Symposia In Ancient Greek Women

Reading the Aristotle's work On a Good Wife from Oikonomikos that was written in c. 330 BCE, one may see the reflection of the leading ideas, opinions, and rules in the Ancient Greek society. This work concentrates its attention on the guidelines for the young wives and husbands, their chords, values, and relationships. Reading through a long list of the requirements the wife should meet in order to acquire the respect and understanding of the husband, it becomes clear that the wives were expected to accomplish all the monotonous routine work and keep away from complaints. The author puts a strong emphasis on the importance of the reciprocity of the appropriate treatment in order to make the patriarchal way of life seem more democratic and

In Greece, homosexuality became common within their culture; which with this socially accepted involvement, some could say, provided the groundwork for the child molestation act of pederasty. It appears the Greek’s institutionalized sodomy to a new level for children that involved predominantly upper-class men in the 7th century B.C.; shamefully, boosted with pride concerning this ‘training system as their civil duty.’ They professed to be giving needed guidance to young boys (eromenos); who became effectively courted by older men (the erastes or ‘lover’). The Greeks became flamboyant with their exploitation of adolescents and cunningly gave personal attention to young boys to produce sexual cooperation. Distinctly, there existed a real challenge between Greek homosexuals, involving who would become the ‘dominating partner;’ (which transpires as an extreme shame if you were the lesser); therefore, an infinite number of repugnant circumstances arose, while using children’s passiveness to conceal the men’s perverted actions.

Women are a very prominent part of the Greek society. Their role has influenced and shaped the Greek society to a very large extent. Women have been shown in many different lights in the Greek works of Odyssey and Iliad which we have covered in our class. The works that I will be citing in this essay, namely Homer’s poems Odyssey and Iliad talk about many prominent women such as Helen of Troy, Penelope and also many other Goddesses. Homer’s poems talk about the various traits of Greek women and portray their characteristics by describing their traits and the events they were involved in. Through this essay, I would like to illustrate how women were treated as objects of desire for

The repeated emphasis on honor, wisdom, and virtue is a recurring theme throughout greek homosexual relationships. The archetypes of the two male partners: the younger lover known as the ‘beloved’ (eromenos) and an older lover (erastes). Cantarella asserts that “love relationships, were also, in fact, intellectual ones that in some ways saw the beloved as the disciple and the lover as the master of life, ethics and civic education” (Cantarella, 8). It will come as no surprise that such relationships were especially prevalent among the upper class and were considered a denotation of wealth and station.

Similarities and differences can be found between ancient Athenians and today’s western world and their attitudes towards sexual behavior – the most prominent difference being the Athenians goal of moderation and the western

Many of us grew up enjoying the myths and legends about Greek gods, mortals, and monsters that have been enjoyed by adults and children around the world for thousands of years. But not many, if any, would remember ever reading about homosexual relationships involving the great deities and brave heroes. In facts, those pieces of information were considered by our moral standards unappropriated and negligible, such that they had to be distorted in some way before the stories reach the public. The Greeks in Plato’s Symposium, however, are loud and proud of their homosexuality. Some argue that same-sex romance is the ideal and most honorable example of love since it guides the lover and the beloved to achieve the highest goods of life – wisdom

In the three cultures discussed above, while there are different variations of strictness, the partners were able to choose who they desired to court and in turn marry. This is not the case for Grecian courtships where “virtually all marriages are arranged” (Campbell, 1964, p. 124). The idea of marrying for love, while not a foreign concept in the culture, is often rejected and condemned. Often the only question asked during the courtship is “’will you marry this boy or girl?’” (p. 124). This being said, ““It is almost impossible for a girl to refuse the bridegroom of her family's choice if they insist upon it, although it is believed that a good father or brother ought not to force her into a marriage against her will” (p. 124).

Ancient Greece was a time where men were in complete control over there wives and daughters. This was also a time where a man's word was law. Women did not have much of a say so during this period. Men could go about as they pleased without asking permission. Women could not leave as they pleased. They had to ask the leader of the household before leaving and if they didn't there were serious consequences. Boys were allowed to go off to school and learn about war while girls were forced to stay home and help their mothers take care of the household. Even though the main difference during this time was sex, women and girls also had many differences.

The Dark Age remnants induced the Greeks to strengthen their ability to fight, to build their society just for war. All men from sixteen to sixty had to serve in military force. Serving in military drove Greek men delay their marriage until age of thirty. In the results, they had to release their sexual life by using female slaves, prostitutes, or another man as sexual partners (Backman, p.116.) The training for every soldier to make them overcome the instinct was also the problem leading the development of homosexuality. In the other hands, homosexual was accepted in the ancient Greek with the separation of the sexual education. Virginity female who expected to become bride usually enjoyed the toy in her girlhood to get experienced in their

Ancient Greek society had its own ideas and values on gender and sexual norms that were reflected by the Olympian gods. These reflections often had small differences that separated the Olympian gods from humans. Other times there was little reflection between the Olympain gods and Ancient Greek society. Some of these reflections include the values of parthenoi, unmarried women; pederasty, a type of male homosexuality; and lastly moicheia, illicit sexual relationships. These reflections from Olympian gods to Greek society show how these values were important to be included in religious tales.

Women have always faced subjugation despite being praised as powerful warriors in charge of their sexuality in legends. These women were considered only one step away from nature, meaning that they needed to be controlled in order to be the ideal woman. In ancient Greece many philosophers began the paradigm known by modern historians as the polarity argument, or the distinction between European women and men through time. Their sexuality, mental strength, and moral character were all scrutinized. This argument provided the necessary background to continue to subjugate women in the period of the Greeks all the way to the Renaissance. Polarity distinctions gave men a negative mental grid on which to judge women around them.

Since the beginning of recorded history, there is evidence that women had a much, much lower status in society than men. It is reported in Ancient Greece as early as 400 BC, that society actively cultivated the demeaning role of women. They endured many difficulties and hardships especially in the three main areas of marriage, inheritance, and social life. Many believe this ancient culture and treatment of women molded what society still views as the submissive role for females. Our word for “marriage” can be traced to ancient Athenian legal definitions. Ekdosis is the giving the hand of the women into marriage by her master or lord. It was seen as a meeting between the fathers of the young couple based on the needs and best interests of the senior men, with little concern for the thoughts of the groom and absolutely none for the wishes of the girl(Marriage,n.d.).

From the role of the guileful seducer, to the dutiful housewife, to the furious feminist, women were a central point of Ancient Greek society. Although they were declined legal status and held no political voice, the roles they played in their society were undeniably important. The women of the society functioned as the conferrer of life, established a family which was held as the center of Greek life, and managed the home. Women of that time may have been seen and thought to be have little worth than a man of that time, nevertheless their unquestionable power and influence in society cannot be gone unnoticed. As we see the main character a.k.a the protagonist Medea, in the book Medea.

I can say in the time of the Greek era women’s lives were very hard on them, referring to the way of thinking from men about the higher statues that they believe by showing inequality between men and women. I do think the reason why women lives were very restricted it was related to the patrilineality society, which is know to be based on the male line. I can conclude why it is less important in a matrilineal culture to keep track of a woman ‘s sexual partners, is because in the time of the ancient Greece they feel that women at the early age between 12 to 14 years old was the time to get married because young girls were pure. Greeks women’s were dominated by patriarchal society in the way that females only purpose in life was to be a mother

In his text Greek Homosexuality, Dover describes the roles of the ‘active’ and ‘passive’ lover, defined by the age of the men. The older erastes, who is considered the dominant lover, and the younger eromenos, as the passive beloved. This demonstrates the hierarchy that is established between homosexual lovers (Dover 16). After the eromenos reaches a stage in his life where he becomes a ‘man,’ his role is then switched to the erastes, giving him the ability to look for his own eromenos. If a boy