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GOVERNMENT || GROWING UP || MARRIAGE || WOMEN |
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GOVERNMENT || GROWING UP || MARRIAGE || WOMEN |
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As Athens grew, they came to use a new way of governing their country. The aristocratic families which had lost most of their power, elected a statesman who would represent the city for one year. This practice was called a democracy, which is still used in many parts of the world today.
A democracy means the rulers are chosen by the people. In our democracy everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote, but in Athens it was only the men who were citizens, and who had been born in Athens. Slaves, women, and non-citizens did not get a say. Being a citizen meant you had many privileges (such as being able to own land and own slaves), but you had to have both parents born Athenian in order to be a citizen.
From the time of their birth, young Athenian men were expected to get an education. Based upon their birth and the wealth of their parents, the length of education was from the age of 5 to 14, for the wealthier 5 to 18 and sometimes into a students' mid-twenties.
A potential citizen spent 2 years in the gymnasium, and 2 years training in the military, also known as the ephebeia. Girls were not educated at all, because it was thought to be a waste of time. In domestic life, a boy was taught reading and writing by a tutor, while a girl was taught spinning and other domestic duties by the slaves her family had.
Marriages were arranged by the father, often when the girl was only 11 or 12. When the marriage was to take place the girl gave away all of her toys to the temple of Artemis, and her hair was cut. For the next few months the bride was taught the domestic duties she would perform for the rest of her life, by her mother and by slaves.
On the night before the wedding day, the bride and groom took rituals baths, and sang hymns to Hymen. The father made sacrifices to Hera, Zeus, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Peitho. When the ceremony began there was a feast at the bride's father's home, and then a grand procession, from the father's house to the groom's house.
If a wife was widowed it was the duty of the father's brother to find her another husband. A woman could not own property, and was practically an object herself. If the husband died she left the house and went to her father's brother. If the father's brother was killed the woman became a virtual slave, with no rights.
In comparison to modern women's lives and in particular to Spartan women, Athenian women had hardly any rights. They were not supposed to leave the house save, their domestic work was minimal (because it was done by slaves), and in general her main purpose as a wife was to produce healthy children.
From birth a girl was not expected to learn how to read or write, nor was she expected to earn an education. On reading and writing, Menander wrote, "Teaching a woman to read and write? What a terrible thing to do! Like feeding a vile snake on more poison." Other authors and philosophers had similar quips about women.
They could not own property, or a business, and always had to have a man to speak for them. They spent their lives hidden away in the back rooms of houses, and did not even meet or eat with guests when they were invited to the house by their husbands.
Athenian women can be classified into three general classes. The lowest class was the slave women, who carried out more of the menial domestic chores, and helped to raise the children of the wife.The second class was that of the Athenian citizen woman. The third class was known as the Hetaerae. The hetaerae were very like the Geisha's of China. Hetaerae women were given an education in reading, writing, and music, and were allowed into the Agora and other structures which were off limits to citizen and slave women. Their job was to entertain men, and they had little real power or influence. They did not mix with married women, because they were not respectable enough.