Curtis P.

Wildflower December 3rd 2009 History 101

Ancient Civilizations View of Womens Rights

Throughout history women have played a major role in every society, kingdom, and culture. Since the first civilization of the Sumerians to our modern day world, women have been given certain rights, rules, and privileges. With each evolving society a womans freedoms and power has had a major influence amongst wars, empires, kings and commoners alike. In a world that has been generally dominated by the rule of males, you cannot overlook or underestimate the effectiveness of a womans ability to rule over men and influence all aspects of culture. The majority of people today would agree that the bulk of womens rights have come to them only in the last one hundred years. Surprisingly, since the very first civilized society of the Sumerians women have been protected by many laws. Nearly three dozen of Hammurabis 282 law codes dealt specifically with the protections of women. The codes focused much attention on marriage and put a lot of responsibility on the man of the household to provide for his wife and children. In case of divorce the law codes also allowed women to collect certain compensations and goods so that she would not be left penniless. Men were not allowed to take full advantage of their wives or daughters and the laws permitted women to have a choice regarding marriage duties and family matters (Hammurabi, 118). In ancient Sparta and in the days of Alexander the Great women who possessed strong and cunning character also gained more respect amongst warrior cultures. During the time of Alexanders rule a Thebian woman by the name of Timoclea took justice in her own hands by trapping and killing her abusive captor. When she was taken before Alexander and spoke of her defense, she was admired and released for her courage (Plutarch, 330-333).

Religion also played a part in the freedom of women. Many women became martyrs of the Christian faith during the early years of the pagan Roman Empire, though women expecting childbirth may have been spared or delayed punishment in some cases (Freemantle, 195-197). In the Middle Ages women seemed to fall under more criticism when fears of witchcraft arose. Generally, once women were condemned of being a witch all their rights were revoked and a death sentence was imminent (The Malleus Maleficarum, 41-47). The status level of women has constantly changed throughout different cultures and periods of history, but there have been common views held since the beginning of time. Until the 20th century women have been looked at as inferior to men. Besides a few queens men have been the ruling sex in virtually every ancient civilization, from the royal kingdoms to the barbarian tribes, religious clergy and military commands women were considered to be the weaker gender and incapable of leadership. Another common view that even holds true in some cultures today is the role of the women to be the caretaker of the home and have the primary duty of raising the children. Since women stayed at home and were not required or eligible for the majority of trades the man has always had the role of the provider and protector which had resulted in demoting women to second class citizens. Certain religions also dictated the treatment and the social status of women throughout history. In polytheistic worshipping cultures like the ancient Greeks and the Romans there were many female goddesses and some pagan religions such as the Hellenistic tribe of Diana focused specifically on a female God. The Virgin Mary is a very important idol of the Christian and Catholic religions. Christian monasteries even allowed women in their clergy as nuns. The Islamic religion of ancient and even modern day Muslims Arabs puts very many limits on womens rights. Arabic Muslim empires of the ancient world have been notorious for treating women unfairly and limiting their rights to a bare minimum, so much as to not even allow women to show their face in public. Another not so flattering common view of women deals with one of the oldest professions in history; prostitution. Prostitution has existed in every civilization and every empire and is never a widely respected choice of work. In Satire of Women by the Roman poet Juvenal, the poet portrays the women of the Empire being without morals and extremely oversexed (Green, 127-132).Prostitutes were

mostly classified as low class, dirty, and uneducated but royalty and kingdoms have never been invincible from scandals involving these women of the night. Although not a prostitute but a queen, Cleopatra of Egypt has demonstrated the sexual power a woman can possess over a man. Her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony shook and shaped the early Roman Empire. Through all the different empires and all the different cultures that have changed and evolved throughout history some will ask which is the best time period to have been a woman in the ancient world? It seems that the days of the Middle Ages in Western Europe could have been the most tolerant, convenient, and overall safest age to be a female. Chivalry and Christianity our two major reasons for this argument. Once chivalry was enforced it helped create a competition for men to pride themselves as protectors and bread winners for their women. Knights who respected and defended women became role models and helped create an ideology that the love and dependency of a woman were values worth fighting for. When Christianity became the dominant religion of Europe during the Middle Ages women who became Christians did not have to fear for their lives because of their religion. That is of course as long as you were a good practicing Christian. One downfall of the Christians was that they were quick to accuse women of being witches. Many men shared the common view that women were inherently evil therefore condemning them for suspicious activities or minor heresies (The Malleus Maleficarum, 41-47). This was also a period of time when it was more common for Queens to rule over entire kingdoms. In most countries of the world today women virtually share all the same rights and freedoms as their male counterparts. Along with having equal rights women also share most of the same duties and in some cases might even have an advantage with job opportunities. It is hard to pin point which ancient civilization was overall the best time period for women to live in. Laws, cultures, and countries have changed so much since the early days of human existence. Thankfully, today the consensus world view of womens rights has reached an equal level to that of any and every man.