Classical Athens: Women

Women in classical Athens

• attitudes towards women
• education
• jobs — citizen and slave
• political and legal status
• role within the household
• marriage, childbirth and divorce
• contribution of women within Athenian society

Athenian Attitudes towards Women

Athens was a patriarchal society – this means that the men were in charge. Women were seen as inferior to men in every way and unable to look after themselves. Women, unlike men, were lazy, stupid and had a tendency towards drunkenness, so if they weren’t controlled by men they would lead their family and their city to ruin. This was the justification Athenian men used to treat women as little more than objects. Women had no legal or political rights, and were not allowed to own property. They were “owned” by their father or another male relative if they were unmarried, divorced or widowed, and by their husband if they were married.

A good Athenian woman was expected to be chaste and modest. She would be largely silent, and no one would speak about her because she was so unexceptional. Pericles, the famous general, told widows that “people will think most highly of you if you behave in the best way you can, and if men say as little about you as possible, whether they are praising your good sense or criticising you for not having any.” A good Athenian woman would wear a veil on the rare occasion that she went outside her home, and would only unveil herself in front of her husband. Overall, an Athenian woman was expected to be completely chaste, seen and not heard, and should have no interest in “masculine” topics like law and politics. Her purpose in life was to serve her husband and birth legitimate male heirs.

However, there was another side to female life that was regarded as less respectable Images on vases made by Ancient Athenian potters give us an insight into both sides: while women born of two Athenian parents were usually depicted as innocent and moral in these images, female slaves and foreigners living in Athens were often depicted as the opposite. They were usually shown in scenes of pleasure: singing, dancing, prostituting, etc.

Athenian Attitudes towards Women: Questions 1 - 4

Early Life

The start of an Athenian girl’s life often lead to the end of her mother’s: in an age without advanced knowledge of medicine and the human body, childbirth was incredibly dangerous. Women were usually expected to give birth many times, since less advanced medicine meant many babies would be stillborn or wouldn’t survive infancy. Therefore, women tended to die much younger than men, largely due to the risk of death during childbirth.

Fathers almost always preferred boys over girls, because boys could continue the family legacy and the family business, could earn money for the family and look after their parents in their old age. Girls, on the other hand, were just a financial burden: a dowry – an amount of money paid to a girl’s husband and his family – would have to be prepared for her.

Because boys were usually preferred over girls, and girls were often regarded as expensive to raise with no benefits for the family, baby girls were exposed much more often than boys were. When a child was exposed, this meant that they were left outside somewhere, unfed and exposed to the elements. Blood crime, the killing of a direct family member, was frowned upon in Ancient Greece, so this was a way for families to get rid of the child without directly killing it. The baby would almost certainly die, but may also be picked up by a slave trader.

A young girl was supposed to remain innocent for her husband. It would have been unlikely for her to be able to marry if there was any rumour of her immodesty, so her family kept her indoors almost constantly until she met her husband – she would not have significant contact with men other than close family members before marriage.

Unlike their brothers, who would often be educated in a wide variety of subjects, go to school and engage in physical training, girls would be educated by their mothers only in how to do domestic work. If this girl was the daughter of a rich household she would learn how to order and organise the family slaves, while if she was poorer she would learn how to do the chores herself.

Note that this video covers the life of women throughout Ancient Greece, although most of the content is relevant to Ancient Athens.

Early Life: Questions 5 - 7

Marriage and Divorce

There was a lot of pressure on girls to get married. If a girl didn’t, she would have to stay with her family for the rest of her life, and would have been seen as a failure.

Girls rarely had any choice in who they married – the decision was made by the head of the family, her father. They would form no deep relationship with their prospective husband before marriage, as they would usually only meet a few times before the ceremony. Girls married very young – usually at about 14 years old. Their husbands were usually in their twenties or thirties.

A marriage began with a betrothal, arranged by the father of the bride who discussed the payment of the dowry with the groom’s family. The dowry was a very important aspect of Athenian marriage, because if the husband divorced his wife he would have to pay back the dowry, which was supposed to prevent him from divorcing her without what was considered by the Athenians as a “good reason”. It also ensured that a divorced woman would have some way to support herself.

Part of the marriage process would also involve a ceremony in which the father of the bride symbolically gave her to her husband, stating: “I give you this woman for the ploughing of legitimate children.” After a wife entered her husband’s house for the first time she was showered with fruit and nuts, symbolising her becoming part of her husband’s family.

A man didn’t need a reason to divorce his wife, however there were a few that were regarded as good reasons for divorce by Athenian citizens. The first reason was that the wife was unable to have children, particularly boys who could carry on the family legacy. The second and more serious reason was that the wife had been unfaithful to her husband. If this was the case, the husband could either divorce her and send her back to her family, or even choose to kill her himself. If she was sent back to her family, they could try her in a family court and force her to kill herself. If they chose to keep her alive she would be kept inside and hidden away. She would be disgraced, and wouldn't be allowed to go outside to attend religious occasions.

It should be noted that though it was important for wives to be faithful to their husbands, the opposite was not true. Husbands often openly visited brothels or raped female slaves.

Marriage and Divorce: Questions 8 - 10

Childbirth

As previously discussed, childbirth was a very dangerous task for a woman, however it was also her most important role. If a wife was unable to produce children, she would have been seen as defective in some way, and would often be divorced by her husband. A mother who had lots of boys would be more highly thought of than a mother who had lots of girls. It should also be noted that women had no say in whether or not their child was exposed. It was solely the responsibility of her husband whether her child should die, and this may well have deeply upset her.

Domestic Role of Women

A “respectable” woman’s place was in the home. Women who could afford not to have jobs only left the house for religious celebrations, weddings or funerals. They would be accompanied, usually by slaves, when the did go outside, and would have to wear a veil.

Women in poorer households would have to carry out the domestic chores themselves. This included cooking, cleaning, spinning, weaving, making clothes and, of course, raising children. It is likely that their day-to-day lives were very busy.

Richer women, on the other hand, usually had slaves to do these jobs for them. Their job was to manage and discipline these slaves. This often meant rich women had little to do in the house, since all of the work was done by others. These women rarely had friends since they could only go outside, supervised, on special occasions. Therefore, it is likely that many rich women were bored. Rich households were often separated into male and female sections, so Athenian women could lead very solitary lives, rarely encountering their husband and other men.

Female slaves did many of the domestic chores that would otherwise be done by wives in rich households.

Domestic Role of Women: Question 11

Jobs of Women

Although so-called “respectable” women were not supposed to have a job, many women did. Poor wives, for example, would be forced by their financial situation to go outside the home to shop or earn money. They commonly worked as a midwife or wetnurse, or helped run a stall in the agora (the Ancient Athenian marketplace). This was also fairly common among metic women, who often worked alongside their husbands.

Many women in Ancient Athens were slaves. Female slaves did a number of jobs, many of which were domestic tasks: cooking, cleaning, weaving, etc. They might work as wetnurses or nannies. Young female slaves, particularly those skilled in dancing or singing, might be used to entertain parties of male guests. They might also be sold to brothels to be used as prostitutes.

Because metic women couldn’t marry Athenian citizens, Athenians were less concerned with what they did. Therefore, they were given a lot more freedom (including the ability to own property and their own business), and were more often employed than Athenian women. Metic women often worked for pimps in brothels, however some could make their way up the ranks to become a hetairai. Hetairai can’t only be described as prostitutes, because most of their job involved singing, dancing and entertaining groups of men. They would be highly educated, so as to be able to carry interesting conversations with their clients. These women often knew very influential and powerful people – for example, Aspasia, a Hetairai, was the mistress of the very famous general Pericles. Hetairai worked for no one so could keep their own money and therefore had a much larger amount of independence than most Athenian women. However, they were still dependent on men for money, and could only do the job as long as their looks lasted.

Jobs of Women: Questions 12 - 14

Rights of Women

It should be no surprise to learn that women in Athens had very few rights. They were, essentially, regarded as the property of men: first of their father (or other male relative if their father was dead) and then of their husband.

Athenian women had no political or legal rights. They couldn’t participate in the Assembly or the Boule and they couldn’t become an Archon or a general. They couldn’t serve on the jury, or take a case to court. If some wrong was done to them, a man would have to take the case to court on her behalf.

A woman had no right to divorce her husband, and she had no right to challenge a divorce ordered by her husband. If she wanted a divorce and was lucky, a male relative might ask for a divorce on her behalf. However, this was rare.

A mother had no rights over her children. Once they were born, the husband alone would decide whether they were to be exposed or not. She may have had limited control of her daughter’s education, however she would have had no say in who her daughter married. She would have had no say in the education, employment or other life choices of any of her sons.

Athenian women couldn’t own property. Once the father died, his inheritance would usually be divided up amongst his sons, and his daughters wouldn’t get anything. If there were no sons, a daughter could technically inherit property, however she would have to marry so that her husband could own it. In these situations, it was common for her to marry a close male relative so that the property could stay in the family.

Rights of Women: Questions 15 - 16

Women in Religion

One area in which women did have some power was religion. Women played an important role in many religious traditions, such as the burial process: women would wash and dress the bodies of dead relatives before they were buried. Women played an important role during the Panathenic Procession, a massive Athenian festival during which a shawl, made by women in the months prior to the event, was carried by women to a statue of Athens’s goddess, Athena.

Women could also be involved in religion by becoming priestesses. These women often had a lot of power, as they sometimes gave prophecies that impacted individual people and even entire cities. For example, the Oracle at Delphi, one of the most respected prophets in the Ancient Greek world, was female. There are many stories of her prophecies having impact of Greek life, both in the real world and in literature. Oedipus Rex, a famous Greek plays that you may study in the Classical Literature section of the course, includes prophecies spoken by the Delphic Oracle that are essential to the motivations of the characters. When Athens was about to be invaded by Sparta, they consulted the Delphic Oracle about whether they should fight back or abandon their city. The Delphic Oracle replied that Athens was doomed unless it trusted its “wooden walls”. One citizen, Themistocles, argued that this meant Athens had to build up its navy (made of wooden boats). The people believed him, and a lot of money went into raising the fleet. This not only allowed the Athenians to defeat the Persians, but also established the navy they would use to create their empire. This shows how much power certain women held over Ancient Athenians. On the other hand, the vague prophecies given by women were often interpreted in a certain way by a man to serve his own purpose. For example, the Delphic Oracle’s “wooden walls” prophecy could have been interpreted in many ways, and it was Themistocles’s persuasion that made other citizens think they should build wooden ships. Therefore, the power of prophecy might still have been largely in the hands of men.

Some powerful female religious figures had influence without having to rely on prophecies. The High Priestess of Athena Polias, for example, was a very important religious figure who had quite a large amount of power. There is evidence to suggest that her opinion directly affected the policies of the city.

Respected priestesses could sometimes achieve a certain amount of power. For example, a priestess named Chrysis was given a number of benefits like freedom from taxation and the right to own land and a house. However, it should be remembered that situations like these were extremely rare. The vast majority of Athenian women had no chance to live a life like Chrysis’s.

Women in Religion: Questions 17 - 18

What was Life Like for Athenian Women?

It’s important not to treat women in Ancient Athens as a single, homogenous group. The quality of a woman’s life depended in a large part on her individual situation. However, something all women shared was that they essentially had no rights: they couldn’t participate in democracy or the legal system, they couldn’t own property and didn’t have a say in the lives of their children. This meant women had no freedom to live how they liked: they had to follow the path set out for them by the men around them. They lived highly unstable lives, because other people had complete control over what they did and how they lived, and these people could change their mind when they liked. Therefore, women were never certain about what they would face next.

Because they couldn’t play a role in democracy (they couldn’t vote or be a public official), the issues they were most concerned about weren’t addressed by the city, leading to further disempowerment

Women usually didn’t receive an education in anything other than domestic tasks, meaning they often couldn’t participate in the rich intellectual culture of Athens. They were also married at a very young age, and who they married was decided solely by their father. After they married, they were usually expected to have a lot of children, sometimes starting as young as fourteen. This meant they faced a high risk of death or other injury during childbirth. After her child was born, a mother had no say in whether the child was exposed. Girls were much more often exposed than boys.

Women had no power in their marriage. Legally, there was no rape within marriage, because a man owned his wife’s body so he could do whatever he wanted to her even without her consent. For the same reasons, a man could legally beat his wife. He could also divorce his wife whenever he wanted, although she couldn’t divorce him. If she wanted to divorce, all she could hope for was for a male relative to initiate a divorce on her behalf. If she was unfaithful to him he could kill her, or she could be sentenced to suicide by her family, but there was no expectation for him to remain faithful towards her.

Rich Athenian women often had little to do, because they had slaves to do all of the domestic tasks other women would usually spend their time doing. They couldn’t go outside the home except during special occasions during which they were accompanied by slaves, so they were unable to make friends or find other ways to pass the time. Therefore, rich women would often have been quite bored. However, they did live in luxury and rarely had to worry about basic needs like food and water.

Poor Athenian women, however, often struggled to get food and water, particularly when Athens was struggling (for example during a famine). As opposed to rich women, they often had too much to do, since they didn’t have domestic slaves to help with household tasks, and also didn’t have time-saving devices like washing machines and dish washers that we have today. They were often forced by their financial situation to earn money or do other chores like shopping outside the home. Society looked down on women who did this, but it did allow them a much greater amount of freedom and opportunity to socialise than other women.

Metic women were another group with some freedom. Because they couldn’t marry Athenian men, and therefore couldn’t “pollute” Athenian citizens with “bad behaviour”, they could do more things, such as own property or run a business. Metic women often had jobs, and worked alongside their husbands. Some unmarried Metic women became hetairai, where they could have some influence over powerful men. They could keep their own money and do what they liked with it, so had quite a measure of freedom. However, their lifestyle was still precarious because they depended on the favour of men, and if they lost this (perhaps through age) they couldn’t earn a living.

Of course, the women with the least amount of freedom in Ancient Athens were female slaves. As slaves, they were treated as objects and had no rights. Their quality of life depended on the personality of their master and what job they did. Slaves could be forced into prostitution in brothels, which was clearly a horrible job. On the other hand, they could become nannies and become an essential and loved member of the family. Domestic female slaves were often sexually assaulted and raped by their masters, and couldn’t complain about this treatment because their masters had full power over them. This could also create tension between the slave and other members of the family (particularly the wife and children).

However, Athenian women did have some status within religion, as they were essential to a number of religious rituals and practices. Some women in particular, who became revered priestesses, would have had a relatively good quality of life, because their status may have allowed them to do things other women couldn’t like owning property. These women often had a big sway over Athenian citizens, so they had a certain amount of power. However, this was the lifestyle of only a very select few women.

What was Life Like for Athenian Women?: Questions 19 - 22

Impact of Women on Ancient Athenian Society

Women had large but often understated impacts on Athenian society. For example, the fact that women took care of household chores allowed men to earn money and create new businesses, which improved their family’s financial situation but also benefitted the wider economy of Athens, allowing the polis to become the powerhouse that it did. Because women looked after the home, this also meant male citizens could participate in democracy and the legal system. Finally, the domestic role women fulfilled allowed men to have time to make innovations within areas such as art, culture, philosophy, history and science.

However, this was not the case for rich women, who often didn’t do household chores because they had slaves to do it for them. These women, and indeed all women, would have had a much larger impact on Athenian society if they had been allowed to work, participate in democracy and the legal system, and be involved with Athenian art, science and culture.

Some women had an economic impact on Athens, because they did jobs like selling things at a stall in the marketplace or working as a midwife or wetnurse. There are even some examples of women creating pottery to sell. By working, these women impacted Athens economically. Prostitutes in public brothels also had a large economic impact, because there was a tax on these brothels that allowed the city of Athens to accumulate quite a large sum of money. According to some sources, this was used to build a temple to Aphrodite.

Some women were hetairai, who had contact with very influential public figures such as the Greek general Pericles. These women may have had some influence over the beliefs and actions of these figures. However, it is impossible to assess how much of a sway they would have had, and it is unlikely that powerful men would give a lot of thought to a woman’s opinion, since they were seen as stupid and inferior to men.

In the same way, some wives may have had an impact on the beliefs of their husbands. They may have been able to influence their husbands' actions through conversations with them. However, again, it is impossible to determine how much of an impact this had. It would also much depend on how close the relationship was between the couple.

Women had a relatively large religious impact on Ancient Athens. They played an essential role in many religious festivals, and also in burying the dead. Certain female religious figures had a massive impact on Athens. The whole of Athens would change its policies because of the words of a respected prophetess. Of course, it was men who interpreted the (often very vague) prophecies and decided what to do based on this, so perhaps it was these men rather than the prophetesses who had the real impact.

Arguably one of a woman’s biggest impacts was creating the next generation of Athenians. Women gave birth to the next generation and helped to raise them. Children would be raised either by their mother (in a household without slaves) or by a slave nanny (in a household with slaves) – either way, women were greatly involved in the next generation’s early upbringing. This had a very important impact on Athens, because how a child is brought up has a large effect on what kind of person they grow up to be. On the other hand, boys were almost always educated by men, so women did not have full control over the upbringing of all of their children.

However, women often did not have as large an impact on society as they could have done, because they had no political or legal rights. They couldn’t participate in democracy or become a state official like an Archon or general. They couldn’t sue people or participate in a jury. They also couldn’t own land or a business, which would have allowed them to have a larger economic impact on Athens.

Again, remember that this video refers to Ancient Greece as a whole, but most is relevant to Ancient Athens specifically.

Impact of Women on Ancient Athenian Society: Questions 23 - 24