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The role of women in ancient civilizations
Woman in old civilization
The role of women in ancient civilizations
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Different ancient cultures and societies had either great, somewhat considerate, or horrible treatment of women.
Women were treated with excellent conditions in the cultures mentioned in documents 1 & 2. The Pueblo American Indians treated women well because they considered their creators to be two women (Document 1). The Egyptians had a great treatment of women by giving them the right to participate in court sessions and other legal activities (Document 2). Egypt’s treatment of women according to legal documents is due to their influence from Sub-Saharan Africa, a matrilineal culture that had multiple impacts in Egyptian culture.
Societies included in Documents 3, 5, & 7 treated women in ways that were not too beneficial, yet not too harmful. Mesopotamian Society’s laws had a varying treatment of women, ranging from suicide simply due to accusation of infidelity, to receiving child support (Document 3). The Spartans
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had a somewhat nice attitude towards women since they let them exercise their bodies, even though their sole purpose was birthing strong offspring (Document 5). The point of view of author Xenophon, an Athenian historian, is influenced by the Peloponnesian Wars between the two societies. An additional document from an actual Spartan is necessary in order to understand how Spartans truly felt towards women. Although Rome allowed women to appeal to government and assemble, they did not fully have freedom yet (Document 7). Since the author of Document 7, a Roman Historian named Livy, was a male living in a very patriarchal environment, his attitude towards women was not necessarily positive. In contrast to other societies, those mentioned in Documents 4, 6, 8 & 9 had the presence of the negative, horrible, and unfair treatment of women.
Women of the Persian society were seen solely as objects of beauty (Document 4). Based on the situation presented in Document 4, an additional document from Queen Vashti is needed in order to understand why she refused to obey the King. Laws in India viewed women as depending objects needing to be kept under control (Document 6). Confucianist China believed women serving and being controlled by men is the natural order of things (Document 8). The fact that Ban Zhao, the author of Document 8, is a woman, influenced her writing and her point of view towards the treatment of women in China. Catholic women were not allowed to teach and were inferior to men (Document 9). An additional document is needed from Jesus Christ, the founder of the Catholic Church, to analyze his opinion and view towards women, which is contrasting to Apostle Paul’s, the author of Document
9. The women of ancient societies, depending on their religious beliefs, location, and several other factors, were either given full respect and equal rights, treated with simple tolerance, or looked down upon as irrelevant, useless, and disadvantaged objects.
Gender roles have been a predominant factor in our world since the early emergence of human societies whether they are positive or negative. They are based on expectations that societies have over the people in them. The Epic of Sunjata, shows us how men and women are treated almost equally in different forms. Women are praised for their ability to birth leaders, which is similar to the early Greek Society. In most societies, women are treated less equal than men. This was prevalent in the early Indian society. No matter the gender role, it has been shown that any society cannot survive without both men and women.
Recently in my class, we have been discussing different civilizations and how women were treated during that time. While reading the books, I was able to read things and relate them to notes that I had recently taken. Something in particular that I found that correlated was in chapter four of the book. This chapter talked about women’s role in Athens, which was motherhood. We had just talked about this in class, and how men were able to divorce women with no public humiliation, if the wife was not able to conceive a
Throughout studies of ancient civilizations Woman's place seems to be similar, but through a large spectrum of roles; as in the tales of Medea and Gilgamesh. Both tales tell their own views on Women, but also show each woman in their best and worst: The common, the priestess, the harlot, the wise, or just an evil witch. By analyzing and contrasting each woman one can see the view of women in ancient societies through the way stories detail them and their defining actions.
The struggle for women to play an important role in history can be traced from the ancient Mesopotamians to the 1900’s. There has been a continuous battle for women to gain equal rights and to be treated equally in all aspects of life. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest recorded account of the roles of women and their importance in a functional society. Women have been viewed as anything from goddesses to unwanted servants throughout history, regardless of a variety of changes in rulers, religions, and simply time periods. The Epic of Gilgamesh might lead one to consider the roles of women a small and insignificant part compared to the man 's role. In fact, three women; Shamhat, Ishtar, and Siduri, were able to create and maintain a civilized Mesopotamian society with using their uniqueness of their body, mind, and spirit.
Women in antiquity did not have an easy lot in life. They had few, if any, rights. Surviving early records of the civilizations of antiquity from ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and Rome suggest the diversity of women’s roles differed little from region to region. There were a few exceptions, mostly concerning women of nobility and the city-state of Sparta. Excluding the rare instances mentioned most antique women were generally limited on education, mobility, and almost all possibilities interfering with domestic or childbearing responsibilities. The limited social roles of women in antiquity suggest the perceived c...
Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of society. In comparison to the early Paleolithic matriarchal societies, the kinds of changes that came about for women due to the introduction of agriculture are shocking. Since the beginnings of the Neolithic era, the role and rights of women in many ancient civilizations began to become limited and discriminatory as a result of their gender.
Ancient Greek and Roman customs were very brutal toward the women in their societies. Ancient Greek and Roman lifestyles were very much the same as they were different. The Ancient Greeks controlled their wives and daughters. The women remained in the home at all hours of the day. Their fathers and husbands were always gone during the day (“Manners &”). Women were to come out of their homes only with th...
Women in Ancient civilizations could be seen as a backbone for women today. Women are often seen as inferior to men and their vital role in the unfolding of ancient civilizations. There have been many vital roles that women have played throughout history. Women in all Ancient civilizations faced many of the same hardships, prejudices, and struggles. Two specific ancient civilizations, which had similar aspects, were Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome. In these two ancient civilization, women played important roles, which contributed to the shaping of society. In Ancient Rome, there were many women who lived different lives. These consisted of the women who married ordinary men and there were those women who were related to royal people or married wealthy aristocrats with a lot of power. In Ancient Rome, women shared a lot of the same ways of living as Egyptian women but there ways were a bit worse. This was because women had stricter laws against them. Although both ancient civilization were very similar, the role of women in Ancient Egypt when compared to women in Ancient Rome was greater because Egyptian women could play greater role in family, had more economic opportunities, more political rights, and played important roles in religion.
Throughout human life, men are seen as the superior gender within a large variety of cultures. In Ancient Egypt women achieved parity with Egyptian men, both sexes were considered equal. ‘Males and females offered the greatest opportunities in relation to the same legal system, economic rights and social positions as women were entitled to be priestess which spoke to the gods’ (Tyldesley, 2011). The differences between both genders'legal rights were based on differences in social class and based not on gender. Despite the amount of written evidence that supports women were equal to men within this social period, it is constantly found in Egyptian art, tombs, monuments and manuscripts.
We notice how the males are the most dominant and are in charge of most things. The law of Manu examines more in India and how women are more controlled by men and are not guaranteed escape from the male. Religion played a part in which the women fate of ending up in heaven was if she treated her husband a good way. These documents displays how gender affected social relations in Ancient Mesopotamia, India and china trough men being seen as the most dominate species, Women being seen as stay home mom and being controlled by their husbands and fathers.
The role of women in different civilizations, even though on different spectrums of the world, had many similarities and only a few differences. Women in these four civilizations: Greece, Egypt, China, and India faced many of the same hardships, struggles, and prejudices. Some of this treatment of women didn’t even end until present day (1920’s). In some of these civilizations women were able to rise up somewhat in their communities but it didn’t come without some kind of interference.
The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate position to man. The female role and relationship with God is defined by the various books of the Old and New Testaments, the reported actions of Jesus Christ, and finally the Qur'an.
The role of women in ancient civilizations is perceived to be strictly restricted and bound by limiting laws. However, women in ancient Egypt had more rights and were treated better than women in other ancient civilizations. Women had legal rights and their own independence, and they could participate in court. Furthermore, marriages in ancient Egypt respected wives. The wife and husband each had a say in their relationship and business. Since women could take part in legal matters, they had a say in what to do with the shared property if a couple divorced. Additionally, there were an equal amount of goddesses and gods in the Egyptian religion and they each were a significant part of the religion. In ancient Egypt, female rulers had just as much power as male rulers. To summarize, the women
A woman’s quality of life in ancient times was not very appealing in any era, especially when compared to some of modern day societies. The lack of freedom and equality for women is apparent in all of the ancient civilizations. Women in Ancient Greece had the least amount of freedoms between Egypt and the Roman Empire. Roman women held a higher status amongst the men than that of the Greek women. Egyptian women had the most freedom and equality of the ancient world. If I were a woman and could choose my origin, I would have to choose Ancient Egypt as the place and time period of my existence.
In present days gender equality seems ordinary around the world, but there are some areas male dominant and prejudice against women still exist, these areas include workplaces and strong cultural beliefs families. Gender inequality first surfaced in ancient world, the surviving physical evidence such as temples, buildings and battle memorials illustrate this phenomenon where they all speak of man’s world. Though there are many surviving works of art feature of ancient women in various forms, but has rarely given any insight into other kind of world except that in which women were controlled, contained, and often exploited (Scott, 2009).