The Grave Stele of Hegeso (c.410–400 BC) is one of the best surviving examples of Attic grave stelae. Beginning around 450, Athenian funerary monuments increasingly depicted women as their civic importance increased.[1]
The study of the lives of women in classical Athens has been a significant part of classical scholarship since the 1970s. The knowledge of Athenian women's lives comes from a variety of ancient sources. Much of it is literary evidence, primarily from tragedy, comedy, and oratory; supplemented with archaeological sources such as epigraphy and pottery. All of these sources were created by—and mostly for—men: there is no surviving ancient testimony by classical Athenian women on their own lives.
Female children in classical Athens were not formally educated; rather, their mothers would have taught them the skills they would need to run a household. They married young, often to much older men. When they married, Athenian women had two main roles: to bear children, and to run the household. The ideal Athenian woman did not go out in public or interact with men she was not related to, though this ideology of seclusion would only have been practical in wealthy families. In most households, women were needed to carry out tasks such as going to the market and drawing water for cooking or washing, which required taking time outside the house where interactions with men were possible.
Legally, women's rights were limited. They were barred from political participation, and Athenian women were not permitted to represent themselves in law, though it seems that metic women could (A metic was a resident alien—free, but without the rights and privileges of citizenship.). They were also forbidden from conducting economic transactions worth more than a nominal amount. However, it seems that this restriction was not always obeyed. In poorer families, women would have worked to earn money. Athenian women had limited capacity to own property, although they could have significant dowries, and could inherit items.
The area of civic life in which Athenian women were most free to participate was the religious and ritual sphere. Along with important festivals reserved solely for women, they participated in many mixed-sex ritual activities. Of particular importance was the cult of Athena Polias, whose priestess held considerable influence. Women played an important role in the Panatheneia, the annual festival in honour of Athena. Women also played an important role in domestic religious rituals.
^Osborne 1997, p. 4
and 26 Related for: Women in classical Athens information
Pericles. In the classical period, Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also...
InClassicalAthens, there was no exact equivalent of the English term "adultery", but the similar moicheia (Ancient Greek: μοιχεία) was a criminal offence...
of only three states in ancient Greece, along with Athens and Gortyn, for which any detailed information about the role of women survives. This evidence...
The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis...
after the Archaic age, women's status got worse, and laws on gender segregation were implemented. WomeninClassicalAthens had no legal personhood and...
oikos inClassicalAthens have divided into men's and women's spaces, with an area known as the gynaikon or gynaikonitis associated with women's activities...
century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Although Athens is the...
the reply to it by Shapiro et al. History of the Peloponnesian War 2.47–55. ^ Live Science article Accessed January 23, 2006. WomeninClassicalAthens...
The festival calendar of ClassicalAthens involved the staging of many festivals each year. This includes festivals held in honor of Athena, Dionysus,...
alleged that a woman persuaded a pallake to poison her husband. WomeninClassicalAthens Sexual slavery Kaffarnik, Julia, ed. (2012). "Pallake". The Encyclopedia...
of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; Greek: Αμερικανική Σχολή Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes inAthens, Greece...
remarried. Gynaeceum WomeninClassicalAthensWomenin ancient Sparta WILLIAMSON, MALCOLM (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. Psychology...
archaeologically attested women from the ancient Mediterranean region Sexuality in ancient Rome Womenin ancient Sparta WomeninClassicalAthensWomenin ancient warfare...
economic avenues of society to fill in the missing information. Womenin ancient Sparta WomeninClassicalAthens γυναικεία. Liddell, Henry George; Scott...
[aspasíaː]; c. 470 – after 428 BC) was a metic woman inClassicalAthens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles...
defended by the women of Athens who praised her for her effective treatments. She was acquitted, and the law against female physicians inAthens was revoked...
Prostitution in ancient Greece Slavery in ancient Greece WomeninClassicalAthens Architecture of ancient Greece Acropolis Acropolis of Athens Agora Ancient...
Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history...
Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece, marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern...
agree that goddess took her name after the city. ClassicalAthens was one of the most powerful city-states in ancient Greece. It was a centre for democracy...
first premolar and a unilaterally missing lower third molar. WomeninClassicalAthens "'Myrtis' exhibition at National Archaeological Museum". ANA-MPA...
Futo Kennedy, Rebecca (2014). Immigrant WomeninAthens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City. New York: Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 9781138201033...
Global Information