Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece

Women In Athens 

I. The woman at home: Mrs. Hausfrau, gyneconitis, andron 

II. Legal status: Mrs. Not Quite Zero; oikos, kyrios, kyrieia 

part of father's estate: the "inherited daughter"

III. The flipside of the above: men strut in public, women run businesses 

IV. Aspects of marriage 

V. Emancipation in literature: tragedy, Plato, Aristotle 

VI. The other women: hetaerae; symposium; Aspasia 

From Pericles' Funeral Speech (Thucydides 2.45) : 

"If I now mention the women who have become widows, and speak of womanly virtue, I can say all that is needed with a brief exhortation: fulfill diligently the tasks that nature has assigned you and you will be praised; and the highest praise you can win is to be spoken of by men as little as possible, whether for good or for ill."

Cf. St. Paul: "Let women be silent in the ekklesia (= iglesia)"