| The men of ancient Greece are well known, | | | | kingdom. Instead, the mother of their husband |
| from Hercules to Alexander the Great. Greek | | | | ruled the household, a frightening thought |
| women are rarely mentioned and one has to | | | | for most modern women. In this role, the wife |
| wonder why? | | | | was often given little education and had no |
| | | | real status other than being the property of |
| Greek Civilization - What About The Women? | | | | her husband with all that implies. In |
| | | | general, women were viewed as inferior beings |
| Ancient Greece was very much a patriarchal | | | | with their primary use being childbirth. As |
| society. Sports were reserved for men. | | | | you can see, not all of ancient Greece was |
| Literature, politics, philosophy and so on | | | | particularly enlightened. |
| were as well. At least, this is what men | | | | |
| wrote in the various publications we have | | | | The one exception to this rule was Sparta. |
| from that time. | | | | Sparta had an entirely different view of |
| | | | gender. Essentially, it ignored it. Women |
| In truth, the position of women in ancient | | | | were on par with men. They were educated, |
| Greece was one best defined by the word | | | | could own land, have multiple husbands and |
| separation. Women and men lived with very | | | | participate in public life just as a man |
| defined boundaries, boundaries controlled by | | | | could. Alas, one has to imagine the women of |
| the men. The home was the primary boundary. | | | | Athens and Sparta must have looked at each |
| Greek women were married off at a young age | | | | other in shock given the different paths |
| to men much older than them. They were then | | | | their lives took. |
| moved into the household of their new | | | | |
| husband. | | | | For all its amazing achievements, gender |
| | | | equality in ancient Greece was not one of |
| This new household was not their personal | | | | them. |