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Woman and Gender in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures
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Woman and Gender in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures
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Title
A Companion to Global Gender History Second Edition
Editors
Teresa A Meade and Merry E WiesnerHanks
Publication Year
2021
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Chapter
Thirteen
Ancient Egypt
Gender-related evidence reveals complex hierarchical societies that privileged men in many social arenas with some gender-specific roles strongly fixed.
Mesopotamia
Gender-related evidence reveals complex hierarchical societies that privileged men in many social arenas with some gender-specific roles strongly fixed.
Greece
Gender-related evidence reveals complex hierarchical societies that privileged men in many social arenas with some gender-specific roles strongly fixed.
Rome
Gender-related evidence reveals complex hierarchical societies that privileged men in many social arenas with some gender-specific roles strongly fixed.
Egypt and Mesopotamia
Patriarchally organized societies with differences in social configurations, power interrelations, and gender roles.
Greek and Roman eras
Extensive hierarchical kingdoms with men dominating political and military realms, while women dominated in religious and domestic spheres.
Gender Complementarity
The idea that women and men were essential contributing members of society, even though men were typically advantaged by patriarchal ideologies.
Religion and Rituals
Ancient polytheistic religious beliefs and worship influenced social arenas, with worship of female deities central to religious life and women's rituals assuring social wellbeing.
Female Sacredness
Concept of female divinities endowed women with deep cultural value, even as perceptions of femaleness and women's roles were eroded over time.
Goddesses
Goddesses such as Hathor, Isis, Inanna, and Ishtar oversaw various aspects of life including sexuality, fertility, marriage, childbirth, and war.
Erosion of Divine Female Powers
Goddesses' powers declined over time and became associated with more specific qualities, resulting in a shift from a dynamic erotic symbol to a nurturing mother figure.
Household Worship
Household shrines and sacred niches for the worship of household gods were common, with rituals often performed by women.
Women's Ritual Celebrations
Rituals celebrating various stages of a woman's life and acknowledging female biological functions endowed them with positive cultural valuation.
What qualities did women embody as mortals?
Divine qualities that significantly shaped peoples' lives.
What elements were most gods tied to?
Natural elements such as the sky, sea, thunder, lightning, and rain.
What notions did gods represent?
Civic or political notions, portraying patriarchal ideologies.
What social power roles did men define as masculine?
The ruler, family patriarch, warrior, and conqueror.
What did household shrines and sacred niches attest to?
The pervasiveness of spiritual belief.
What did annual rituals for various goddesses do for women?
Endowed them with an empowered sense of their own identity.
What did rituals acknowledging menarche and menstrual cycles do?
Endowed those female biological functions with positive cultural valuation.
What stages of a girl's life did the Greeks ritually celebrate?
Girlhood, puberty, adolescence, and new bride.
What did ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes note about women's critical public voice?
It was undergirded by their spiritual foundation.
What types of rites did boys typically undergo in late adolescence?
Boys transition rites, including food, sleep and other deprivations, periods of isolation and/or survival training, ritual enactments, and sexual initiation.
What did adult women's rites celebrate foremost?
Their key role in maintaining their cultures biologically, psychologically, morally, and often intellectually and creatively.
What roles did women serve as?
Priestesses and religious officiants.
