The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece

Video

Kelly Macquire
by
published on 06 February 2022

The roles, rights and lives of women in Ancient Greece varied depending on which city-state you were from, your social class and your wealth. Women in Ancient Greece had very few rights compared to men and, due to our lack of specific information on most Greek city-states, we know most about women and their lives in Athens and Sparta, the two city-states best-chronicled overall, Athens and Sparta. In general, we have more information about some professions and roles held by women such as women in the home and prostitutes and courtesans or Hetaira, than others.

Overall though, Athens was known for its distrust towards women and extreme misogyny as women were seen as good for one thing only: childbearing. With this being said, there were some women who broke through the social and cultural restrictions placed upon them in Ancient Greece. In general, women could participate in rituals and ceremonies, and perform as priestesses for certain deities like Demeter, Aphrodite, and Dionysus and perhaps the most famous religious position for a woman was the Pythia who relayed the prophecies of the oracle of Delphi.

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:53 Women in Ancient Greece
2:29 Women in the Home
5:50 Women of Sparta
7:16 Lower Class Women, Pornē and Hetaira
9:38 Women and Religion
12:48 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —
Women in Ancient Greece https://www.worldhistory.org/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/
Ten Noble and Notorious Women of Ancient Greece https://www.worldhistory.org/article/737/ten-noble-and-notorious-women-of-ancient-greece/
Spartan Women https://www.worldhistory.org/article/123/spartan-women/
The Women of Athena's Cult https://www.worldhistory.org/article/74/the-women-of-athenas-cult/
Hetaira https://www.worldhistory.org/Hetaira/
Prostitution in Ancient Athens https://www.worldhistory.org/article/28/prostitution-in-ancient-athens/

— WATCH NEXT —
Ancient Greek Pottery: History, Development and Designs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lWyqbYITQw
Sappho of Lesbos: The Female Poet of Ancient Greece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SDtZdT8sA
Telesilla of Argos, the Greek Lyric Poetess who defeated Sparta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2rotrkPhyA
Hecate the Goddess of Witchcraft and Magic in Greek Mythology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FH-DKJ0WCM
Women from History Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRIPanKDxKpuGQh0qnzGfsV2Yxo0Sek4_

— ATTRIBUTIONS —
You can find all attribution and credits for images, animations, graphics and music here - https://worldhistory.typehut.com/the-roles-rights-and-lives-of-women-in-ancient-greece-images-and-attributions-7840

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
https://www.ancientlyre.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

— THUMBNAIL IMAGE —
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/431318001
The British Museum - The British Museum has released this image under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en) license. You can read more about the British Museum and Creative Commons - https://www.britishmuseum.org/terms-use/copyright-and-permissions

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About the Author

Kelly Macquire
Kelly is a graduate from Monash University who has completed her BA (Honours) in Ancient History and Archaeology, focussing on iconography and status in Pylos burials. She has a passion for mythology and the Aegean Bronze Age.

The video and its description text are provided by Youtube. This website claims no authorship of this content; we are republishing it for educational purposes.

Cite This Work

APA Style

Macquire, K. (2022, February 06). The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/video/2710/the-roles-rights-and-lives-of-women-in-ancient-gre/

Chicago Style

Macquire, Kelly. "The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified February 06, 2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/video/2710/the-roles-rights-and-lives-of-women-in-ancient-gre/.

MLA Style

Macquire, Kelly. "The Roles, Rights and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 06 Feb 2022. Web. 25 Apr 2024.

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