Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication
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→ Women the Oikos.
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K. Kapparis, edition of March 22, 2003
page 7 of 11
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Xenophon (Xen. Ways).
Aristophanes (Aristoph. Wasps).
A respectable woman’s place was at home. There she should look after her children and her family, take care of the household, delegate duties to her servants, guard the property of the family, and make sure that domestic life run smoothly (Xen. Oec. 7-10). If a good wife had performed her duties properly her husband would not have to worry about family matters. Thus he would be free to take care of the affairs of the outside world and act as the representative of his oikos in the polis. Ancient authors frequently state that a man’s domain is outdoors, while a woman’s domain is indoors. The leading male of the household (kyrios) had the legal duty to represent in court-cases the members of his household who could not carry such responsibility themselves, such as women, children and slaves. Other adult males of the household, such as unmarried brothers, a retired father, or an elderly uncle were legally independent, but still under the control of the kyrios, as he was the one in charge of the family property, and this sometimes created friction (see Aristophanes Wasps).
page 7 of 11
When using this article as a resource, cite it thus:
K. Kapparis, “Women and Family in Athenian Law,” in Adriaan Lanni, ed., “Athenian Law in its Democratic Context” (Center for Hellenic Studies On-line Discussion Series). Republished in C.W. Blackwell, ed., Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy (A. Mahoney and R. Scaife, edd., The Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]) edition of March 22, 2003. Contact: cwb@stoa.org.
© March 22, 2003, K. Kapparis. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication