Most of the literature that has come down to us about the ancient world, came to us from the hands of the male poets. Most of the representations of women are done through these writings and works of these male authors. The men wrote about women in a very negative way, portraying them as the ultimate threat to men. I think it is safe to also say they are also presented as the ultimate threat not only to men but to the world. Women's lives receive very little celebration in the works of the ancient writers. The women in these works of art are seen as wicked, evil, and deceitful, to just mention some of the negative portrayals that are given to them by the male writers. Women were definitely seen as something to fear because the writings of writers such as Hesiod expresses this in very clear and explicit fashion. In this paper I will analyze the attitudes of the male writers towards women through their works. I will also look at the way women are portrayed in the Ancient World (Greece).
Men's lives are definitely seen as more significant than the lives of women. In the poetry of many ancient writers we see that homosexual relationships with young men are very much cherished. The young men are spoken of as if they were feminine. The young men are often described as having soft hands and legs, with a smooth white face. It is the delight of older men to take on young men as lovers. Young men are often represented in some of the art showing them as good companions for love relationships. The young men are seen as worthy for good relationships while women are good for relationships of necessity. In some of the paintings we see young men being courted by his older soon to be lover. Women as a necessity has to do with child birth. They are needed for the men to have heir. The attitude of the ancient world is that without an heir to the men's wealth all is lost.
Baby boys are valued a lot more than baby girls. To be female in the ancient world is to be almost next to nothing. The writings and paintings that come down to us talked mostly about the exploits of young men and their coming of age to become an adult man. Young girls are merely object to be marry to have boy babies not girls. The man in the ancient world was seen as the defender of the city. He went o war and gathered wealth by sacking distant lands. He brought a lot of pride to his parents, mainly to his father. Men were valued highly for companionship, especially young men. In the art works that have come down to us we often see men in the company of one another. Whenever women are portrayed in the company of men they would be the treat of the party. In other words they were portrayed as prostitutes. Prostitution, marriage, housework, and childbearing were as good as women would be seen as. Women with intelligence are portrayed very negatively. Either she would be portrayed as having some deceitful quality that suggest trickery, or she would be seen as having some kind of a magical craft. Most of the women are talked about the writings are of the male authors are shown in having somewhat of an evil intelligence.
In the Oresteia we see Clytemnestra portrayed as the wicked wife who kills her husband Agamemnon. She is very smart to trick him and lure him to his death but it nevertheless is seen as sick and twisted deed, which puts a damper on her intelligence. Another woman who is obviously very intelligent but is negated by her deed is Medea. In helping Jason she does a good deed but she uses black magic, which makes her have sort of a very scary identity. The fact that she kills her own brother and cuts him up into pieces makes her look like an evil witch. She goes against her own family and deceives them. She even ends up killing her own children and using magic to escape.
The work of Hesiod gives us a serious look towards the attitude of male writers towards women. This attitude definitely reflected the attitude of the majority of the male population of the ancient world. If the majority of the men did not believe these sentiments these works and ideas would not have become so popular. So I believe that there was a mass acceptance of the views of a writer like Hesiod. In one of his writings, Works and Days, Hesiod describes the origin of women. He gives a description of the creation of "Pandora", the ancestral matriarch of all women. Pandora came to men as a curse from the gods, mainly Zeus. She has been given the form of a beautiful virgin, embellished, and has a very deceitful mind. Pandora brings evil to men sealed in a jar. Pandora is responsible for all the evil that men face today. She brought forth sickness, disease, misery, and other evils. The only thing left in the jar is hope. All of this has a lot of significance to the way the woman in the ancient world is seen. The kind of woman fit to be wed for the first time is a virgin girl, which possess a seductive charm to her groom or lover. She is very beautiful and men cannot seem to resist her even if it means their death.
The idea of men coming to their death because of women is one that is put forth in the ancient literature. We see men going to hell to win back their wives after her death. We see in the play Alcestis that Heracles goes to hell to win back Alcestis for her husband and his friend. We see in the Iliad how the Argives go to Troy to win Helen back for Menelaos. paris who takes off with Helen knows that he is endangering the life of the people of Troy but her beauty compels him to stick to his plan. This sort tells the whole issue of Pandora and the jar. Men are hopeless when it comes to women. They will risk their lives in order to win a woman. The women's charm and beauty make her a very powerful creature which men must fear and not trust. Clytemnestra and Medea makes this point very clear for us Even when a woman loves a man her love may kill him. In the Trachiniae, Deianeira's love for Heracles causes his death. This sends the idea that a man should the avoid the love of a woman because it equals his death if he succumbs to her charm and her beauty. Men supposedly had a life of pure joy and happiness until Pandora was created.
Pandora was created as punishment for men. A punishment that they did not cause upon themselves, but was brought about by Prometheus' love for them. Pandora begins the race of women and she also brought evil to the world. The story of the creation of women makes all women evil from the very start. Men a hopelessly stuck with women all their lives. According to Hesiod, men need women to produce children and to continue the race of men. They are forced to be with women n this way. There is no mention of men willingly choosing to be with women. If men choose not to marry they will have no heirs. The only real choice a man has is to marry a woman and hope that she is not of the wicked sort. Women are a burden to men, because they depend on men for food and shelter and other necessities. This makes a man helpless when it comes to a woman. According to Hesiod if may paraphrase, " men cannot live with them and they cannot live without them", which is still a popular phrase use today. Due to the tremendous power that a woman can have over men it is the duty of the men to control them. Women are not supposed to be left to roam about freely. They are objects that must be controlled. The unpredictable behavior of women can have dire consequences for the city. The women must remain in the home where they have duties of spinning, weaving, and cooking. A woman should be able to do housework for her husband or else she is not fit to be a wife.
In the poem of Semonides of Amorgos, on women, he explains that their are ten different kinds of women. This idea of classifying women is something that is popular in the ancient world, and it even holds true for today. Generally it is a human characteristic to classify one another for their own benefit and safety. Semonides was not alone when it comes to the ten kinds of women. A lot of these characteristics are still given to women today. We still use these ideas as a way to measure women today in many societies. According to Semonides these are the ten kinds of women. There is a woman from the pig. She is refer to as a hairy sow. She keeps a very filthy and untidy home while growing fat. She does not even wash her cloth. She lives just like a pig. There is a woman from a fox. She is purely evil and is knows everything. She does not know the difference between what is good from what is bad. She misses nothing around her. Her knowledge should be feared by men. There is a woman from a dog. She is a no-good bitch. She is always trying to find out everything from everyone everywhere. She can never be kept from yapping. Men cannot control such a woman by force. He cannot control her at all. It is hopeless try to control her.
There is a woman from Mount Olympus, crafted by the gods out of the Earth as a gift to men.She is lame and has no sense whatsoever. She also knows nothing, because she has no useful skills. All she is good for is eating, and all she possible knows besides eating is to shelter from the cold by going next to the fire. There is a woman from the sea, a two-faced woman. She is like the sea in every aspect. One day she is calm and smiling, worthy of praise. The next day she is wild and unapproachable, unbearable even to look at, filled with hate. She is very ferocious like a bitch with pups. She is neither partial to loved ones nor enemies. She is hard to read, and is to be approached with caution. She is as perplexing as the ocean. Life with such a woman can be rough on some days and smooth another day. There is a woman from a drab, a gray ass. She is very tenacious woman. You musts must force her and threaten her in order for her to obey you. She will work without complaining but she will eat all day and all night. She will eat everything in sight. She is not a good sex partner but loves sex with any man that propositions her. She has the quality of a prostitute, always ready to have sex with any man. She is an easy woman to bed, an unfaithful woman not to be trusted by her husband.
There is a woman from a weasel, a very miserable and loathsome woman. She is undesirable in every way, not charming, and not halluring. She is sexed-crazed with nymphomania. She however makes men who have sex with her very sick. She is also a thief. She steals from her neighbors and from sacrificial feasts. There is a woman who is given birth from a horse with flowing mane. She is very lazy to work. She avoids all kinds of work and hardship. She will touch her husband only when she has to touch him. She caught up only on her own vanity. Sometimes she bathes three times a day. She is always well dressed. The only man that can be of good to such a woman is wealthy man or a king because she is very costly. She lives a very extravagant life so a poor man could not ever be suitable to her. There is also a woman from an ape. She is extremely ugly and is hideous. She is a pain to look at for all. She has a totally unappealing figure. She is well versed in every trick just like an ape. She does not care if people laugh at her because she has no shame. She does nothing helpful for anyone She only plots to do evil things. Finally there is a woman from a bee. A man who finds such a woman is in luck! She is a blessing to a man and his household. The household she lives in will thrive. She is a loving wife who is always at the side of her man. She will grow old, having borne illustrious and handsome children. She shines brightly among all women for there is no woman better than her. She does not sit yapping with other women discussing sex.
All of these kinds of women are always portrayed in the writing of the ancient male poets and playwrights. They Penelope the wife of Odysseus is the closest representation of a "woman from a bee." The attitudes about women are that most of them have bad qualities and that they serve men more evil than good. Women are wicked creatures that are put on the Earth to punish mankind. The idea suggested by the authors is that women should not be with men because they bring evil. Women are intrinsically evil beings and must be controlled to make sure they do as little harm as possible to the world. Women are best left in wild to live by themselves so that they cannot harm society. I believe by reading the works of all the playwrights you will see that all ten kinds of women discussed by Semonides is constantly being presented. The attitude of the ancient civilizations, especially Ancient Greece, is still very much alive today.
Bibliography
West, M.L. Greek Lyric Poetry: Oxford University Press. 1993
Mulroy, D. Early Greek Lyric Poetry: University of Michigan Press.1995
Other texts
Aeschylus,tr Lattimore.I: Oresteia. Chicago University Press.
Apollonius Rhodius, tr Rieu. Voyage of the Argo. Penguin.
Hesiod, tr.Wender. Works and Days. Penguin
Homer, tr Fagles. The Iliad. Penguin
Homer, tr Fitzgerald. The Odyssey. Doubleday.
Perseus 2.0, Yale University press, 1996.
To Women In Antiquity course information
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