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The influence of ancient Greek civilization
The influence of ancient Greek civilization
Essays on ancient greek history
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Ancient Greece was one of the most important civilizations in the history of mankind. Ancient Greece spanned thousands of years, beginning in 1100 BC and ending with the end of the Hellenistic period in 146 BC. Ancient Greece made many contributions to the modern world, such as language, politics, philosophy, science, art, architecture, beauty, and much more. Beauty now a days is in most cases considered as how pretty something looks on the outside. Most people these days look at outer beauty rather than inner beauty. Beauty in ancient Greece is different than beauty now in many different ways. In ancient Greece, beauty can be defined in many things. Beauty in family, art, architecture, sculpture, and literature shows all the many definitions of beauty in ancient Greece.
Family was important in ancient Greece. “The ancient Greeks had a society of Patriarchy and Misogyny” (Katz 71). Patriarchy is a society where the father had supreme authority over the family. Misogyny meant that the women were worthless. Women would usually get married at a very young age of around twelve to sixteen years old. Most women did not have a choice of whom to marry and instead their father, uncle, or brother chose for her. The richer the woman was the earlier she got married, but the poor woman got married at a bit higher age. They did not have the authority to do many things that men did. They were not able to go to the Olympics, the streets of the city, or even sometimes the marketplace. If they ever went anywhere they usually went to weddings and funerals and religious ceremonies, or to visit other women. Since they stayed in their houses for long periods of time they were usually in charge of the house when it comes to cleaning or or...
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...aic Period, Archaic ‘patriarchy’ and high sexual culture in Classical Athens.
Kats, Marilyn. “Ideology and ‘The Status of Women’ in Ancient Greece.” History and Theory, Beiheft 31: History and Feminist Theory. Vol. 31. Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University. 1992. 70-97.
This chapter of the book focuses on the status of women in ancient Greece in comparison to the eighteenth through twentieth century.
Levin, Saul. “Love and the Hero of the Iliad.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. Vol. 80. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1949. 37-49.
In this chapter it talks about the Iliad and what the Greeks point of view is over the Iliad.
Plato. The Allegory of the Cave. This piece of literature is written by Plato and in it Plato explains through the use of many metaphors what it is to become the philosopher king.
The Role of Women in Greek Mythology In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles, discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic, and learned how important the role of woman in Greek mythology is. In presenting the feminist theory to the class, we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept. In order to understand the feminist theory, we have to understand the notion that although myths are invented and that they involve fantasy, the concept of mythology does not necessarily imply that there is no truth of history in them. Some of the humans may have lived while some of the events may have taken place. Most importantly, the social customs and the way of life depicted in the myths are a valuable representation of Greek society.
Plato is one of the most familiar and commonly studied philosophers. His work is of the highest intelligence and full of thought-provoking attributes. Plato’s “Allegory Of The Cave” is perhaps one of the works most easily related to life. This allegory creates a sense of advancing into the “light” of understanding and knowledge.
Kyle, D. G. (2003). " The Only Woman in All Greece": Kyniska, Agesilaus, Alcibiades and Olympia.
According to research, the role of women in classical Greece was extremely limited. Men and women were segregated all over in the Greek society, even in the home (Source 9). Women were secluded in their homes to the point of not being able to leave their own quarters except on special religious occasions or as necessity dictated (Source 10). All women were tightly controlled and confined to the home to insure that their husbands were provided legitimate male heirs. Beyond this, women had no true value (Source 6). Clearly, male domination in Greek society was like enslavement to women. A marriage contract dated 92 B.C. can be located in Women's Life in Greece & Rome by Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant which defines unacceptable behavior within the union of marriage. The document requires that both husband and wife be chaste within the context of the household, but although nothing prevents ...
of the book. USA: Simon and Schuster, Inc. 2000. The.. Print. The.. Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece.
According to Xenophon's "Household Management" in Athenian society the women were looked at as possessions. The Athenian woman would be given to the man by their parents. It was like a business deal and the bride to be had no say in it at all. She was typically much younger than the man. Often times, half their age if the man had a previous wife but was now divorced. To a man, a skilled woman was a valuable tool. The major skills of the woman included cooking, sewing and weaving. The wife simply stayed at home and took care of the house duties. She watched over anything that came in and out of the house. If a woman could tend to the household chores and master sewing or weaving she would be considered valuable. It was her responsibility to manage the house while the men were at work or at war. Once the woman became the property of the man he had the opportunity to control her in any way he liked. She would be kept under
Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.
The social, physical, and mental expectations of women were very high and very strict. Women were to be married young and as virgins to their much older husbands (pg. 28). They were also expected to produce children, specifically sons, and were not allowed access to the legal system in most areas of Greece (Ian and Powell, 28-34). They could not be and were not seen as individuals outside of their homes, and ancient Greek texts held a mostly misogynous view of women during that time (Ian and Powell, 28-32). Hesiod, a famous Greek poet, even goes on to say that women were sent by Zeus as punishment to mortal men and that they are the epitome of deceit and lust (Ian and Powell 29-32). Also, women were confined to sex within their marriage, while men had the choice of seeking extramarital affairs with prostitutes or slaves that they acquired (Ian and Powell, 35). Overall the lives of the women of ancient Greece were far from glamorous, and there was not much of a difference in the treatment of women concerning their social class. The well off house wife was maybe a step or two above the “lowly” prostitute, and that was most likely due to the fact that a well off woman might have been able to receive an education because of her family’s status. Whatever the circumstances were however, it appears that women had no place or value in ancient Greece other than to have children and
During the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece, circa 776-500 B.C.E., the population growth in Ancient Greece called a need for more food supplies, and this demand was met by trade, establishing colonies, and by warfare to seize more land (Making Europe 71). According to Kidner, the Archaic Age “brought a revival of culture, the economy, and political significance to Greece” (71). As Greece began to overpopulate, methods for dealing with the overpopulation had to be found, once of these methods was to import food, which caused an expansion of Greek commerce and production of trade goods (Making Europe 71). Another solution to the overpopulation of Greece was to find new land somewhere else, and during the colonization that lasted from 750-550 B.C.E., Greeks colonized coastal cities because they wanted access to trade routes across the sea (Making Europe 71). The revival of Greek trade also brought Near Eastern culture into Greece, including new styles or art. According to Kidner, “Greek sculpture assumed a very Egyptian look, and Greek pottery depicted many eastern designs…and Greek potters and sculptors soon used designs from their own myths and legents”
In ancient Greek society women lived hard lives on account of men's patriarch built communities. Women were treated as property. Until about a girl’s teens she was "owned" by her father or lived with her family. Once the girl got married she was possessed by her husband along with all her belongings. An ancient Greece teenage girl would marry about a 30-year-old man that she probably never met before. Many men perceived women as being not being human but creatures that were created to produce children, please men, and to fulfill their household duties. A bride would not even be considered a member of the family until she produced her first child. In addition to having a child, which is a hard and painful task for a teenage girl in ancient civilization to do, the husband gets to decide if he wants the baby. A baby would be left outside to die if the husband was not satisfied with it; usually this would happen because the child was unhealthy, different looking, or a girl.
Euripides, one of Ancient Greece’s most famous playwrights, could be considered as one of the earliest supporters of women’s rights. With plays such as Alcestis and Medea, he clearly puts an emphasis on the condition of women, and even integrates them in the Chorus of the latter play, a feat that was not often done in Ancient Greece. Throughout the years, it has been argued that the two central characters in each of those plays offer conflicting representations of women in those times, and I can safely say that I agree with that argument. I will expand on my view by pointing out an important similarity between Alcestis and Medea, followed by a key difference, and will finish it off by contrasting them with the Ancient Greek depiction of an “ideal woman.”
Scott, Michael. "The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece." History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. .
Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” A World of Ideas. 9th ed. Ed. Lee A.Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 2013.Print
Walcot, P. “Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence.” Greece & Rome 2nd ser. 31.1 (Apr., 1984): 37-47. Cambridge University Press on Behalf of The Classical Association Article Stable. Web.
Life in Greece in ancient times would remind you of your own life in many ways. There was school, family, athletic competition, and social gatherings. Knowing that participants in their sporting events competed nude or that you rarely knew your husband/wife until the wedding day does however, make you grateful for the society that you live in today.