THIS BOOK was conceived when I asked myself what women were doing while men were active in all the areas traditionally emphasized by classical scholars. The overwhelming ancient and modern preference for political and military history, in addition to the current fascination with intellectual history, has obscured the record of those people who were excluded by sex or class from participation in the political and intellectual life of their societies.
The “glory of classical Athens” is a commonplace of the traditional approach to Greek history. The intellectual and artistic products of Athens were, admittedly, dazzling. But rarely has there been a wider discrepancy between the cultural rewards a society had to offer and women’s participation in that culture. Did his wife Xanthippe ever hear Socrates’ dialogues on beauty and truth? How many women actually read the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides? What did women do instead? Most important, why was it necessary for the Athenians to make such a distinction between the culture of men and that of women? When pagan goddesses were, in their way, as powerful as gods, why was the status of human females so low?
The “grandeur of Rome” is another axiom of ancient history. The focus of Roman history has also tended to be on the political deeds of male society—winning and governing an empire. Roman women were not in practice excluded from participation in social, political, and cultural life to the same extent as Greek women. Yet the prevailing scholarly opinion that some Roman women, at least, were emancipated likewise needs revision. In comparison to Athenian women, some Roman women appear to have been fairly liberated, but never did Roman society encourage women to engage in the same activities as men in the same social class.
This book spans a period of more than fifteen hundred years. The Greek section begins with Bronze Age mythology and legends surrounding the fall of Troy, traditionally fixed at 1184 B.C., and proceeds through the Dark Age and Archaic period to the Classical world of the fifth century B.C. and the Hellenistic period. The Roman section covers the Roman Republic and the transition to Empire with the advent of Augustus in 31 B.C., and ends with the death of Constantine in A.D. 337, but concentrates on the late Republic and early Empire. My aim was to write a social history of women through the centuries in the Greek and Roman worlds. There is no comprehensive book on this subject in English.
I have had to make some difficult decisions concerning the ancient sources which were appropriate for use in this study. The available evidence is archaeological and literary.
The literary testimony presents grave problems to the social historian. Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information. Aside from some scraps of lyric poetry, the extant formal literature of classical antiquity was all written by men. In addition, misogyny taints much ancient literature. The different genres of ancient poetry vary in reliability for the social historian. How much of what satirists or rejected lovers pour out in elegaic poetry about women can be acceptable evidence for the modern historian? I believe it is also necessary to avoid drawing conclusions about Greek women of the Classical period from the depiction of Bronze Age heroines in Greek tragedy. Tragedies have been examined to provide insight into the attitudes of particular poets toward women—in them the poet reveals his ideals and fantasies about women—but tragedies cannot be used as an independent source for the life of average women. Greek comedy, on the other hand, of both the Classical and Hellenistic periods, shows ordinary people rather than heroes and heroines, and is a more reliable source for the social historian.
Among prose authors, ancient historians, biographers, and orators provide the soundest and most extensive information about women. Although Herodotus and Thucydides are poor sources for the lives of Greek women, later historians and biographers were frequently fascinated by the activities and personalities of famous women. Of course, many ancient historians, influenced by their ideal of womanhood, were led to bitter disapproval of the actual women who were being described. The numerous orations surviving from antiquity also provide a wealth of material about women’s roles and legal status, although, of course, their bias is polemical. Lastly, the writings of ancient philosophers are useful, for most of them propound moral views on women rooted in contemporary society, whether they accept or reject them. In addition to history, biography, oratory, and philosophy, for the Roman period there are extensive collections of legal texts and judicial commentary. Among Latin prose literature, the letters of Cicero and Pliny are fruitful sources for the private lives of women in their social class.
Ancient history, to a considerable degree, has been basically the study of the ruling classes. The women who are known to us from the formal literature of antiquity are mainly those who belonged to or associated with the wealthy or intellectually elite groups of society. It must also be recognized that there is more information available on women who were famous—whether for good or evil. I have felt that my task was to examine the history of all women, and to avoid the emphasis on the upper classes and their literature. There is not much material available, but I was greatly aided in the Roman section especially by the recent publication of several scholarly works by historians who included women and the lower classes in their studies.
Evidence from the fine arts, including sculpture, vase painting, frescoes, mosaics, and depictions of women on tombstones and coins, as well as objects used by women—e.g., ornaments, kitchen utensils, looms, and furniture—are useful in reconstructing the private life of women. Written evidence that would not be classified as formal literature can be found in the graffiti on ancient buildings as well as in the inscriptions on ancient monuments. Documents written on papyrus are an important primary source for studying the economic, legal, and social aspects of women’s lives in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Since most of the extant papyri come from Egypt, these texts record the activities of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian women living in that country. Among the papyri are letters, legal documents, prayers, and charms written by or for women. These texts are the ancient equivalent of the private letters and diaries which have proven prime sources for the lives of women in later eras.
The story of the women of antiquity should be told now, not only because it is a legitimate aspect of social history, but because the past illuminates contemporary problems in relationships between men and women. Even though scientific technology and religious outlook clearly distinguish ancient culture from modern, it is most significant to note the consistency with which some attitudes toward women and the roles women play in Western society have endured through the centuries.
Originally the book was planned as something more definitive, but as I began to write I became increasingly aware that most of the standard references in the field of Classics did not include women in their purview. For example, the major works of the social historian M. I. Rostovtzeff (The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire and The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World) have splendidly detailed indexes, but neither has an entry for “Women.” His utter blindness to women led to such absurdities as his noticing only two unenfranchised classes in Greece: the resident aliens and the slaves.1 This last observation appears in a short history of Greece, and was left unchanged when the book was revised by E. J. Bickerman in 1962. It is obviously impossible in a single book to fill all the gaps in the history of ancient women. Indeed, it would be demeaning of the subject to attempt to do so.
In ancient history there are few certainties. We are trying to assemble a puzzle with many pieces missing. In a period when the history of men is obscure, it naturally follows that the documentation for women’s lives is even more fragmented. On questions where there is substantial debate—for example, the status of women in Classical Athens—I have tried to present the evidence and the various interpretations of other scholars; I have also attempted to indicate reasons for the divergence in opinion. But on issues where the evidence seemed to me to be insufficient to justify choosing one viewpoint and rejecting another, I have generally refrained from indicating a preference and arguing for it. Thus, many of the conclusions voiced in this book are more tentative than some readers might wish.
I have tried to give some guidance to the reader interested in women’s history who is not a classicist. Notes have been kept to a minimum, but for the benefit of the classicist there is limited documentation of controversial items. All translations, except where attributed to others, are my own. Readers who wish to consult the complete ancient texts from which passages are excerpted can find translations of most Greek and Latin authors in the Loeb Classical Library series published by Harvard University Press, which, where appropriate, indicate the line and section numbers of the Greek or Latin text. An interested reader can engage in further research by consulting annotated editions of the ancient authors, using the line or section numbers in the Loeb editions as a guide.
The writing of the book began as an undergraduate course of lectures at Hunter College. I am very grateful to my students from whom, over the years, I have had a large amount of helpful criticism. They have forced me to continually take a fresh look at many issues.
Acknowledgments are due to the American Council of Learned Societies, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Nooney Fund of Hunter College for financial support which facilitated the writing of this book. I am also grateful to the Fondation Hardt pour l’Etude de l’Antiquité classique for its hospitality during the summer of 1974. However, the conclusions, opinions, and other statements in this book are solely those of the author.
This study covers a long period of history and a wide range of topics. I am grateful to have been able to discuss some of the issues with other scholars, though it should not be assumed that they concur with all my views. I should like to express my thanks to J. P. Sullivan for reading the entire manuscript; to Froma Zeitlin for reading the chapters on myth, religion, and Athenian literature; to William V. Harris, W. K. Lacey, and Martin Ostwald for reading the chapters on Greek women; to Susan Treggiari for reading Chapter IX; and to Robert E. A. Palmer for reading the Roman chapters. I have also enjoyed the use of the incomparable slide collection of my colleague Claireve Grandjouan. Warm thanks are also due to Judith Peller Hallett, Marylin Arthur, Flora Levin, and Robert Rowland for translating some of the passages that appear in this book. I am indebted to Beverly Colman and Christopher Kuppig of Schocken Books for editing the manuscript.
Lastly, I must thank my husband and children for their support. Without them the life of a scholar would have been a lonely one.