Ancient Greece

Question 1

What are the qualifications for Athenian citizenship?

Answer 1

1. must be male
2. must have been registered with the deme and tribe at the age of 18 years
3. both parents must be Athenians, freeborn and legally married
4. at birth your father had to recognise you as his child by picking you up or you would be left to die

Question 2

How many slaves lived in Athens in the 5th Century?

Answer 2

One-third of the population

Question 3

Which types of households would have been able to afford one slave girl

Answer 3

“middle-income”

Question 4

Which types of households would have been able to afford multiple slave girls?

Answer 4

more affluent households

Question 5

What was the role of slave-girls?

Answer 5

they would help the women of the house do domestic chores or in more affluent homes they would be housekeepers, cooks or nurses.

Question 6

What was the personal relationship between a slave girl and their family?

Answer 6

Some were more personal and became their mistresses’ confidantes or the much-loved companions of the children they nursed.

Question 7

Why did Athens have so many prostitutes?

Answer 7

they were a busy trading port

Question 8

Who were Pornai?

Answer 8

They were the lower graded prostitutes and were generally owned by the brothel keepers.

Question 9

Who were the Hetairai

Answer 9

These were female companions and were the higher end prostitues, mainly metic women occasionally Athenians and were at most private events of the city

Question 10

Who formed the only significant group of economically independent women in Athens?

Answer 10

the Hetairai

Question 11

Who were Metic women?

Answer 11

They were the wives of Metic men

Question 12

What was the role of poorer metic women

Answer 12

some were casual farm labourers, market stallholders and so on, alongside poorer Athenian citizens.

Question 13

What were metic women excluded from?

Answer 13

Some religious events such as Thesmophoria

Question 14

What happened to independent metic women?

Answer 14

They registered as resident aliens, but after marriage was banned between Metic and Athenian citizen, they would struggle to find a husband and end up working as a prostitute.

Question 15

What was one of the main ways that Women could leave the house?

Answer 15

Religious events

Question 16

What were the main religious events exclusive to women?

Answer 16

Thesmophoria, festival of the goddess Demeter, which was restricted to wives of citizens and lasted three days. This was the only time of year that women could spend days away from home, as they camped in huts around the temple of Demeter.

Question 17

What was the most important role a women could have in Athens

Answer 17

Priestesses to a goddess

Question 18

Who was the most well-known women in Athens

Answer 18

Priestess to Athena

Question 19

What god were women important to?

Answer 19

Dionysus, although they were not involved in the sacred rites and mysteries devoted to him

Question 20

What would happen if male guests were present in a house?

Answer 20

The women of the house ate apart, and the only women who were present were entertainers or prostitutes

Question 21

Where were the women living quarters?

Answer 21

They did not always have a permanent place, but were often around a internal courtyard

Question 22

What did women do in the internal courtyard?

Answer 22

In summer and and spring women the women would use this space to work, relax and eat

Question 23

What was the main job of women in Athens?

Answer 23

To take charge of the internal management of the house, This included looking after and training the slaves, as well as punish them if they are negligent.

Question 24

Poorer women would have to….

Answer 24

do all the cooking, cleaning, spinning, weaving and washing

Question 25

What was the main archetypical feminine accomplishment of a women?

Answer 25

Weaving the wool

Question 26

What did wool provide for women?

Answer 26

clothing, household, and soft-furnishings such as wall-hangings, cushions and bed covers

Question 27

Why would a women visit another women?

Answer 27

Help them in labour, borrow salt, or celebrate the brith of a baby

Question 28

Why would lower-class Athenian women leave their home?

Answer 28

Without a slave-girl, women were expected to fetch the water from the public fountain, but would NOT do the food shop

Question 29

What were the jobs that lower-classed women would attend?

Answer 29

Some became midwives or washerwomen, and casual agricultural labour. Some even ran slaves in the market place selling flowers, vegetables or bread.

Question 30

Would women have attended the theatre

Answer 30

This is much discusses, but there is no conclusive evidence.