Pomeroy writes her novel, Goddesses, Whores, Wives And Slaves: Women in Classical
Antiquity, to portray the role of women during the Roman and Greek time periods. Her book consists of approximately fifteen hundred years beginning with the Bronze Age and ending in A.D. 337, which is the year Constantine passes away. There are ten chapters starting with Gods and Goddesses progressing all the way to the women of Rome and Late Republic. Throughout this novel, it is evident that women were thought of as property and were not important to society in these time periods like the males were. In the Bronze and Dark Ages, and the archaic period, women were treated in a very similar way but some cities differed from others. There were many classes of …show more content…
The first example is they had to have sexual relations with the man who owned the house. However, if the man was free he could have the option of having sex with his wife, his slaves, and other males without a fear of being punished for the act. On the other hand, women could only have sexual intercourse with her husband. Women suffer from male dominance in society beginning in the mother’s womb. If a female decided to have an abortion and the baby survived, it was the father’s decision whether to keep the baby or not. Females were seen as burdens and they were just another person to the father. However, male children were always needed and it was rare to let a male child go unless he was sick or weak. Women were only used to bare children and perform household duties. When they were ready to marry at approximately age fourteen, the father provided them with a dowry. If a father had multiple daughters he would have buy dowries for each one and most times fathers selected the option of killing the daughter at birth instead of buying her a dowry. This demonstrates that no one cared about the women in this time period. Women were solely used to gain power through marriages to sons of important men. If a female had a wealthy family, most times she would marry someone in the family in order for the wealth and land to remain in the family. Thus, throughout female’s lives they were thought of as property. They were not formally taught like males in school and were not even given the same amount of
Antiquity, to portray the role of women during the Roman and Greek time periods. Her book consists of approximately fifteen hundred years beginning with the Bronze Age and ending in A.D. 337, which is the year Constantine passes away. There are ten chapters starting with Gods and Goddesses progressing all the way to the women of Rome and Late Republic. Throughout this novel, it is evident that women were thought of as property and were not important to society in these time periods like the males were. In the Bronze and Dark Ages, and the archaic period, women were treated in a very similar way but some cities differed from others. There were many classes of …show more content…
The first example is they had to have sexual relations with the man who owned the house. However, if the man was free he could have the option of having sex with his wife, his slaves, and other males without a fear of being punished for the act. On the other hand, women could only have sexual intercourse with her husband. Women suffer from male dominance in society beginning in the mother’s womb. If a female decided to have an abortion and the baby survived, it was the father’s decision whether to keep the baby or not. Females were seen as burdens and they were just another person to the father. However, male children were always needed and it was rare to let a male child go unless he was sick or weak. Women were only used to bare children and perform household duties. When they were ready to marry at approximately age fourteen, the father provided them with a dowry. If a father had multiple daughters he would have buy dowries for each one and most times fathers selected the option of killing the daughter at birth instead of buying her a dowry. This demonstrates that no one cared about the women in this time period. Women were solely used to gain power through marriages to sons of important men. If a female had a wealthy family, most times she would marry someone in the family in order for the wealth and land to remain in the family. Thus, throughout female’s lives they were thought of as property. They were not formally taught like males in school and were not even given the same amount of