Women in Ancient Greece

This is an exploration of an often-overlooked group in ancient Greece: women. Though they played little or no public role, women were an integral part of Greek society and it is impossible to gain a full and balanced idea of that society without considering their experience alongside that of men. This book looks at the available evidence for women's lives: their status in the family and in marriage, their legal and political situation and their place in religious observance. It studies depictions of women in art and literature and discusses what these reveal of the prevailing (male) attitudes to women. The book focuses on the Archaic and Classical ages, exploring the political and cultural changes of the period and how they would have affected women in Athens, Sparta and Gortyn (the three city-states for which evidence exists).