Women in Ancient Greece

Women in ancient Greece were generally seen as the origins of the great men of their time (along with divine intervention at times), especially in the case of Olympias, who seemed to stop at nothing to promote and assist her son Alexander in the dominance of the known world. The majority of the information available about the women who lived in the time of Alexander the III (known as Alexander the Great) or the Hellenic and following Hellenistic time period, is about women of royalty. This is to be expected, because more was written about royal subjects throughout history than about non-royalty. This paper will investigate these women and their lives, many of them in relation to Alexander the Great, himself, thereby painting a rustic picture of the female gender at the time, their trials and tribulations, as well as the circumstances of their emerging rise to power alongside men of the same time period. Many have said that the Hellenic (or Classical Greek) time period was a time when women began to come out of the shadows of the men they either created, married, or supported, and come into their own as political figures or queens that were adored by the people. This paper will argue that this time period was a time of sea change for women, and drove the beginning of acceptance of women in positions of power during the time of Alexander the Great, and will also examine the lives of five women who were exceptionally influential during this time: Olympias, Cleopatra, Berenice II, Cynnane and Rhoxane. Conclusions will be drawn about the overall influence of Hellenistic royal women on the course of modern and ancient history.

Women in Ancient Greece from a Female Perspective

According to the dust jacket on Elizabeth Donnelly Carney’s seminal work, Women and Monarchy in Macedonia, “Women were excluded from the exercise of power in most of the Hellenic world” (Carney 1947, dust jacket of book). The Macedonian Argead dynasty consisted of the time from the sixth century B.C.E. to 168 B.C.E., covering both the Hellenic and following Hellenistic time periods in Macedonian history. For the purposes of this paper, we will only discuss the emerging roles of women during this time period, with references to the roles of women previous to and after Alexander the Great’s time in history (c. 356-323 B.C.E.). Carney’s observation that classical Greek women played little role in the polis, or Greek city-state (Carney 1947, 3), but held power only in the realm of their families holds true for the majority of women from this time period, as far as history has recorded. Carney (1947) points out that Macedonian society during the Argead rule (c. seventh century B.C.E. - 309 B.C.E.) was different, because it relied on the monarchy as the system of government (1947). Carney (1947) states that “where membership in the royal family determined power, female members of the royal family could not entirely be excluded from power” (Carney 1947, 4). Carney is intimating that the mere presence of women around the men in governance resulted in female influence, although it cannot be determined what exactly that influence might be. (Marriage and family in modern times results in a kind of distinct intimacy that is well-known to anyone involved in them, and it cannot have been very different in ancient Greece.)

Although Carney goes on to describe the patriarchal form of government during the Hellenistic time period, during which no woman ever held the throne (per se), Macedonia’s women held and wielded more power than southern Greek women of the classical period (Carney 1947, 4). In the conclusion of her book, Carney indicates that whether women are in power through their role as bearers of rulers, an image of the unified monarchy that stands as a symbol to the people being ruled, or a behind-the-scenes influencer of political decision-making, this power rose during the rule of Alexander the Great, and subsequently fell when the office of power migrated from a monarchical view to one in which a single person was seen as having all the power (Carney 1947, 245-246). Speaking to the lack of information and recorded history available for the women of Alexander the Great’s time, Carney says “most difficult to understand are the many women…who appear in our sources as mere dynastic tokens, often because that is what they really were, although sometimes simply because our sources are too uninterested in them to provide…a full report of their actions” (Carney 1947, 247). In keeping with this opinion, Pericles writes the following on the impending widowhood of women of the Classical Greek period (478-323 B.C.E.): “Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked about among the men whether for good or bad” (Thucydides 2.45.2).

As in many societies and cultures the world over, women who are not talked about are valued the most. In other words, if there is no gossip going around town about a woman, good or bad, she must be of reliable character and background. The Greeks practiced female infanticide, while Egyptians raised all their children in order to continue prosperity (Fantham, et al. 1994, 161), which in itself indicates that women were valued far below men during the Hellenistic period. In keeping with the horror of killing female children, Fantham, et al. (1994), details New Comedy (a type of Hellenistic dramatic art) plots in which men are hen-pecked, and ill-advised sexual relations (from rape to intercourse with poor women) result in happy, married endings (160-162). In contrast to these socially-acceptable events, women such as Aristodama and Erinna were rewarded and publicly praised for the poetic arts they excelled in (163-164), and Fantham, et al. (1994), notes that these women were writing for other women, instead of the patriarchy. This is a subtle, yet very important, indication of the increasing power of women during this time period. Women also entered previously male-dominated sectors of Hellenic society, such as the artistic world, during the time of Alexander the Great and his mother, Olympias.

Lala of Cyzicus was an unmarried artist of the time, with mostly female subjects (most socially-accepted female artists of the time were daughters of great male artists, continuing the tradition their fathers began). The Hellenistic period also saw the beginning of the female formal study of medicine, and Hagnodice was the first female obstetrician in Athens in the fourth century B.C.E (Fantham, et al. 1994, 168). The emergence of women as obstetricians during this time might have been a result of a new awareness that women might be able to discern the secrets of a successful childbirth, as denoted by grave markers of the time, depicting various women struggling during birth (169). (It is not clear from the sources cited in this paper whether women were included in other medicinal sectors of the time, or whether obstetrician was the only sector they were allowed into.) From these advances in society, it is clear that a woman’s place in Hellenistic times was becoming more established through these revelations of education, as Michael Scott, a current historian, notes.

Women in Ancient Greece from a Male Perspective

A newer take on women in ancient Greece is detailed by Michael Scott, MA., PhD. (2009), in History Today: “the range of female influence and experience has slowly been brought to the fore, from the divine power of the female gods to the…women who were the power behind the throne” (Scott 2009). (Scott is a noted historian who currently teaches at the University of Warwick and originally studied Cambridge, and works with the History Channel, National Geographic and the BBC to make ancient history accessible to everyone.) Scott indicates that working women was a circumstance initiated by the decimation of the Athenian population by the 30-year Peloponnesian War, noting Demosthenes’ observation of women in the professions of nurses, wool-workers and grape-pickers. He further mentions the mixing of private and public worlds in the families of those governing Greece; Spartan female landowners and athletes; and Aristophanes’ play Women in the Assembly as indications of the changing roles of women (Scott 2009). Although the play is a comedic look (likely aimed at powerful men) at how women might rule if they were in charge of the Greek Assembly, its very existence proves that a shift in male thinking of the time was occurring. After all, Demosthenes had to have the revelation of even thinking of women as able to govern in order to write the play.

Scott mentions the excavation at Dodona in northern Greece, where writing by women was found on metal “curse” tablets meant for the gods; detailed grave markers indicating the importance of women in death rituals of the time; and Cynisca, sister of a Spartan king, who won the Olympic games in chariot racing twice (Scott 2009). Scott writes that women “would achieve economic independence and enjoy greater relaxation of physical and ideological constraints; they would be subject to an increased interest from the developing medical profession…and benefit from a growing call from philosophers” (Scott 2009) in the Hellenistic age which followed Alexander the Great’s death.

Jackson Spielvogel notes that “one of the most noticeable features of social life in the Hellenistic world was the emergence of new opportunities for women – at least for upper-class women” (Spielvogel 2009, 100). As noted earlier, a lack of historical record about women of lower birthrights has made accessibility to their information limited. Spielvogel goes on to note that the replacement of the polis, or city-state by Hellenistic monarchies was mostly responsible for the ascension of women to positions of power, a position that all the sources reviewed in this paper concur with. In Asia Minor, women such as Archippe contributed their amassed wealth to political campaigns (101), but Greek women continued to hold positions below the various men who were in power at the time.

With this overview of the difficulty of analyzing and getting to know women of this time period in ancient Greece, we will now move on to some of the information we do know about a few powerful women of the Hellenistic time period, in order to define the extent of female power and knowledge: Olympias, Cleopatra, Berenice II, Cynnane and Rhoxane. (It should be noted here that Isis, the goddess of Egypt, was the basis for much of the artistic rendering of queens and female power-holders in the Hellenistic period, and so it is clear that women of the time were viewed as descendants of Isis, a woman of great power [Fantham, et al. 1994, 159]. )

The first woman from the Hellenic time period this paper will focus on is Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. Carney imagines Olympias as “probably being carried in a litter, traveling over the mountain paths…back into Macedonia…to ensure that her grandson, a half-Asian boy…lived long enough to be a real king” (Carney 1947, 246-247). We know that Alexander valued his mother, because he took her with him into exile when King Philip married his second wife; so, she was valuable to a great boy-king who later conquered most of the known world (Plutarch The Life of Alexander 9.11). This alone speaks to her power, whether it was in manipulation of or protection of her son, Alexander III. Plutarch asserts that a supreme being, or god, may have fathered Alexander on Olympias, indicating that her power as a woman to bear and nurture a great child was not her own doing, but actually that of a divine power (Plutarch The Life of Alexander 2.6). This demonstrates the manner in which female power was attributed to supernatural male beings instead of the actual mothers of royal male children. In this same text, Plutarch describes Olympias as possessed of a “bad temper...a jealous and sullen woman” (Plutarch The Life of Alexander 9.5) and indicates that her practice of Dionysian rituals, often using snakes, also caused men to fear her; so it was her very power than instilled the fear of men, particularly King Philip, who consequently married his second and then third wife after his vision or dream of Olympias lying next to a snake (Plutarch The Life of Alexander 2.9).

Whatever Olympias’ religious and temperamental preferences, she had a dominating hand in the rearing of a man who conquered most of the known world during his time, and her possession of great power can hardly be denied in light of this fact. According to historian Michael Scott, she “tricked, murdered, and fought on the open battlefield” (Scott 2009) to protect her son and grandson. She was finally taken prisoner and executed in 316 B.C.E (Scott 2009). Another strong, opinionated, and rebellious woman in Hellenistic history was Cleopatra, arguably the most famous woman in ancient Greek history; certainly one of the most notable (not in the least for the spectacular manner of her suicide).

Cleopatra is described as being “paradigmatic of her time” in Fantham, ET al. study Women in the Classical World (Fantham, et al. 1994, 140). The source also describes other “respectable” women of the Hellenistic period as having two options in life: “the first from their father’s house to their husband’s, the next from their husband’s house to the grave”, but in the Hellenistic period women “forged new lives for themselves in the frontier outposts of Hellenism” (Fantham, et al. 1994, 140). For example, some royal women did not need a male guardian to conduct legal or economic business and unmarried women were permitted to work in liberal arts professions (1994, 140). It should be noted that Cleopatra’s very name (meaning “of the father”) indicates the domination of male governance in the Hellenistic world, which may have contributed to her blatant disregard and obsession over male power during her lifetime.

Cynnane was Alexander’s half-sister, and as such was considered royalty. By virtue of being King Philip’s daughter, Cynnane (Justinus 2011, 142) attempted to marry her daughter, Adea, to her half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus, a union that had political implications, and was thereby opposed by governing men of the time. It is clear from Romm’s history of Cynnane that she was a true Illyrian woman, and she went to war for her country on numerous occasions (Romm 2011, 144), and he indicates that Cynnane slew a queen in hand-to-hand combat. After the death of her father in 336 and the subsequent death of her husband, most likely at the hand of Alexander, Cynnane chose to remain a widow and focus all of her energy on the rearing of her daughter, Adea. Cynnane’s attempted marriage of Adea to the new King Philip was intended to strengthen the monarchy and reduce the influence of male generals because Adea would be able to “speak and act for her royal husband” (Romm 2011, 145). It should be noted that King Philip was mentally impaired, and Adea’s claim to royalty exceeded that of her mother, Cynnane.

Berenice II (c. 273-221 B.C.E.) was a Hellenistic queen – the sole heir to Cyrene – with actual political power. She participated in pursuits such as perfume creation, racehorses (she was an accomplished equestrian who rode into battles), and ships that sailed the Nile. Cleopatra is a descendant of Berenice (Fantham 1994, 144-145), and the “Victory of Berenice” was the first epinician (victory ode) written in honor of a woman (Fantham, et al. 1994, 146). Wealthy women from the Hellenistic time period (not royalty) were awarded magistracies, in some cases (1994, 155), and the earliest known Greek marriage contract indicates that an adulterous woman will lose all her assets, while an adulterous man may bring home another woman, as long as her doesn’t become responsible for that woman’s child afterward (1994, 159). Although this seems extremely unfair by modern standards, the mere existence of a marriage contract speaks favorably to women’s rise in power during this time. Women who were widowed often took charge of the household or estate machinations after their husbands’ deaths, and we can only assume that many of their husbands died in service to Alexander the Great’s wars. It brings to mind images of Rosie the Riveter, and women’s increased participation in the labor force during World War II.

No history of Macedonian women would be complete without mention of Rhoxane, one of three wives of Alexander the Great. Rhoxane was said to be of unsurpassed beauty, and Alexander met her during his conquest of Persia. Upon Alexander’s death, Rhoxane became his young, pregnant widow, with new royal status. Alexander had two other widows (Stateira and Parysatis), and according to James Romm, Alexander had intended to beget offspring from them, resulting in sons of European and Asian royal blood who would one day rule the Perso-Macedonian empire he had created (Romm, 2011, no page number). In order to keep herself and her unborn child in power Rhoxane and Perdiccas tried to murder one or both of Alexander’s other widows using a letter that sent them to the place where they were murdered. This was the first time in recorded history that women had been killed in order to prevent them from birthing heirs to the throne. It was considered very uppity of Rhoxane, and so shows that she was exceeding her perceived power, and reaching beyond the male governing bodies of the Hellenistic period (Romm 2011, no page number). Rhoxane’s son went on to claim his birthright to the throne, as Alexander IV. Rhoxane was a figure of female power in Hellenistic history, standing proudly and resolutely next to her stately companions, Berenice II, Olympias, Cynnane and Cleopatra.

Conclusion

As we have seen throughout this treatise on ancient Hellenistic royalty of the female persuasion, determination, birthright, and not necessarily allegiance to male ideology of the time were required and valued (at least by royal women) in the female population of the time. The women examined here went to great and often homicidal lengths to protect the birthrights of their sons, and thereby continue the bloodlines of their husbands and fathers in the historical continuum. Was their intention merely to glorify their male relatives’ and counterparts’ existence, or was it to glorify and enrich the lives of their sons (something all mothers, ancient or modern aspire to)? Did they intend to gain accolades and power through these conquests and vivid deaths, or were they simply pawns in the great play of history? Whether their actions were intentional (they were clearly premeditated, if the ancient historians are to be believed) or merely a result of their stations in life, these women were some of the first in recorded European history to show their true mettle and defy the directives and social rules of the period they lived in. Their actions should continue to be taught as the beginnings of reclamation of female power in modern times.

Throughout history, women have come into power through various means, all leading to the independence many women enjoy today. The monarchical societies of Hellenistic Greece and the women brought to power before, during and after the reign of the Alexander the Great are a large part of female history, and cannot be discounted as such. It must also be noted that many of the histories used as sources for this paper were written by men, with the exception of Donnelly’s notable and revered contribution, Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. The less-than-favorable accounts of Olympias and Rhoxane nonetheless withstand the test of time, and provide modern students of Classical history with a starting point for the ascension of European and Asian women to places of power. Although Carney mentions that this ascension was followed by a return to the lack of power women possessed in the years before King Philip and Alexander the Great’s reigns (Carney 1947, 4), the seeds of revolution had been planted. There are numerous such circumstances that exist in ancient history that may had led to the emanicipation of modern women, but the lives of Olympias, Berenice, Rhoxane, Cleopatra, and Cynnane must be included within them if they are to paint a complete picture of the past.

Works Cited

Carney, E.D. (1947) Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Fantham, E., Foley, H.P., Kampen, N.B., Pomeroy, S.B. and Shapiro, H.A. 1994. Women in the Classical World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Justinus, M.J. (2011) Justin: Epitome of the Phillipic History of Pompeius Trogus. New York: Oxford University Press.

Romm, J. S. (2011) Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for the Crown. New York: Random House, LLC.

Scott, M. (2009) “The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece.” History Today 59 (2009), Issue 11. Accessed April 9, 2014. http://www.historytoday.com/michael-scott/rise-women-ancient-greece

Spielvogel, J. (2009) Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715.Stamford: Cengage Learning.