The ancient Greeks ruled the Eastern world for centuries starting in nearly 700 BCE. Today we still study and remain fascinated by their forms of literature, pottery, and government. Though an admirable society, the were also a misogynistic one. Through their literature, in writing by the acclaimed Hesiod, Aeschylus and Euripides, they portrayed their demonization of women. Through their pottery, they showed pictures that showed the detrimental home lives of women. Through their government, they showed their lack of recognition of women as people.
Although misogyny was far more acceptable in the several hundred years BCE, misogyny is still alive and well in today’s society. Women’s rights still remain fluid depending on the current political agenda. For example, women’s rights are not highly considered in terms of sexual and domestic violence, equal pay, paid maternity leave, political representation, and more. With the insight into how long women have remained low on the social spectrum; a need for change should arise.
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Female Protagonists
Pandora in Hesiod’s Works and Days [10]
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Pandora is featured in two of Hesiod’s plays, the Works and Days, as well as The Theogony. For simplicity, I will talk about Pandora in the reference of Hesiod’s Works and Days. Pandora is noted as man’s first woman, a punishment for Prometheus stealing fire from the Gods and giving it to the mortals, the greatest malady given to man. Pandora was fashion out of clay by Zeus, molded and decorated by the other Olympians, and was given to the mortal people in punishment for obtaining fire. Pandora was beautiful
on the outside, the first woman that mortal men had ever set eyes on. Yet, inside her pithos she contained all that was evil; pain, disease, torture. When Pandora released the contents of her pithos, Pandora was rendered responsible for the torment that was sprung on mankind. No blame was given to Zeus who actually created her, or Prometheus who stole the fire from the Gods to produce the need for a punishment.
Hesiod produced an indication that women need to be controlled by men, or they will produce the same effects that Pandora did. Without control by men, women will release all things awful onto mankind because they are too weak-minded. Therefore, they must be relegated to maintaining the home and bearing children. They were to be shaped and molded by men to be submissive and obedient, or they will produce the same terrors that they did in Hesiod’s plays.
Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon [11]
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For those who are unfamiliar with the Oresteia, allow me to introduce you to one of many female protagonists demonized in literature by a male author. Aeschylus writes of a women, with cunning wits, and who is described as “a woman in passionate heart, and a man in strength of purpose.” Make no mistake, being described with masculine qualities in the ancient Greek world was most definitely not a compliment. Clytemnestra appears to adopt manly qualities to achieve her goals in Agamemnon’s absence.
Clytemnestra is not only a woman with masculine traits, she is also an adulterer, and a murderer. During the 10 year conflict that was the Trojan War, Agamemnon lead an Archaean army against the Trojans in pursuit of Helen. Meanwhile, his lwife Clytemnestra remained at Argos watching over the kingdom, yet she was not alone. During this time, Clytemnestra was committing adultery with Aegisthus, a man who did not take part in the Trojan War. Additionally, upon Agamemnon’s return, Clytemnestra proceeds to murder her husband, and his war prize and sex slave, Cassandra with her own hands.
Clytemnestra is just one of many key female protagonists in Greek literature that is demonized. As a woman who believes her part is in the polis, the city-state, rather than the oikos, the home, she must serve as a lesson to other woman that in a patriarchal society, her place is not that of a ruler. Through her deviation from the common woman who’s primary purpose is to watch over the home, she is portrayed as none less than the worst. Clytemnestra reminds the audience that to be a woman, is an offense all in its own. Let it be known, that in further parts of the Oresteia, Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, are murdered by her own son in an act of vengeance.
Medea in Euripides’ Medea [12]
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To fully understand the extensivity of Medea’s deviance, it is necessary to know that Medea was what the Greeks described as a metic. A metic was someone known as a “resident foreigner,” someone who does not hold citizen rights in the city-state, but resides there regardless. Additionally, Medea was born in Colchis, the daughter of a kind, niece of a goddess of magic. She is a demi-goddess, and a sorceress. Euripides’ Medea, shows the scene after Medea had chosen to help young heroes, Jason and the Argonauts, steal the golden fleece from her father and run away with him to Corinth. For years, Medea and Jason remain happily married until he abandons her for the princess of Corinth.
At this point in the play, Medea was abandoned by her husband, was being banished from the kingdom, and had lost everything that she has. Medea was noted to say, “I would rather stand in battle three times, than give birth once!” This is another masculine trait that is placed on this female protagonist, a woman who would actually rather go to war than give birth. Regardless, Medea has two children with her previous husband, Jason. Medea eventually convinces Creon and Jason to allow her children to stay within the kingdom, and she will leave compliantly.
Unfortunately for the new rulers, they agree and even accept gifts from the sorceress. These gifts, in some accounts, are a robe and a crown that were cursed by Medea in an act of heinous revenge. When the gifts are worn by the princess, they cause her to burst into flames and produce a gruesome death. The king, Creon, goes into a frenzy trying to save his daughter and results in himself burning to death as well. At this point, Medea has murdered her ex-husband’s new wife and father-in-law, to add a cherry on top, Medea murders her and Jason’s own two children and flies off on a chariot pulled by dragons.
Medea leaves Jason with nothing but his own two hands and an empty heart. She is a metic, a woman, a murderer, and a deviant sorceress. Although, the murder of these four people in Euripides’ play are not the only murders she commits. Medea also notably kills her own brother Absyrtus, and convinced King Pelias of Iolucus’ children to cut him into pieces. She shows the audience that when women feel as if their place is outside of the oikos, the home life, only destruction becomes upon man. Medea reinforces the idea that men need to place strict restraints of women or else they will reign terror on them and their families.
Lives of Women Shown in Pottery
Ancient Greece was the most sophisticated Western Civilization of its time. Men could be warriors, artists, politicians, scientists, and produce some of the world’s most notable accomplishments. The women, were likely to be at home.
In most pottery scenes women were in their quarters, notable scenes include weaving or spinning thread, as well as visiting the krene, the water house. Visiting krene seemed to be one of the few public outings that women had.
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Additionally, after the adoption of black-figure pottery, women were colored stark white and men were colored totally black. The difference in color did not mean that the two sexes had entirely different races, but are assumed to show the tanned skin of the man and the white skin of the woman. The man was supposed to be outdoorsy, dark skinned through their time spent outside working and at war. The woman was supposed to be inside caring for the home and not spending time away where they could betray their husbands. One notable feature of women in pottery is their faces, women on pottery as strikingly beautiful features. The beauty among the divine goddesses and elite women, shows the audience that beauty, and sexual attractiveness, is one of women’s key features.
This indication gives an insight into the home-lives of women
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in Ancient Greece. The women were not given much free roam, they spent their time caring for their family and home, meanwhile men travelled the streets. Through the pottery, we see that woman had actually very boring lives, besides visiting krene, women had little to no social interaction. It is believed that this expectation was placed on women to reduce the probability of adultery.
Patriarchy
During the Classical period in Ancient Greece, when democracy was thriving and Greece was the greatest Western power, women had no right to vote and little role in politics. Women were forbidden to own any property, they could not even inherit property. Due to this fact, women were not permitted to be a legal citizen in the Athenian polis. It goes without saying that they obviously did not have the right to vote. [8]
Additionally, women did not attend proper schooling. Women were typically sent away to be married around the age of fourteen. Thus, their lives surrounded around reproduction and caring for the home. Women had little to no voice in her own marriage, the marriage was based on her dowry, fertility and her skills surrounding care for the home. Additionally, women had little to no voice in her own divorce. Men had the capability to freely divorce their wives, and they often did. Women were expected to remain faithful to their husbands, while men did commit adultery regularly.
Prostitution was legal in Athens, though a legal citizen could not participate. Female metics, slaves, or women who had lost their legal status, would become a pornê or a hetaera. A pornê was described as a “buyable woman,” what we would expect from a stereotypical, modern day prostitute. A hetaera had a very distinct difference from a pornê. A hetaera was to be more educated than a typical wife, and a prostitute of the wealthy or elite upper class. Men were not only allowed to, but expected to regularly have relations with these women. When men held parties, or symposiums, these women were expected to be in attendance in order to entertain the men. Demosthenes even wrote “We keep hetaera for the sake of pleasure, pallakae (female salves) for our daily care, and gynaekes (wives) to give us legitimate children and to be guardians for out households.” The legalization and expectation of prostitution is another way that men were higher in class than women. A woman accused of committing adultery could be murdered, as well as the man with who she had relations with.
As a matter of fact, Xenophan in Pericles’ Funeral Oration, says that “A woman’s reputation is highest when men say little about her, whether it be good or evil.” This quotation goes on to reveal that the women where expect to live a very secluded, quiet life. They had little interaction outside of their homes, were dedicated to bearing children, and were expected to remain under a man’s control.
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Prevalence of Misogyny Today
The misogyny today may not be congruent to the misogyny of the Ancient Greeks, but it still alive and well in the United States. Females are capable of voting, participating in the profession of their choice, free choice of marriage and can own property. We obviously have come far from the rights of women in Ancient Greece, but we are not perfect.
Today, women still experience a large amount of sexual harassment. It was found that one in five women will be raped in their lifetime (cdc.org). Additionally, one in three women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime (cdc.gov). Additionally, women also are discriminated against in terms of the wage gap. In 2017, women collectively made 80.5% of earnings that men did (pay-equity.org). Ancient Greek women did not need paid maternity leave, but even as a modern day American woman, it is not mandated to a female employee. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medial Leave Act, which allotted 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a new child. Lastly, for every one woman in a political office in the United states, there are three men. The problem of unequal political representation is prevalent today as much as it ever has been.
Misogyny has always been alive. Today, women have come very far since the Ancient Greeks, yet there is still room for improvement.
Conclusion
It becomes apparent through the regular reading and analysis of Greek art forms, and government that Athenian men saw women as beings capable of inflicting severe harm to those around them, lest they be controlled. They were portrayed as weak beings, often self-destructive and difficult to control. The Greeks made no mistake stating that women were incapable of making decisions for the good of themselves, and placed strong restraints of the rights and free-will of women.
Unfortunately, women are still featured in outrageous situations of unfairness and injustices. Although this is not a new fight for women, as I have explained, women have been fighting the patriarchy for thousands of years on end. I believe that this generation holds the power to overthrow this regime and obtain full rights for women. I hope this this project and findings gives you the motivation to fight the patriarchy.
It is important to note that all writing in Greece were written by man because women did not have the right to be authors, artists or politicians. There are few female writers from lands outside of Athens, such as Sappho. This should suit as a disclaimer that everything was written by men, and the scene of Athens is shown through the viewpoint of a man.