Transcript Women in the ancient Greek world Questioning Women’s Seclusion Jane Rempel, Lecturer in Classical Archaeology Natasha Andronikou, PhD candidate, Archaeology 17 June 2014 Questioning women’s seclusion Ancient.

Women in the
ancient Greek world
Questioning Women’s Seclusion
Jane Rempel, Lecturer in Classical Archaeology
Natasha Andronikou, PhD candidate, Archaeology
17 June 2014
Questioning women’s seclusion
Ancient texts tell us women were kept separate from men in the ancient Greek house
I showed her the women's quarters too, separated by a bolted door from the
men's, so that nothing which ought not to be moved may be taken out, and
that the servants may not breed without our leave. (Xenophon, Oikonomikos
9.5)
…my dwelling is on two floors, the upper being equal in space to the lower,
with the women's quarters above and the men's below. (Lysias I, 9-10)
A drawing of
Vitruvius’ (6.7)
description of ‘The
Greek House’.
Note the
‘gynaikonitis’ or
women’s quarters.
The ‘typical’ Greek house
Key features of the
‘typical’ Greek house:
oikos
• Courtyard
• Narrow entrance
pastas corridor
corridor
• Colonnaded space
(pastas, prostas)
• Andron
shop
courtyard
andron
Villa of Good Fortune
Olynthus, 4th century BCE
Space for men:
the andron
• Mentioned in ancient texts
• Identifiable archaeologically:
• off-set doorways
• mosaics and wall
decoration
• raised or undecorated
area for benches
For a reconstruction of the andron in the Villa
of Good Fortune, see:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/resources/resource/2
660?search_id=1&index=0
Finding women in the Greek
house
Access analysis, ethnographic
analogy:
• Concern with privacy:
– entrance alignment off-axis
obscuring views from street
– windows small and high up,
often only in andron
– ‘oikos’ unit in most difficult to
access
‘oikos’
corridor
‘screen’
• Exclusion of external men,
rather than seclusion of women
– shop and andron accessibility
directly from street and
courtyard
– courtyard and pastas acting as
mediating spaces
L. Nevett, 1994, 1998, 2010
shop
Mediating
external visitors
andron
Mapping ‘women’s work’:
artifact distribution
Olynthus, House A vii 4
Cahill (2002) has shown that
artifacts associated with
women are found in most
rooms of the houses of
Olynthus
• Portable furniture
• Activities according to
light, weather, visitors
• All spaces versatile
• Women had access to
the whole house
loomweights
table and cooking wares
jewellery
N. Cahill, Olynthus 2002