Images of a

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Images of a Golden Age
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The Role of Women in Greek Life

• Ancient Greece was a very patriarchal
  (male-dominated) society.
• A wife was viewed as the property of her husband
  and was kept in seclusion.
• Dominance (and hatred) of women often bordered
  upon misogyny.
• Love of women considered secondary (or suspect)
  compared to the love of fellow men.

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The authority of the ancients

• Aristotle wrote, The male is by nature superior,
  and the female inferior and the one rules and
  the other is ruled.
• In his famous Funeral Oration, Pericles advised
  the women of Athens to (1) rear more children for
  the sake of Athens (2) not show more weakness
  than is natural for their sex and (3) avoid
  gossip, good or bad.

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A Lesser Sense of Personhood

• Origin of the word feminine fe from faith
  minus.
• Women were weaker than men to hold and preserve
  the faith.
• Ancient Greeks used the same word for woman and
  wife.

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Facts for Consideration

• The normal ratio of girls to boys at birth is 100
  105.
• Census figures from ancient Greece suggest that
  10 of female babies in Athens were not raised by
  their families. Many were left to die by
  exposure to the elements.
• In ancient Greece, life expectancy for men was 42
  years for women 36 years.

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Prostitutes we have for pleasure, concubines for
daily physical attendance, wives to bear us
legitimate children and be our faithful
housekeepers. - an Athenian orator Note
In ancient Greece seduction was viewed as a crime
greater than rape.
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Phokylides of Miletus, Satire on Women, c. 440
BCE The tribe of women is of these four
kinds---that of a dog, that of a bee, that of a
burly sow, and that of a long-maned mare. This
last is manageable, quick, fond of gadding about,
fine of figure the sow kind is neither good nor
bad that of the dog is difficult and snarling
but the bee-like woman is a good housekeeper, and
knows how to work. This desirable marriage, pray
to obtain, dear friend.   Hipponax, On Women, c.
580 BCE Two happy days a woman brings a man the
first, when he marries her the second, when he
bears her to the grave.
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Antigone

• Meaning of the name Antigone A woman who has
  failed to regenerate.
• What does the playwright Sophocles say about
  Greek society when he creates a play that
  features a headstrong woman?
• Should we read the play as social satire? As a
  commentary on the way that things should be (or
  actually were)?
• Or should we just address the Issues of
• families torn apart by political differences,
• gender bias,
• the death penalty,
• Suicide?

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Characteristics of Sophoclean Tragedy 

• It is based on events that already took place and
  with which the audience is familiar. 
• The protagonist is a person of noble birth and
  stature. 
• The protagonist has a weakness and, because of
  it, becomes isolated and suffers a downfall. 
• Because the protagonist's fall is not entirely
  his or her own fault, the audience may end up
  pitying him or her. 
• The fallen protagonist gains self-knowledge. He
  has a deeper insight into himself and understands
  his weakness. 
• The audience undergoes catharsis, a purging of
  emotions, after experiencing pity, fear, shock
  and other strong feelings. The people go away
  feeling better. 
• The drama usually unfolds in one place in a short
  period of time, usually about a day. 

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Theme

• Oedipus the King 
• Fate punishes the proud and the insolent with
  ironic outcomes terrible to behold. Oedipus as
  king of Thebes exhibits great pride (hubris) that
  blinds his ability to accept the truth. By
  contrast, the blind prophet Teiresias readily
  "sees" the truth.   The bigger they are, they
  harder they fall. Thanks to whims of fate and his
  own pride and arrogance, Oedipus, a great and
  mighty king, tumbles headlong into an abyss of
  humiliation, grief, and remorse in a single day. 

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Theme of Oedipus at Colonus

• Through love, piety, and hardship, Oedipus
  achieves redemption.
• Oedipus, stripped of dignity, wanders in a
  wilderness of suffering for many years.
• Though blind, he begins to "see" again with the
  eye of his soul, recognizing his faults and
• realizing the importance of love and right
  living with the help of his daughters, Antigone
  and Ismene.  

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Greek Burial

• The Greeks believed that at the moment of death
  the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body
  as a little breath or puff of wind.
• If the body was not given a proper burial
  according to Greek ritual, the soul would remain
  trapped between the worlds of the living and the
  underworld
• Prothesis preparing the body
• Ekphora - transporting of the body from the house
  to the place of burial
• Interment burial in the earth

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Pronunciations of Names

• Oedipus (ED ih pihs or EE dih pihs)
• Antigone (an TIG uh ne) 
• Isemene (iz ME ne)
• Teiresias (ti RE se uhs)
• Jocasta (ja COS ta)
• Eteocles (ee TEE o klees)
• Polynices (pol ih NE seez)
• Eurydice (your a DEE cee) or (yoo RID uh se)
  (yor RID uh se)
• Creon (KRE on)
• Haemon (HAY mon)