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97 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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When is the flood season?
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July - October
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When is the sowing and harvest season?
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Approximately May - June
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Three basic sources for our knowledge of ancient Egypt?
What are the biases in our source material? |
Wisdom texts, narratives, New Kingdom love poetry.
Written by men and studied by men so very little reference to women outside the home. |
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Why was sexuality central to mythic and religious belief?
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These beliefs were heavily based in the idea of rebirth and the continuation of the king's lineage, population, land, etc. The female and male principles working together were essential to make this happen.
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What were the chief duties of the pharaoh?
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Governs country through scribal bureaucracy, maintains ma'at
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What was the role of a royal woman as king's mother, king's principle wife, and king's daughter?
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King's mother is impregnated by the god Ra, king's principle wife is partner in ritual activity, king's daughter is a potential queen.
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Royal insignia of queens
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Vulture headdress, Hahtoric horns and solar disk, double falcon feathers
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What is the significance of the ankh?
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Egyptian symbol of divinity.
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Do the queenly insignia provide insight into the divine status of queens?
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Yes, queens were also thought of as divine because they were part of the royal family and were associated with goddesses.
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Give reasons for sibling and other close-kin marriages among royal family.
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Imitation of the divine pair Osiris and Isis
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How did New Kingdom pharaohs use diplomatic marriage as a political tool?
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Diplomatic alliances formed, bride represented as "tribute" in internal propaganda
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Describe the accommodation provided for wives of the king and other women associated with the court.
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Housed in harim - independent establishment comparable to palace of king. Administered by male officials.
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What is the source of queenly power?
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Relationship with king, mythic and ritual (not political), authority in social sphere
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In the 18th dynasty why did the priestly title "God's Wife of Amun" become important?
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Queens used this to show their importance through their relationship with the gods
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Who are Ahhotep II and Ahmose Nefertari?
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Ahhotep: Mother of king Ahmose and possible regent
Ahmose Nefertari: Wife and sister of Ahmose, first known bearer of "God's Wife of Amun" |
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What were some of the accomplishments of Hatshepsut's reign?
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Intensive building program including restoration of temples and erection of impressive monuments; trading mission to coast of Africa
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Who was Senemut?
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Hatshepsut's steward, tutor of her daughter Neferura, key palace official
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Who was Nefurura?
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Hatshepsut's daughter, the title "God's Wife of Amun" descended to her.
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Why was Amenhotep IV important?
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Formulates "new solar theology" of single divine force which he calls Aten
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Why was Akhenaten important?
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Amenhotep changes his name to Akhenaten and moves the capital to Amarna.
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Why was Nefertiti important?
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Principle wife of Akhenaten. Aten cult gave her more prominence as the female principle in cult scenes
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Why was Tiy important?
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Mother of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. She was a common and served as an informal advisor to her son
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What part did Nefertiti play in the religious worship of the Aten? How is she shown in offering scenes?
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Played a more important role, height almost equal to that of king, brings offerings herself, shown as sole worshipper of the Aten while her daughters shake the sistrum
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What was the twofold function of marriage in antiquity?
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Assuring continuation of family and undisputed transmission of property
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How was marriage entered into and how did divorce take place?
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Started living together, wife takes possessions and leaves
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What kind of filiation prevailed in Egypt and what does this imply about the mother's relation to the child?
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Both paternal and maternal, recognized mother's contribution to heredity and her authority over the child
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What Egyptian terms are used for wife?
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Hemet and Hebsut - hebsut may mean "second wife" concurrently or subsequently
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Why was there a preference for close-kin marriage and marriage within the same social class/geographical area?
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To make sure the daughter is not taken far away from her parents.
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Was sibling marriage common in the Dynastic period?
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No, not widespread until Roman period
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Was a husband his wife's legal guardian?
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No, but he is responsible for protecting and caring for the bride
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Describe Egyptian conceptions of human sexuality and male and female physiology.
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Intrinsically pleasurable, seen as physically and emotionally beneficial to the partners.
Semen originates in the spinal column which is what makes men distinguishable from beasts and should not be spent freely. Woman's body is a breeding bag around a mobile uterus. |
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How was respect for mothers encouraged?
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The wisdom texts tells sons to take care of their mothers by doubling the food and to 'support her as she supported you.'
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Why were boys preferred to girls?
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Sons could provide for the parents in old age and would assume responsibility for funerary ritual.
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Was adoption common?
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Yes
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Were there menstruation taboos?
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Yes, houses reserved the space under the stairs for women's cultic and withdrawal space
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What particular gods protected pregnant women and children?
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Taweret and Bes
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How were amulets used?
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Extensively to insure successful pregnancy and delivery
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When were children named?
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Immediately after birth to insure identity would not be forgotten if child died
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What were the overall duties of the "mistress of the house?"
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Managed household operations and contributed to production.
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How could a respectable Egyptian wife contribute to family income?
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Could buy and sell household goods
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Layout and construction of elite houses
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Compounds with large houses and outbuildings for service activities.
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Layout and construction of workmen's houses
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Planned communities on a grid. Adobe houses, cheap and efficient not taste of workers, outdoors used as extension of living and sleeping space during warm season
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In tomb art, how are husband and wife portrayed?
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Men stand with hands clasped at sides, left foot forward, looking straight ahead; darker color. Women have hands at her sides, feet together, looking ahead, lighter color.
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What evidence of household activities performed by non-elites is there in tomb art and how are such activities portrayed?
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Baking, brewing, and other activities important for the happiness of the soul in the afterlife. Idealized and stylized.
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What evidence for diet of upper classes is present in such art?
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Popularity of banquets and offering scenes in tombs show that upper class ate well and enjoyed a variety of fresh foods.
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Describe political organization of Egypt and explain why the scribe's role was important.
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Hierarchical and bureaucratic. Literate male officials formed the elite class. Scribe's were important because they were the only ones that could be administrators and accountants in the civil service, army, and priesthood.
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Briefly describe scribal training.
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Could be tutorial or in houses of instruction associated with royal palaces and temples.
Four stages: training, apprenticeship, direct supervision, independence |
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What is a stand-in wife and what is the basis of her authority?
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A woman who exercises authority in the absence of her husband. Although her capacities are real, they are secondary and her authority is derived from her husband's.
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What evidence do we have for women's positions as stewards, scribes, and overseers, and whom did they work for?
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Women could only manage other women and worked inside buildings. Documentation on funerary stela.
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What kind of work was performed by non-elite women?
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Non-elite women would have had to do more manual labor than overseeing because they wouldn't have the staff elite women had.
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Why is it difficult to determine the status and responsibilities of women holding the title of "housemaid" or "housekeeper"?
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Women with this title could have important duties on a large wealthy estate or rather minor ones in a smaller household.
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What was woman's position in law?
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In theory, same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man.
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What were a woman's property rights and inheritance rights, testamentary and contractual rights?
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Property: 1/3 of all community property from her marriage. Husband could manage dowry, but it remained the wife's.
Contractual: Women were engaged in contracts a lot - marriage, divorce, purchase of property, self-enslavement... |
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Were female agricultural workers liable for forced state labor?
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No, this was restricted to men.
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Why was women's involvement in state ritual necessary?
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Social importance of religion.
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What priestly titles did women hold?
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Hemet netjer and wabet - possible connection with music-making, same duties as male priests
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Why was there a decrease in women's administrative and religious titles from Old to Middle Kingdom?
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Priesthood became a full-time occupation as a branch of the state bureaucracy.
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Explain the religious role of female musicians and musical troupes.
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Served as musicians for male and female gods
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Why was the office of "God's Wife of Amun" revived at the end of the 20th dynasty and who held it?
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After the division of authority in Egypt, celibate royal princesses took on this office to serve as the representatives of the king in the north and at Thebes.
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For most women, what did personal religious life involve?
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Cults of the family, including funeral cult of dead
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What do votive stelae tell us about women's religious beliefs and practices?
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Few stelae set up by women because of intercession and propitiation of perceived divine anger.
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Why is Hathor such an important recipient of female religious cult?
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Because she helped women in childbirth.
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Discuss conflicting Egyptian attitudes about death.
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Tomb art depicts optimistic picture but there is also a lot of evidence about fear and anxiety over the afterlife.
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What is the purpose of mummification?
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Survival of physical remains was a prerequisite for the survival of the spirits or life-force
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What is the difference between the ka, ba, and akh?
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Ka is the life force of the deceased, stays close to the body at death; Ba is the individual personality, free to travel from the afterlife to the mortal world; Akh is the effective reborn spirit, aspect of Osiris.
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What ordeal did the deceased have to endure in order to reach the afterlife?
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Weighing of the Heart ceremony
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What particular role in the funerary ceremonies was assigned to women?
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Dedicating funerary statues, performing offerings, and mourning.
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Who had the responsibility of performing funerary cult on a regular basis?
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Women
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Were the rituals performed for deceased women the same as those for men?
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Yes.
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How was a woman's status marked as inferior to that of the male tomb owner?
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Represented in subordinate positions.
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Describe the essential character of Egyptian tomb art and its fundamental purpose.
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Idealizes the afterlife.
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Hera
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Marriage and wifely activities
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Artemis
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Untamed nature, childbirth, protection of pre-nubile girls
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Aphrodite
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Sexuality, inside and outside of marriage
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Demeter
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Agriculture
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Hestia
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Household and hearth
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Four stages of Greek female life cycle.
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Maidenhood, Transition, Marriage, Widowhood
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What goddesses are frequently worshipped through girls' choral dances and why?
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Artemis, obviously (she was the protector of pre-nubile girls)
Aphroidte, Hera, Apollo were also occasionally celebrated. |
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Two reasons for the social importance of girls' choruses.
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Chance for husband's to see prospective brides, vehicle for homosocial and homoerotic bonding, means of instructing women in dance
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Four reasons women poets could rise to prominence in Greek society
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Muse was the female emblem of poetic knowledge, oral tradition of song and dance in women, women's speech genres, sappho as "enabling foremother"
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What position did Sappho hold that enabled her to compose poetry for young women?
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Enabling foremother
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Why is the figure of the 'absent beloved' prominent in her poetry?
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Consolation for members of the thiasos whose friends had left them to be married.
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Who is the most important goddess celebrated in Sappho's poetry?
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Aphrodite. She is on intimate footing with Sappho's circle and is invited to join them in their festivities
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How did Sappho's poetry influence the subsequent male poetic tradition?
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Songs were performed by men at all-male gatherings because it was an alternative to male poetry focusing on war, feasting and revelry, struggle for honor and recognition
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Six characteristic features of Homeric marriage?
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Separate spheres, seclusion of women, Kyrios, Arranged monogamous marriages, Bride-price, Honor v. Shame
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Oikos
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Estate of family comprising both land and valuables as well as household members
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Myth of Pandora
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First woman created as punishment for Prometheus' theft of fire. Woman are a necessary evil that must be controlled
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Who decided whether an infant would live or die in Sparta?
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Lesche - assembly of elders
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Stereotype of Spartan mother
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Instrumental in instilling shame; used by pro-Spartan aristocrats in Athens
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Athenian women Status Dispute
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Seclusion v. protection; women had authority in private realms. Seclusion only possible for elite women
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Numbers: Age at marriage, life expectancies, number of surviving children per female
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Marriage: 15 for girls, 30 for guys; Life expectancies: 45 for men, 36.2 for women; Surviving Children: 2.7
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Specific responsibilities of Priestess of Athena Polias
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Managed cult and personnel, trained young girls to serve the goddess, oversaw the weaving of Athena's sacred robe, Prepared sacred banquets
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An example of priestess who interfered in public policy.
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Lysimache was a proponent of peace between Athens and Sparta. May have been the original Lysistrata
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Basic layout of the Greek home
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Not large and elaborate. Gynaikeion - men & women's separate quarters. Andron - largest room in the house. Courtyard - Weaving took place here
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What is a symposium?
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Owner of the house would entertain guests
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Two steps in Greek marriage process - engue v ekdosis
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Engue: Betrothal
Ekdosis: Giving over |
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Ceremonial activities of Greek marriage
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Sacrifices to Zeus and Hera, Artemis and Peitho, Nuptial bath and bridal dinner, Torchlight procession, Unveiling
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