The Oikos & Women & Children

Source Analysis

Primary source: i.e. image of woman attended by a slave, who made this? Be very critical, can we trust it? Is this an ideal image of the men or reality?
We don’t have any sources from women, all evidence is for men made by men
Oikos: family, just the immediate family living under the household
All men are required to take part in the polis: debating, at war, at the gym
The woman took on a leading role in the oikos, they would run the family
they would marry young wives so they could learn and work, fulfill their duty
Pandora’s Box, don’t do “x” and they turn and do “x,” how women are portrayed
Men would rely on these outsiders (wives) to maintain their perfect bloodline, to produce children
Ambiguous position, called upon for the task of bearing children, running a family that is not their own

Most sources written by aristocrats

Can a woman be trusted to produce legitimate children?
No such thing as a career women, they couldn’t own property, had no legal rights, their chief role was marriage and have children
In the sources, two types: one that fulfills the stereotypes and ones that don’t
The easiest and one of the only ways to earn a living as a single girl is to be an aristocrat’s mistress (have a life of luxury)
No respectable women, from upper class families would turn down a proper marriage and produce illegitimate offspring, living a single life
Can’t even take their cases to court, women couldn’t sue
If those mistresses were abandoned they would be left to fend for themselves, no common law benefits, no rights
Greeks really supported the virgin ideals or the matron, motherhood
E.g. Artemis, a and band of virgin huntresses that would be banished if they had sexual encounters, nothing to do with men or women who had anything to do with men

Parthenos: maiden, even if you knew she was not a virgin, she was presumably a virgin, ready for marriage (fit to bear children)
receives most attention in artwork, it’s the most desirable stage in a women’s life, she’s desirable but you can’t have her
if you despoiled an aristocratic daughter, it would ruin her chances of a respectable marriage, she would be disqualified as reliable, trustworthy
only priestess of Demeter, to a particular goddess could sit at Olympics

The Greek wedding: girl’s function is to have children, any health concerns – just marry her off, that would be the solution, average age 14, men are 30
She comes with property (dowry), if she’s divorced, she can take back the property and go back to her father
Definite double standard, man can’t adulterate their bloodline, only the women can, no restriction on men, women had to be 100% faithful
Eros: cupid, winged gods, when a couple made eye contact, you see Eros
In a marriage that would last, you need some kind of attraction, in the artwork (vases), the ideal, falls in love
Respectable women always wore veils, in artwork, artists want to show face
In upper classes, only father can arrange the marriage of their daughters
showing the girl is an item of erotic desire
For ancient Greeks, what’s desirable isn’t just sex itself but the virgins you can’t have, to win her heart
they would throw nuts at the bride and groom, make fun of esp the men, shape up, you’ve got a wife, you can’t sleep with men anymore

Nymphe
Married women who doesn’t yet have children
Women were in charge of all household duties, ritual sacrifices, domestic work, this outsider played such a significant role

Gyne
married women who has legitimate children
at religious ceremony for her husband’s family funeral, a woman takes a lover, and the jury would just find that horrendous
law said, if you catch a guy sleeping with your wife, you can kill him

doesn’t just sit around idly, diligent wife, there for her family
so difficult to make thread, whenever she has a spare moment, she’s making thread, and then she’d have to weave the thread

Men’s and women’s areas:

women never left the house, never allowed to have a male visitor in the house without her husband present, if visitor present, she would retreat
vase paintings showed women going out and meeting people, we don’t know where to dry the line
some literary sources by aristocrats have women utterly dominated, some say reality, they were not that secluded
its’ accepted that men would have out of marriage activities

when the women conceives, the man has 10 days to decide whether he recognizes the child, once he picks it up, it’s declared, no going back
even if it’s positive that the child is yours, you can not recognize it, abandon the child at a designated area, girls more unwanted than boys
illegitimate children are sometimes kept within the household, no rights
imagery really exemplifies the intimacy and affection between parents and children, between husband and wife, totally different from the aristocratic sources