"The Su

"The Su

Everyman
Ancient Greece was a time of great minds, rapid development, and ancient ideals. Women were not held to the standard the great minds of Greece should, rather a more instinctive protective role. Athenian men had a more laid back life style, and viewed women as a piece of property, granted to them to bear children and take care of the home and run slaves. Where the men of Sparta were more focused on military preparedness and gave the women a fair place in the state. The women of Sparta were expected to be physically fit and well educated to be able to take care of the affairs while the Spartan men were at war. Furthermore, Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle did not help the woman’s cause with his views and studies of women to conclude they are an inferior being. Women were seen in many different ways in Ancient Greece, sometimes progressively positive, however they were for the most belittled.
Athens is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and possibly the world. It has a rich history and has been continuously occupied for over 7,000 years. The achievements of this cities culture, laid the foundation for much of the western civilization; however women in Athens were not viewed as we view them today. “Athenian law would not allow a woman to participate in a business transaction involving anything whose value exceeded a sum of money roughly equivalent to that needed to feed a family for five or six days.   She could buy groceries at the local market but needed the approval of a male guardian to do anything more.”(Thompson)   Ancient Greece was a time of much thinking and philosophy, and women were seen to have “had strong emotions and weak minds.”(Thompson) Women in Athens were basically either Slave women, or a Citizen woman. The slave women became such many different ways such as, being born into slavery or a foreign prisoner of war from one of the many surrounding cities. The women slaves would mostly be a slave of a household doing daily...