Anceint Greek Women
Welcome to my page about Ancient Greek women. By Lisa Cummings
Ancient greek women were prodominatly controlled by thier fathers. After they were married thier husbands took the control.
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The Role of Anceint Greek Women
They learned to read- in school or at home
They learned important household skills-spinning, weaving, sewing, cooking and other household jobs
Learned simple facts on mythology, religion and occasionally musical instruments
Spent most of their time in her household with other women- only leaving the house to perform religious duties
The role of women in Greece can be studied by reviewing how women are portrayed in art. Ordinary women are portrayed as
well as goddesses and more mythological creatures. It is interesting that so many of the monsters of Greek myth are women:
Sirens, Sphinx, Gorgons, Scylla, Charybdis, Chimera.
Both men and women are displayed as sex objects. Statues of Aphrodite are often in this vein. But the people portrayed are
often indiviualized with a name and this reduces their object status. Goddesses can be identified with their symbols and
attributes, and this reduces their object status.
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Marriage
Hera was goddess of women an marriage, and queen of the heaven. She was the wife of Zeus and quite active in the Illiad. She
was jealous of Zeus and his power and was often getting back at people.
Girls got married in their teens, often to a man in his 30's
After a woman got married, she and her husband would give offerings to the god's and share a cake with her husband
Her father would chose her husband- for most Athenians, marriage was basically living together
Marriage may have been arranged from a very early age, if the daughter came from a wealthy family
The ancient Greek girl did not know or meet her husband until the dowry(the girl's portion of the father's estate) and
betrothal had been agreed to
It was important that the ancient girls were virgins
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The Daily Life of Ancient Greek Women
Girls were educated by their mothers in the home. Children of both sexes
were kept naked while they were very young and boys spent a lot of time naked in athletic training.
Life was much more primitive. There was no plumbing, and in most cases floors were dirt. Cooking was done over an
open fire. Houses were masonry built around and open court. Most of the necessaries would produced in the home. There was
a strict division of labor with the men working outside the house on farming, mining, manufacture, trade, and war. Within the
home the women worked at cooking, cloth and clothes manufacture, and child bearing. The wife of a citizen might have several
women servants for help. The women would do many of the supportive tasks such as weaving, spinning, sewing, grinding of
grain, fetching water, washing, and bathing. Women would leave the house, in some cases, only for religious festivals. These
were fairly frequent, however.
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