, a city state positioned on the Peloponnesus, gave birth to a class of women whom were exceptionally distinctive from any other class of women of ancient Greece. Early civilization in the Ancient World often fared lowly status and absence of individuality for women whom were habitually perceived as second class citizens, with scarcely any control in authority and even their individual existences. In numerous Greek city-states, women of the Ancient World fared a recurrent battle of the sexes which ultimately continuously left women to be seen as second-rate humans whom were to be controlled, rather than to be permitted liberation. The maltreatment of women validates why exactly women of Sparta produce a strikingly…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Athenian Women

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Women of that time in other cultures were treated like their father’s/husband’s property. That was the case all around the world, from China to Medieval Europe, to Rome. Women had no rights other than to maintain the house hold and bear children. Greece was a sight exception in this regard. Women who held higher positions in the society had quite independent lives, along with sixth century Spartan women; however, Athenian women did not share the same liberties as their neighbors. Athenian women rarely left their homes, but when they did, it was for religious purposes or festivals. Aristotle best summed up the role of Athenian women with a quote which basically says the woman in meant to bear children and maintain a home. Women were not completely…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the sixth century BCE, women were given very small roles in the Greek community. The female duties were glorified in literary such as Antigone and The Odyssey. The typical housewife was made to have children and take care of the home while the men worked and fought. Women were given very few rights and didn't have an input in political issues. Women could exercise very little power in Ancient Greece due to literary, social, and political ideals.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although women did not have a direct voice in politics, women were starting to be seen as a crucial component in the growth of the city-state Athens due to the increased need for population (Scott). Although they were starting to be recognized for their need in population growth, women still did not freedom. In the household, the women were required to take care of the children and slaves, while the men went to work and took care of the…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women 1500 Ce

    • 2649 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly either almost as if they were not even a citizen. “Laws forbade women and children from participation in political, judicial, and military affairs.”(Mahdavi, 2012) During the Ancient Persian Empire women brought more to their marriage than the men did. They could also divorce their husbands without reason and explanation. The Ancient Persian Empire is when women’s roles really began to change. Women that lived within the Roman Empire were expected to have a guardian because the Romans believe the women were not responsible enough to do things without. Although, women were still considered property, they had more options and rights as a woman.…

    • 2649 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays