Young women

• What is a kyrios?


  male head of a Greek household, responsibility for and authority over his wife, children and any unmarried female relatives; husband
• What is a kyria?


  Greek wife; under direct control of her husband
• What was the practice of exposure?


  - leaving an unwanted baby outside the city to die,

  - boys were preferred over girls in Athens

  - no gender preference but babies with physical deformities exposed in Sparta

  - less common in Rome, boys preferred over girls
• What is a dowry?


  money paid to prospective groom by the wife's family
• What is a wetnurse?


  woman who looks after and breastfeeds another woman's baby, charged for their services
• What were Athenian girls educated for?


  to prepare to be a good kyria in marriage; betrothal
• What were the qualities of a good kyria?


  - cookery

  - spinning wool and weaving

  - obedient and unargumentative

  - loyal, fidelity and modest

  - caring and maternal

  - illiterate, weak and submissive

  - manage household finances
• What sources can be used to learn more about the education of Athenian girls?

  1. Menander's words

  2. Xenophon's Economics

  3. Hydria of an Athenian woman reading
• What do Menander's words suggest about Athenian attitudes towards literate women?


  - repelling and extremely unattractive: says teaching a woman to write is like 'providing poison to an asp'

  - however, this could be satirical because he was a comic playwright

  - despite this, there is an element of truth and relatability for men
• What does the 'hydria of an athenian woman reading' suggest about Athenian attitudes towards literate woman?


  - she is seated so she is high class

  - perhaps some women were educated because she is reading a tablet

  - however, cannot account for majority of society, most athenian women were uneducated
• Who had full control of a girl's wedding arrangements?

  -her kyrios

  - the oath in marriage objectifies her: 'I give you this girl for the plowing of legitimate children' - Menander's Perikeiromene
• Why were dowries important?


  - without one, it is difficult to find a marriage as it compensates the family

  - protects girl from being divorced or from unfair treatment
• How did dowries objectify young women?


  women were exchanged and had no say in it, essentially powerless
• How does Xenophon's Economics describe women entering marriage?


  - inexperieced and vulnerable: 'saying as little as possible', 'leading strings'

  - very young: wife is less than 15 years old

  - marriage solely for the 'production of children' and offspring
• What were the purposes of Athenian marriage?


  - production of children

  - social status

  - political and business gain

  - carrying on the family name
• Name Athenian wedding traditions


  - wedding lasted 3 days

  - bride offer lock of hair and childhood toys to Artemis goddess of childhood symbolising transition into adulthood

  - fruit offered to gods and dried fruits and nuts showered on bride and groom by guests for fertility

  - wine drunk, bride allowed to enjoy a feast

  - veil worn by bride until she reaches the groom's house to symbolise her being welcomed into new household, modesty

  - torch with fire to light journey and ward off evil spirits

  - axle of carriage wheel burned to symbolise no return

  - ritual bath to purify her and enhance fertility

  - gifts given to bride to help in her new life

  - groom dramatically grabs bride from mother in show of force because it is believed that it is a bad omen if she trips
• Why were eyewitnesses important in Athenian women ceremonies?


  sole evidence that the wedding occurred if someone proposed the opposite
• What sources can we learn about attitudes towards young women's education and marriage in Sparta?


  1. Bronze statuette of Spartan running girl

  2. Cynisca's story

  3. Xenophon's Constitution of the Spartans
• What were Spartan girls educated for?


  physical training to have strong healthy babies for the warrior society
• What was the gerousia?


  spartan elders who deemed whether a baby was weak or not
• How were Spartan girls raised?


  - valued by gerousia for strength physically and speed through running, wresting ect

  - no need to do domestic duties, they were done by slaves so they could focus on physical exercise- familiar with boys and encouraged to heckle weak ones, praise strong ones, therefore likely not unfamiliar with their grooms

  - got married at 18-21 during their physical prime, with no dowry

  - to be fast, strong and healthy like their male counterparts

  - somewhat equal to men

  - to instil a love for Sparta in their sons
• Why is Cynisca important?


  - first woman to win the Olympic games in chariot racing

  - shows that spartans valued physical prowess in women
• What does the bronze statuette of the Spartan girl running tell us?

  proves Spartan women were trained in speed
• What does Xenophon's Constitutions of the Spartans tell us?


  - childbirth of a woman important: 'most important function'

  - healthy spartan women were valued because they were believed to produce 'stronger offspring
• What is the sysstition?


  communal mess hall where spartan warriors dined
• Name Spartan wedding traditions.

  - bridge cuts hair short dressed in man's clothing and lies on floor awaiting for her husband

  - groom sleeps in barracks and sysstition along comrades after consumating the marriage

  - man's allegiance to his comrades instead of his wife

  - the groom secretly meets up at night with bride until he reaches 30 (exciting for more vigorous sex) or because allegiance to men first
• What is a paterfamilias?


  male head of a Roman family
• What is patria potestas?


  power of the paterfamilias over his household
• What is a bulla?


  Roman lucky charm that a roman girl would leave behind to symbolise her entry into adulthood
• What is a litterator?


  teacher for primary-aged children in the Roman world
• How were Roman girls educated?


  - similar to athens

  - often taught domestic skills

  - girls went to school together with boys until age 12

  - learnt arithmetic, writing and reading from litterator who helped her enjoy them

  - wealthy girls received private lessons

  - wealthy women had slaves and could pursue the arts, studying or hunting.

  - poorer women worked/owned shops to make more money
• What sources can be used to learn about the education of Roman girls?

  1. The Sappho Fresco

  2. Maesia in Memorable Deeds and Sayings
• How were Roman baby girls named and what does this suggest?


  - named by female version of clan name

  - multiple daughters all shared the same name

  - they are seen as objects, lack identity
• Why were Roman and Athenian girls valued less?

  because of the dowry, was a financial nuisance
• What does the Sappho Fresco tell us about the education of Roman women?


  - limited to patrician woman: the woman is clearly of higher class due to wearing gold

  - does not tell us the education of poorer girls

  - she is educated due to holding stylus to her lips and holding a tablet

  - having a portrait of herself shows she is important
• What does Maesia in 'Memorable Deeds and Sayings' tell us about the education of Roman women?


  - had great rhetoric skills: described to be 'Androgynous' and 'defended her own case [...] accurately' so perhaps some women were

  - rhetoric was a valued skill in Rome so highly intelligent

  - however also tells us majority of women were not educated because her being compared to a man suggests this was unusual
• What were purposes of Roman marriage?


  - solidifying political and business relationships

  - improving social statuses

  - financial gain from dowry
• What does Catullus suggest about Roman marriage?


  lack of control: only a third of you virginity is yours and your father 'gives you away
• What were cum manu marriages?


  - with hand

  - dowry involved

  - legally transferred to new family and she becomes the materfamilias is her husband is the paterfamilias

  - daughters could not inherit from father

  - children belong to both parents
• What were sin manu marriages?


  - without hand

  - no dowry involved

  - daughters could inherit from father and keep wealth in the family, preferrable

  - 3 consecutive nights spent with her father per year to avoid becoming cum manu

  - children belong to father only