CLA230H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Polis, Swaddling, Colostrum
Document Summary
Men wed around 30; women wed as teenagers. Brides should be virgins: widows/divorcees may remarry. Weddings seen as celebration of female sexuality: e. g. , sappho wrote poems to be performed at weddings. A broken vessel a non-virgin woman whom a man would never marry. Marriage seen as a contract between groom and parents-in-law: parents of bride gave her a dowry to set up a new household. Wife expected to obey husband: only allowed to act independently in the oikos (household, responsible for preparing food, raising children, weaving cloth. Women owned little/no real estate (varies between polis) Women denied from financial and legal transactions. All texts written by men for men bias. Male sources depict women as evil, a separate species. Hesiod"s works and days common, important theme in greek culture: zeus created females to punish men for stealing fire from heaven, women seen as inferior and dangerous.
