CCIV 243:
WOMEN AND THE POLIS

Suggestions for Study
For each Tuesday class, I suggest that you first read through the assigned material, to get an overview of the period covered, the major issues and events in it, and the aspects relating to women. Second, reread the material from Fine, The Ancient Greeks with the notes and questions below in mind: these are designed to help you organize the material for yourself and to alert you to what the major issues are. Also, consult the indicated pages in the Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece (PHA), and follow the links to the supplementary material from Thomas Martin's on-line Overview of Archaic and Classical Greek History (TRM). This will give you a slightly different perspective on the material and will help you to see how historical information can be understood and presented differently. Third, reread the material in Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece and think about the historical period covered in relation to women: what questions occur to you that are not answered by the readings in either Fine or Blundell? Make a list of these and bring them to class. For Tuesday's class, ignore the questions posted for Blundell: in most cases we will discuss these in connection with Thursday's readings. Your reading in Blundell for Tuesday can be more or less casual, and should be used to help you get started in thinking about women in relation to the historical period under discussion. For Thursday's class, read the Blundell chapter more carefully and think about it in more detail (see next paragraph).

For each Thursday class, I suggest that you first read through the assigned primary material, to get an overall sense of what it is about. Second, reread the material with the notes and questions below in mind. These are designed to help you focus your attention on historical and sociological, rather than literary, issues. Third, reread the material in Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece which was assigned for Tuesday. Evaluate your own interpretation of the implications for women of the material against hers. Make notes on your observations and bring them to class.

1. Background:
1A. Dark Age: If you don't know what this was, you can get a "quick fix" by reading page 38 in the Penguin Historical Atlas; a slightly more expanded description appears on page 46 and is illustrated by the map on page 47.
Topics: Dark Age dates (PHA 38, 46); major characteristics; migrations (PHA 47; TRM 3.2); economy (PHA 38, 46; TRM 3.3)

1B. Emergence from Dark Age:
Topics: date; Near East; Lefkandi (PHA 47; TRM 3.4); Athens burials (TRM 4.1-4); agriculture?

1C. Oracles and Olympic Games: (PHA 44-45)
Topics: Delphic oracle, Dodona (PHA 47-49 maps; TRM 5.12); Olympic games (TRM 4.10-11); games of Hera (Pausanias); games of Hera (student web site); the "sixteen women" (student web site); Panhellenism (TRM 4.12)

2. Rise of Polis (and Colonization)
2A. Age of Transition: dates? how determined? in relation to what? principal characteristics? (Fine, pp. 46-48)

2B. Polis: what is it? what are its principal characteristics? when did it appear? where? what is Fine's reconstruction of its origins and development (pp. 48-50)? do you agree with it in terms of your own ideas and/or knowledge about how a distinct community comes about in historical time? (Compare: PHA 48-49; TRM 5.1-3; 5.13). Follow this link to see a map of the major places where the polis developed.

2C. Greek institutions: Fine pp. 51-52; cf. TRM 5.4.

2D. Disappearance of kingship: Fine, pp. 53-54; evidence of Iliad and Odyssey; TRM 4.5-8

2E. Transition to rule of nobles: Fine, pp. 54-56; TRM 4.13-16; 5.14-15

2F. Types of aristocratic government: Fine, pp. 57-58; TRM 5.16-19

2G. Four chief bases of power: Fine, pp. 58-61; review and compare TRM 5.16-19; Hoplites: Chigi vase (page 59): link here to see this vase

2H. Slavery: TRM 5.20-23

3. Key words: review each of these in terms of their meaning and their significance for this period:
oikos (pl., oikoi)
polis
acropolis
village
king(s) (basileus, pl., basileis)
nobles
descent groups or clans (genê, gennêtai)
aristocracy
council
assembly
hoplite

4. Social Organization: what is your sense of the overall social organization of Greek community in this period? what are its defining characteristics? what development does it undergo? how do women fit into the community?

Homer, Iliad
women as slaves? women and symbolic worth? overall impression of women in the Iliad?

Homer, Odyssey
prominece of women and women's power? contrast among Helen, Clytemnestra and Penelope? Penelope's authority? representation of marriage?

Scheria/Phaeacia:
Read the paragraph on this episode on pages 54-55 carefully and evaluate what Blundell says about it against your own impressions and interpretations of the material.

Taking it as a given that an independent community is defined by (1) its human group, (2) its territory and (3) its political organization, describe each of these as they are represented in Odyssey 6-8.

Human Group:
How many different groups appear? are there distinctions of rank, age, gender, other qualities? how are these implemented?

Territory:
How is the territory defined? how is it demarcated? what buildings or structures appear? where do people live?

Political Organization:
What political groups appear? how are communal decisions reached? what kinds of decisions are taken? where do political groups meet or assemble? are women part of the political process? if so, how?

Last updated 2 February 1998