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Women in Ancient Greece
Roles of women in ancient Greece
Ancient greece women in society
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What the quotation from the article is attempting to explain is that the Myth of Demeter proved the worth of older women. Men would not bother to attempt to take older women for the slave market if they could not receive any money in return. The fact that men would receive money if they were to acquire a older woman means that the older women have services they could offer their potential owner. Therefore, myth and social life were inseparable in the daily life of the ancient Greek elder women.
To add to the supporting argument, Demeter seeks employment as an older woman.
“The disguised goddess does not come to the house seeking hospitality but is encountered outside the walls of the city. She is not brought into the house as a guest, but
as a paid servant, and the Hymn does not make gratitude an explicit theme of the work.” In the quotation it is displaying the value of older women’s work. No gratitude it is needed when the Goddess secured the job because it was expected. The fact that Demeter was able to seek work as an older women suggests that women in Ancient Greece were able to find work as well. The skill set of older women were recognized and paid for. What is important for one to notice is that these women were servants and therefore did not get the same treatment as a male would have had. Therefore, the Myth of Demeter influenced social life for older women in ancient Greece.
This paper will discuss the well published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomerory uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomerory uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses. She then talks about some common roles, the whores, wives, and slaves during this time. Pomerory enlightens the audience on the topic of women, who were seen as nothing at the time. Men were seen as the only crucial part in history; however, Pomerory’s focus on women portrays the era in a new light.
Demeter cares about her daughter. When she notices that Persephone is missing, she panics and immediately looks for her daughter everywhere on the earth. “For nine days, then, over the earth queenly Deo, roamed about, holding blazing torches in her hands, and she never tasted ambrosia or the sweet drink,nectar, as she grieved, nor did she wash her skin with water” (Hymn to Demeter, 47-50). Demeter is so grieved that she even forgets to eat and drink. The only thing she engages in is to find her daughter. Demeter’s tireless searching reflects a mother’s love and worry for her child. We can also find similar evidence that shows Penelope’s love to her husband in The Odyssey. At Odysseus’s house, when the people are listening a song about Troy War (Odyssey 1,379-362), Penelope cries out, “ Break off this
The depiction of the Greek and roman myths are given unique insights from different authors. The Hymn to Demeter and Ovid's Metamorphosis provide and insight to Demeter's love for her daughter, Persephone, and explores its affect on the surrounding environments. The theme of separation and isolation is present in both of these myths, however, in Ovid's Metamorphosis, he symbolizes the environment in important events, has characters playing different roles, and empowers female deities.
While this stereotype proved true that women like to feel safe, it was biased towards the fact that women are actually capable of so much more. In the photo to the right, the woman is trying desperately to lift a light weight, while the man beside her is lifting it with ease. Even though the weight should mean nothing to her, she can't seem to lift it in comparison to the man. It shows how stereotypes rule everyone's mind into thinking women are incapable of doing such menial tasks without someone's help. Similarly, in the myth Orpheus and Eurydice, Eurydice was unable to fend off her offender. She was chased by Aristaeus through a thick forest where "she cried out desperately for help, but there was no one near to hear" (Gibson 31). In the myth she runs blindly deeper into the forest where no one would hear her cries for help. In reality, she could run back in the direction of the village, rather than running farther away from help. In this way women are shown to be menial and completely inadequate to take care of themselves in myths. On that account, mythological worlds define women as incapable individuals who always need a man to help them through their day to day lives. Although Eurydice has a strong presence in the plot of the story, she is deduced as a pathetic and powerless character throughout the story. This misconception is
Every culture has some form of higher being, to be a model for their behaviour, as well as to look up to. In Greek times, these were the gods and goddesses who made their home on Mount Olympus. Women identified with the goddesses because they shared some feminine attributes. Goddesses were a “symbol of motherhood and fertility, but also of strength, wisdom, caring, nuturing, temperance, chastity, cunning, trickery, jealousy, and lasciviousness” (Clarke, 1999). However, not all of the goddesses possessed all of these attributes. The goddess Aphrodite, for instance, was not nurturing, nor was she very caring.
Mythology was very important to the men and women of ancient Greece. They worshipped the gods and goddesses, wrote poems about them, and based a great deal of art work off of them. The people of Greece looked to the gods and goddesses for help in all aspects of their lives; including health, agriculture, and war. Reading about Greek mythology can inform people about the society of Greece itself because the Greek gods were created by the people of Greece. Three main goddesses who were worshipped by the Greeks were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. These three goddesses represent three different types of women in Greek society. Sarah Pomeroy, author of Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, believed that “the goddesses are archetypal images of human females, as envisioned by males” (8). Pomeroy understands the significance in the differences between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and what those differences meant for the women of Greece who were required to follow three important rules. The first rule was for the women to live a life of domesticity and motherhood. This was very important to the men in the society. The women were the only ones able to bear children. Also, if they were forced to stay in the house, men could keep a greater control on their wives, and not have to worry about them having affairs. The second important trait was virginity until marriage. Its importance to the Greek culture lied in the fear of a woman’s power. The men of the society felt it best that a woman remained a virgin until she was married; however this same attribute was not required of a man. Their belief can be explained by this quote written by P. Walcot in the article “Greek Attitudes Towards Women: The Mythological Evidence”: “The Greeks believed women...
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
Women of the Peloponnese were held to lower standards in men. The Lysistrata is a comical play, but gives its readers imagery on how women were treated and expected to behave in ancient Greece. In times before the twentieth century the view of women was much the same as the Greeks, even in what Americans call the “land of the free”, AKA the United States. It may be hard for a feministic person to read, but the way women were valued and controlled in Greece is not all that suprising. The way women are treated today is still relatively new and there are many instances that women are still valued lesser than men and expected to be more domesticated.
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.
One of the reasons the Homeric Hymn to Demeter is not a charter myth used for validation of arranged marriages because it shows how Demeter uses her anger and sadness to negatively impact the mortals of Greece. For example, the quote shows her
Aristophanes stereotypes women as bickering, self-centered, unintelligent people in the beginning. They are sex driven and selfish. Lysistrata is upset that the women are late for the very important meeting "Here I've called a meeting to discuss a very important matter, and they're all still fast asleep" (180). Calonice sums up what women are thought to do all day, and also what they represent to their households; "The women! What could they ever do that was any use? Sitting at home putting flowers in their hair, putting on cosmetics and saffron gowns and Cimberian see-through shifts, with slippers on our feet?" (181). It is in fact these very frivolous ideas that are used to bring peace to the two cities. Throughout the play Aristophanes begins to knock down ...
Another Olympian Deity who helps show the role of women in Greco-Roman society was Demeter. Demeter is the goddess of grain and fertility. Demeter controls the crops and the making of children. I think that Demeter showed women’s roles as gardeners and the tho...
In ancient Greece, there was rarely an insight given on women, except that they were controlled and contained, which goes to show the value of women in the ancient Greece society. Women were considered to be owned by the men in their life, whether it be their father or husband; their father controlled them before they were married and their husband controlled them after they were married. The highest point of a women’s social life was marriage, which typically took place at the age of fourteen to eighteen. Although this was considered the
This narrative/story has always been my favorite in Greek Mythology. It is beautifully written and structured, as well as its balance of sociological components. Therefore, reading your interpretation was a pleasure. I like how you were able to highlight the significant parts of the story, while still providing a cultural insight. As you thoughtfully put in words, The Hymn to Demeter explains seasonal changes from Ancient Greek’s perspective. They mainly believed that Demeter’s grief and mood swings altered her proper goddess functioning, and influenced the fertility of the land. I like how you pointed out the fact that Demeter refused to drink ambrosia when grieving because ambrosia was not just a drink. Drinking ambrosia
The Ancient Greeks had many important values in their society and religion, including the value of hospitality. The value of hospitality is the belief that strangers must be treated with humanity and generosity for whatever their needs are. The Greeks followed this strictly because they believed that Gods would sometimes take the form of a mortal in need, and the way they acted towards the God in disguise would determine their fate. In Ancient Greece, there were no hotels, planes, trains, or phones, so it was very hard to travel, let alone communicate from a far distance. Therefore, the Greeks would support each other with trust and liberality. In Mythology and You, the myth of Demeter demonstrates this value. When Demeter’s daughter, Persephone,