Women's Life in the Ancient World

Introduction

Women’s lives in ancient times reflected the diversity of cultures but shared some common themes. In some cases, transitions from matriarchal to patriarchal systems resulted in a lower social status for women. One problem in historical studies is the balance of documentation, which is weighted heavily in favor of cultures with written traditions as opposed to oral traditions. When written documentation exists, it often makes little mention of women. Therefore, in the study of ancient women, personal narratives are very valuable, and artifacts are especially important. Clues can also be found in myths, legends and folklore.

Religion

Artifacts from Eurasia during the Neolithic period suggest that ancient peoples were profoundly concerned with the mysteries of life and death, and the power of childbearing was expressed in sculptures of figures with swollen abdomens, hips, and breasts. These sculptures, which might have been made for religious purposes, support theories that some form of mother goddess is among humanity’s most ancient deities. After the emergence of writing, various names for this type of goddess were recorded: Isis in Egypt, Astarte in the Middle East, Kali in India, and Aphrodite/Venus in the Greco-Roman world. In the oral traditions of many Native American and African societies, the supreme deity and source of life is female. Specific representations vary, but the basic powers and attributes of this type of female deity were remarkably consistent throughout many cultures over a very long period of time. Although by the second millennium c.e., mother goddesses had been largely displaced in Europe and the Middle East by the rise of Christianity and Islam, this type of deity is still worshiped in many parts of the world. Despite the prominence of this female deity in the belief systems of many ancient societies, the goddess’s power was not necessarily reflected in the status of women in those cultures.

Female deities, in addition to fertility and motherhood, were often associated with the Moon. Male deities were typically linked to the Sun, with the notable exception of Japan, which viewed the Sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami as a major deity. In many parts of East Asia, religious systems featured a system of cosmic duality (yin-yang), balancing the female and male principles and associating them with darkness and brightness, respectively.

Other female deities throughout the world were associated with nature spirits, often attached to particular locations. Goddesses in various pantheons included those associated with learning and wisdom, such as Athena in Greece and Saraswati in India. Women often served as priestesses or spirit mediums, serving both female and male deities in ancient societies. Many women were martyred in the early days of Christianity, and some of these became known to later generations as saints. Although the three great monotheistic religions address the supreme being in paternal terms, women who played important roles in these religions are admired as models of virtue. Christians honor Mary (1st century c.e.), the mother of Jesus Christ; Muslims honor Fatima (seventh century c.e.), the daughter of the Prophet Muḥammad; and Jews honor women of faith and strength who appear in the Torah. In China, wives were considered necessary participants in rites honoring their husbands’ ancestors, and female shamans were often called upon for rain invocations.

Marriage and family life

In the most stratified societies of the ancient world, marriage practices tended to be more formal at the highest levels of society and less formal at the lowest levels. Family relationships among the elite classes were in some cases made more complex by the practice of polygamy, which appeared to varying degrees in the Middle East, West Africa, India, China, and in other ancient cultures. Concubinage was another practice through which women could become associated with wealthy and powerful households, although the official legal status of concubines was lower than that of second or third wives. Arranged marriage was another widespread practice associated with the elite and ruling classes of many nations throughout the ancient world. Marriages could be arranged for political or economic purposes. Most marriages in the ancient world were monogamous, and in patriarchal cultures, there was a strong preference for the birth of sons to carry on the family name.

In some cultures, including many West African societies, the custom of dowry payments was balanced by payments made by the groom’s family. These exchanges of money were not viewed as payments for a commodity but as gestures of respect. In the Babylonian laws of Eshnunna (Tall al-Asmar), circa 1770 b.c.e., such payments are included as part of the standard marriage contract. In contrast to “bride price,” however, the more widespread practice of dowry payments reinforced preferences for male children, was a great burden on poor families, and contributed to female infanticide in ancient China and other cultures. Among the Maya, the groom was often required to work for the bride’s family for a number of years in a kind of dowry agreement.

Property rights of women varied considerably from culture to culture. In ancient Egypt, for example, women could own and inherit property, including land, and property was divided equally among children, while in Mesopotamia, inheritance was patrilineal. Although sons were favored, it was possible for women to inherit property in the Maya culture. Generally, women had more rights in matrilineal societies, such as in Japan before it adopted Chinese-style institutions (c. 700 c.e.). In native cultures of North America, nomadic lifestyles often made the transfer of property less of an issue, but as full participants in the struggle for survival, capable women could claim a relatively equal importance in both matrilineal and patrilineal societies.

Divorce practices also varied considerably from culture to culture, and even within cultures, depending on the time period and geographic location. In ancient Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya, a simple verbal repudiation by either party could terminate a marriage, and the wife would return to her family with the possibility of remarrying. In many other ancient cultures, however, the divorced women and widows were often marginalized, and initiating divorce was a male prerogative.

In spite of the obvious connection between social stability and protection from violence, rape was not always punished with severity in the ancient world. As in more recent times, it was sometimes carried out in the context of warfare, but even within a society, rape carried certain ambiguities as a crime. For example, in ancient Rome, it was regarded as a property crime against the husband or male relatives rather than a crime against the actual victim. This attitude is illustrated in the story of Lucretia, who upon being raped by a Roman prince, killed herself after asking her male relatives to avenge her.

Education, literature, and the arts

Although often excluded from formal education, women participated in intellectual life since the beginning of writing itself. Enkeduanna, a high-priestess at the Moon god temple of Ur in Sumer and a writer of religious poetry dating to circa 2300 b.c.e., was one of the earliest authors for which documentation is available. In the gradual transition from oral to written traditions, many of the narratives involving women were documented by male scribes. The women who played essential roles in the Hebrew Bible and other classic religious texts are often described in very favorable terms that recognize their intellectual abilities. For example, two women of ancient India, Maitreyi and Gargi, were mentioned as participants in scholarly theological debates in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (c. 800 b.c.e.).

One of the most influential authors of ancient times was the Greek poet Sappho, an aristocratic woman who lived on the island of Lesbos during the seventh century b.c.e. Recognized for her greatness throughout the Greco-Roman world, she is still admired today for the quality of her poetry, which was in the lyric form, meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre. By emphasizing love, personal experience, and emotions, she departed from the heroic and devotional themes of her male predecessors. Through consensus among the ancient literati, Sappho and her student Erinna of Telos were honored by inclusion among the nine Terrestrial Muses, earthly reflections of the demi-goddess muses (from which the word “music” is derived), whose role it was to inspire poets. Other women on the list of earthly muses include Myrtis of Anthendon and Corrina of Tanagra, who incorporated local mythologies into their writing, Telesilla of Argos, Praxilla of Sicyon, known for her drinking songs, and three women of later generations: Locris of Italy (fourth century b.c.e.), Anyte of Tegea, and Moero of Byzantium (third century b.c.e.).

Around the same time in India, women’s voices were first heard in the written anthologies of Tamil poetry, which expressed the experiences of women of diverse backgrounds. In China, the historian and scholar Ban Zhao (48-116 c.e.) wrote Njie (first century c.e.; “instructions for daughters”) and finished her brother’s Han Shu (also known as Qian Han Shu, completed first century c.e.; The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 1938-1955) after he died.

In the performing arts, women were often trained in the arts of dance and music. Musicians in the courts of ancient Egypt were almost exclusively female. Music, dance, and other arts were often conducted by women in the context of religious duties. This was the case with the devadasis of India and many other groups throughout ancient history. Although these groups were not always of high social standing and were associated in some cultures with concubinage, they sometimes provided women with an opportunity for social mobility. Aside from these elite groups serving the church or state in centers of power, women of the agricultural peasantry and of traditional nomadic societies developed, maintained, and transmitted a vast body of songs, dances, and other forms of art to accompany their various activities and to entertain, comfort, and educate themselves and their families. The Hebrew Bible describes women playing hand drums to welcome troops returning from battle and as composers and singers of lamentation songs.

Labor and economics

One of the most widespread and ancient patterns in the gender-based division of labor was the assignment of weaving to women. In Neolithic times, women were often buried with their weaving spools, and the legends, myths, and proto-histories from around the world are filled with stories that include a woman or female deity weaving. Si Lingchi (c. 2640 b.c.e.), the legendary first empress of China, is credited with the invention of silk-extraction technology. In Greek mythology, it was a weaving contest between the goddess Athena and the talented human woman Arachne that was used both to warn people against pride and to explain the existence of spiders. For the Mesoamerican Maya, whose women wove for both trade and household use, the patroness of weaving was goddess Ix Chel Yac, the daughter of the goddess of pregnancy. In many ancient cultures, weaving was an important outlet for women’s artistic creativity.

The degree of physical mobility accorded to the sexes was often related to the nature of the work women were expected to perform. Because women were responsible for caring for infants, hunting was generally assigned to men. Agriculture, however, was usually a shared responsibility, and records of women’s participation in agricultural activities are almost as ancient and widespread as accounts of their weaving. As managers of large households, and as partners and advisers to powerful men, women of the mercantile and elite classes in stratified cultures had influence on the economies and financial policies of their villages, cities, and nations.

Leadership and politics

Even in strongly patriarchal societies of the ancient world, a married woman was viewed as having a certain degree of authority over the affairs of her household. Women of wealthier families in stratified societies were managers of very large groups of people, including servants and slaves as well as children and grandchildren. In many cases, women derived political power from their marriages to rulers or from other relationships with men. In some cases, women actually ruled from behind the scenes by serving as the most influential and trusted advisers to less competent men or served as powerful regents for male rulers too young to assume their duties.

In some situations, women assumed direct political authority. Legends and archaeological evidence suggest that women leaders were common in matriarchal societies in parts of the world that later became patriarchal, including pre-Buddhist Japan, parts of pre-Muslim Africa, and specific areas of Europe. In many cases, however, resourceful women assumed power by taking advantage of circumstances that made it possible for them to function in positions that were traditionally held by men.

The legends of the Greeks tell of Penthesilea (c. twelfth century b.c.e.), who led an army of Amazons to Troy but was killed by Achilles. The Amazons appeared in Greek mythology as warrior women who lived apart from men and battled with the Greek heroic figures. They were supposed to have used men only for conceiving children and to have destroyed male babies. It has been theorized that these legends derived from early Greek encounters with nomadic Scythians, whose women sometimes participated in warfare. Tombs in Central Asia have yielded burials of women warriors. Although the Amazons were legendary, the state of Sparta, which invited significant participation by women in political affairs, represented a very real cultural and (at times) military threat to the classical civilization of Athens.

The Hebrew Bible recounts several women leaders of ancient Israel. Although they did not often rule as queens, women in the Near East had been accepted as prophetesses since the eighteenth century b.c.e., according to records from the city of Mari. As the Israelites struggled to maintain their political and cultural identity, they sometimes relied on religious leaders such as the prophetesses Deborah, Noadiah, and Huldah, rather than on the male monarchy. The Bible also recounts an African monarch, the Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia), who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem. The extensive kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, who ruled for fifty years during the tenth century b.c.e., was based in Axum on the western coast of the Red Sea.

In Egypt, the monarchy was also traditionally male, although queens could be very influential. However, two women pharaohs, Hatshepsut of the fifteenth century b.c.e., and Cleopatra VII of the first century b.c.e., ruled Egypt at critical times in its history. Hatshepsut became regent when her husband and half-brother Thutmose II died, and her nephew was underage. She had herself declared pharaoh and reigned for nearly twenty years until her nephew regained the throne. During her rule, she increased Egypt’s wealth with trade and diplomacy. Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh (69-30 b.c.e.), formed personal and political alliances with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, in order to secure Roman support for Egypt. After her death, Egypt become a Roman province.

Also in the first century b.c.e., a female ruler based in Meroe led a successful struggle to defend her African kingdom against the garrisons of Rome, losing some initial battles but eventually negotiating an agreement that would limit the southern reaches of the Roman Empire to Egypt. The powerful female rulers of Meroe were often described in historical records by their title kandake, the Merotic word for queen from which the English woman’s name Candace comes.

On the other side of the Roman Empire, another woman leader led a less successful challenge to Roman authority in Britain. After her husband, Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, died in 59 c.e., his widow Boudicca, when trying to assert her property rights, was flogged by the Romans and her daughters raped. Boudicca then roused the Iceni of Britain and led them through several successful battles. Later, they massacred the Roman inhabitants of London but were eventually defeated. Boudicca and her daughters drank poison to escape capture, and she remains a national symbol of strength.

Also during the first century c.e., the Trung sisters of Vietnam led a temporarily successful armed uprising against Chinese colonialists. Like Boudicca and her daughters, they committed suicide after being defeated militarily and were subsequently remembered as national heroes.

Queen Sondok of Korea ruled from 634 to 647 c.e., after inheriting the throne from her father. As part of the Silla Dynasty, she encouraged the spread of Buddhism and intellectual influence from China, although she benefited from the traditional Korean respect for female shamans and a degree of matrilineal authority that eventually weakened under sustained Confucian influence.

In China during the seventh century c.e., the empress Wu Hou reigned after outliving the two male emperors in whose courts she had served as concubine. Although she came to power through intrigues similar to those of her male counterparts, she was respected as a fair and capable ruler.

In the ancient South American and Mesoamerican kingdoms, women were important in the determination of royal lineage and were often portrayed on stelae. One of the most prominent was the sixth century c.e. woman of Tikal, mother of the Maya ruler Double Bird. The Maya city of Palenque had two women rulers: Kanal-ikal, whose reign began in 583 c.e., and Zak K’uk’, who gained power in 612 c.e. In the matrilineal societies of North America, women were often clan leaders who would control the selection and tenure of male chieftains.

Medicine, science, and philosophy

Throughout the ancient world, including the Americas, women were involved in the practice of medicine and were especially respected for their knowledge of medicinal herbs. In many situations, as for priestesses of the Igbo and Yoruba in West Africa, medical practice was associated with religious offices held by women. Egyptian women physicians were painted on tombs as early as the third millennium b.c.e., and Mesoamerican women healed on the basis of maintaining balance, a system not unlike the East Asian system of balancing yin and yang. In ancient Greece, one of the most famous women physicians was Philista (318-372 b.c.e.), also popular as a medical educator and lecturer.

Because philosophy, natural science, and religion were more unified in ancient times, the contributions of women in these areas often overlap. This is especially true of the women who participated in the Pythagorean school (founded in the sixth century b.c.e.), an intellectual commune of male and female Greek philosopher-mathematicians, located in southern Italy. The students were originally led by Pythagoras, who had studied with the female philosopher Themistoclea. After Pythagoras’s death, his wife, Theano, assumed leadership of his school and later wrote about number theory. Another Phythagorean, Perictione, wrote Harmonia (fourth-second century b.c.e.; on the harmony of women).

A second famous school uncharacteristically open to women was Plato’s Academy, inspired by the teachings of Socrates. In Plato’s Symposion (388-368 b.c.e.; Symposium, 1701), Socrates acknowledges the woman philosopher Diotima as his teacher. Another prominent female philosopher and scientist was Arete of Cyrene, whose father had studied with Socrates and promoted hedonism.

One of the last great woman scientists of ancient times was Hypatia (c. 370-415 c.e.), who taught natural philosophy and mathematics at the university in Alexandria, Egypt. She wrote major treatises on algebra, geometry, and astronomy and is credited with numerous inventions, such as the planisphere and astrolabe. As the leading Neoplatonist philosopher in Alexandria, which was officially Christian, she represented a political threat to the city’s powerful bishop and was dragged into the streets by a mob and torn to pieces.

Women were allowed more freedom in East Asia during the flowering of Buddhism in the region, especially from the fourth through seventh centuries c.e. In the city of Kyongju, Korea, during the seventh century c.e., Queen Sondok of the Silla Dynasty built the Tower of the Moon and Stars, considered to be the first observatory in the Far East.

Current views

Many scholars are reexamining the role of women in the ancient world, looking at the range of attitudes and social structures regarding them, the appearance of prominent women in many fields, and their political influence. Researchers are also turning to the ancient world for clues as to how the role of women has evolved over time.

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