The Representation of Clytemnestra and Hecuba in Fifth-Century Ancient Athenian Tragedy and Pottery

Abstract

Scholarship on classics has intensely examined the lives of women in the ancient world. Opinions about what attitudes towards women were in ancient Greece vary from flagrant misogyny to a subtler, yet still strongly defined patriarchy. In classical Athens of the fifth century BCE, married woman were preferably secluded, but they could be seen in public in certain circumstances (Goff 2004, 48). These instances often centered on a woman’s role in ritual contexts (Goff 2004, 48). Women were considered emotionally less stable than men, and this belief and their association with rituals surrounding life and death tied women more closely to nature outside of the polis (Just 1991, 217; Goff 2004, 50). There was always a hint of anxiety towards women in Athens, as their passionate natures were considered unstable. However, women were needed for citizenship, as it was only granted to men with two Athenian parents (Goff 2004, 80). As Just notes, “in the passionate nature of women there lurks the constant threat of violence and injury” (Just 1991, 197). Women were inherently necessary, yet also inherently feared.