Kwak 1

Byeongwook Kwak (Brian)

History 1A Discussion 1O
Prof. Phillips (TA: Amber Withers)
December 12, 2014
The Place of Women in Ancient Civilizations
Though women have existed for the same amount of time as men, it is true that women
and men are not always necessarily on the same level. In fact, even now, women are not always
treated with respect by men. However, the state of women way back in the ancient world was
considerably worse than what can be seen now. Ancient texts from the past reveal that, save for a
few exceptions, the position of women was overwhelmingly considered to be lower than the
position of men.
Firstly, even before taking into consideration how women were portrayed, the prevalence
of men and the scarcity of women mentioned in ancient texts heavily imply the lower status of
women in comparison to men. In the Code of Hammurabi, for example, the majority of laws
involve a seignior, which can be defined multiple ways but always explicitly means a man.1
The law code depicts a Mesopotamian society in which these seigniors can own property and
hold jobs such as builders, soldiers, or physicians; however, this law barely mentions women,
presenting only a vague view of the role of women in Mesopotamia. This implies that the
primary affairs of Mesopotamian society were dominated by men; because it was the matters of
men that were prevalent, it was only necessary to establish laws that really only applied to men,
without needing to govern the matters of women. The Twelve Tables of the Roman Republic

1 Meek, The Code of Hammurabi, in Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843,
comp. David Phillips (Los Angeles: Westwood Copies, 2014), 7-21.

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resembles the Code of Hammurabi in that it depicts a patriarchal society. For example, one table
states that if a person dies intestate . . . the nearest agnate kinsman shall have possession of
deceased's household.2 In other words, only a relative on the paternal side could inherit
possessions by default; essentially, men took priority over women. Like the Code of Hammurabi,
the Twelve Tables have few laws that mention women: laws that regulate trials, inheritance, and
land ownership all appear to apply to men only, thus indicating that men were predominant in
Roman society. Furthermore, women are very rarely seen in ancient works of fiction; it is usually
men that are central figures of these stories. One example is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which
features the protagonist Gilgamesh, a man created by the gods and given a perfect body . . .
endowed with beauty and courage.3 Gilgamesh is portrayed as an all-powerful hypermasculine
man capable of accomplishing great feats such as killing the Bull of Heaven, and the fact that
such a man was idolized and seen as a legendary figure in Mesopotamia is telling of the values
that Mesopotamian civilization holds: namely, men can easily be considered to be heroes, while
women are not. Similarly, Homer's Iliad portrays the ancient Greek armies made up of solely
men, and exemplifies male heroes such as Achilles, Agamemnon, and Odysseus.4 The lack of
powerful female figures in these epics indicates that ancient civilizations found it more natural
for men to be heroes and in power, while women were not. The extent of how law codes apply to
men but not women and the extent of how men appear as heroes in stories but not women is a
good indicator of the lower status of women when compared to men.
Ancient texts appear to universally portray the role of women as the same: they are to be
2 Twelve Tables, in Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843, comp. David
Phillips (Los Angeles: Westwood Copies, 2014), 31.
3 N.K. Sandars, The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1972), 61.
4 Homer, The Greek Heroic Age, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from Gilgamesh to
St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 101-113.

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wives, mothers, and supporters of men. As mentioned above, the Code of Hammurabi includes
very few laws that refer to women, but every law in the code that does refer to women
specifically, laws 128 to 184is a law that has to do with marriage or raising a child. As an
example of such a law, law 128 reads If a seignior acquired a wife, but did not draw up the
contracts for her, that woman is no wife.5 Other examples include laws describing divorce,
adultery, and the wife's dowry. Essentially, all the laws regarding women are dedicated to
regulating women's marriage and child-rearing, the implication is that Mesopotamian civilization
only considered women to be good for those and nothing else. The role of women as supporters
can be further seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the goddess Ninsun, mother of the
protagonist Gilgamesh, provides support for her son by offering her wisdom. The epic relates
how Gilgamesh would tell his dream to his mother, Ninsun, one of the wise gods, and Ninsun
would interpret his dreams to foretell the coming of his great companion Enkidu.6 Later,
Gilgamesh asks Ninsun to pray for [him] to Shamash while he is on his journey to the Land of
Humbaba, and Ninsun prays to Shamash, telling him do not forget him . . . keep him from
harm.7 Ninsun's only role is to be a mother towards Gilgamesh; the only thing she does is
support him in any way she can, whether it is by lending him her wisdom or praying for him.
Homer's Iliad presents a similar character with Thetis, Achilles's goddess mother. When Achilles
asks his mother to seek the aid of Zeus in his quest for vengeance, Thetis was not unmindful of
the charge her son had laid upon her, so she rose . . . to Olympus to speak with Zeus.8 Like
5 Meek, The Code of Hammurabi, in Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843,
comp. David Phillips (Los Angeles: Westwood Copies, 2014), 14.
6 N.K. Sandars, The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1972), 66.
7 Sandars, The Epic of Gilgamesh,74-75.
8 Homer, The Greek Heroic Age, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from Gilgamesh to
St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 108.

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Ninsun, Thetis's entire role is to support her son, Achilles, and nothing more. Both the Epic of
Gilgamesh and the Iliad portraying women in roles of support reflects what is expected of real
women in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Greece: the role of women is to act as support for
men. Moreover, in Livy's History, the account of the rape of Lucretia presents another example
of an ideal woman: Lucretia herself. When the men decide to hold a contest to see whose wife
had the most womanly virtue, they find Lucretia surrounded by her busy maid-servants . . . still
hard at work by lamplight upon her spinning, in comparison to the other wives found enjoying
themselves . . . at a dinner party, in the greatest of luxury.9 Therefore, Lucretia ended up the
victor of the contest. Lucretia is portrayed as the ideal woman, which leads to the fact that the
concept of the ideal woman in early Roman civilization is one who is always dutiful and hard at
work rather than one who is enjoying her freedom. As such, it is apparent that the Romans, like
other civilizations, believed that the role of women was to be that dutiful woman that supports
her husband when necessary. Between the various ancient texts, it appears that these civilizations
agree in their perception of women in that their only role is to be wives and mothers and
supporters of men.
In contrast to the obedient, supportive women seen in ancient texts, women are
sometimes portrayed as hostile and belligerent. The goddess Ishtar from the Epic of Gilgamesh is
a prime example of a hostile woman: Ishtar is described as a fickle lover who gets easily irate.
When Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to marry her, Gilgamesh responds by relating her abominable
behavior, [her] foul and hideous acts.10 Ishtar retaliates by asking for the Bull of Heaven to

9 Livy, The Early Romans, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from Gilgamesh to St.
Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 320.
10 N.K. Sandars, The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1972), 87.

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destroy Gilgamesh, or otherwise break in the doors of hell to cause mass confusion.11 In
Greek mythology, Hera is another example of a woman who is argumentative: when Zeus and
Thetis hatch a plan for Achilles's sake, Hera confronts Zeus by saying, You are always settling
matters in secret behind my back, and have never yet told me.12 Zeus scolds her for this
confrontation, and Hera's fuming spurs the god Hephaestus to try and pacify his mother, saying
that it will be better . . . to make friends with [his] dear father Zeus, lest he again scold her.13
Hera is considered the instigator in this quarrel, and she is the one that needed to be calmed
down. Both Ishtar and Hera are portrayed as irrational and irritable, contrasting with the previous
portrayal of women that are loyal to their men. It almost seems as if the supportive woman and
the hostile woman are the only two archetypes that women fall under, and that if a woman is not
supporting a man, she is automatically treated as an enemy. Meanwhile, Hesiod makes an
offhand comment about women in his epic Works and Days, advising not to let a flaunting
woman coax and cozen and deceive you . . . the man who trusts womankind trusts deceivers.14
Hesiod practically states outright that women are the enemies of men, further putting down
women. Whether a woman is perceived as supportive or hostile, it is clear that their position in
ancient civilizations is far lower than that of men.
Though women are generally perceived as having a lower status than men, there are times
when they are empowered. For example, Sappho is one of the very few female poets from
ancient Greece whose works managed to survive to modern times, and these works promote the
11 N.K. Sandars, The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1972), 87.
12 Homer, The Greek Heroic Age, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from Gilgamesh to
St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 109.
13 Homer, The Greek Heroic Age, 109.
14 Hesiod, Changing Times and the Moral Order, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from
Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 119.

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power of women. Sappho's poem Fair Helen, All For Love describes how to Troy [Helen]
sailed away . . . resisting not.15 While the original story of Helen involved her being forcefully
taken away to Troy, Sappho's poem presents a new perspective in which Helen willingly chose to
go to Troy without resistance. Looking at it from this perspective adds a new dimension to
Helen's story: she can be considered a human being with her own decisions as opposed to a prize
to be won by men. This is much different from the nearly universal perception of women as
lower than men. Another example of women being empowered can be found in Lycurgus's laws
regulating the city-state of Sparta. Women in Sparta were raised strong so as to easily endure
the pains of childbirth, which implies that they were, once again, really only good for marriage
and child-rearing; however, Lycurgus's ordainments taught women to desire good health and
beauty of body, and to love honor and courage no less than the men.16 Spartan civilization
treated women as equal to men, which was a stark contrast to how women were perceived in
other civilizations. Ultimately, though women generally appear to be in a low position in
comparison to men, there are times when they take steps to assert that being feminine does not
equal being inferior. The exceptions of Sappho and Spartan women show even though they were
in a world that largely considered them less than men, they still used the best of their abilities to
assert their femininity as a strength.
Women could barely be considered as being on the same level as men in ancient
civilizations; with the prevalence of men and the archetypes of supportive or hostile women,
ancient texts reveal that women were seen as lower in position as men universally, throughout all
civilizations. Law codes such as the Code of Hammurabi established the role women had in
15 Early Greek Lyric Poetry, Individualism Emergent, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience
from Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 120.
16 Lycurgus, The Spartan Military Machine, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from
Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, ed. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim (Boston: Wadsworth, 2012), 133.

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society, and works of fiction such as the Iliad served to paint two different archetypes of women.
We can see that this low perception of women has persisted to modern times, with women still
being discriminated against for their gender; however, it is not as if no progress was made since
the misogyny of antiquity, as the feminist movement is now working to bring equality for the
sexes in order to make up for the thousands of years of marginalized women.

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Bibliography
Early Greek Lyric Poetry, Individualism Emergent, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought
and Experience from Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, edited by Nels M. Bailkey and Richard
Lim, 119-123. 7th ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2012.
Hesiod, "Changing Times and the Moral Order, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and
Experience from Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, edited by Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim,
113-119. 7th ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2012.
Homer, "The Greek Heroic Age, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from
Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, edited by Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim, 101-113. 7th ed.
Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2012.
Livy, "The Early Romans, in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and Experience from
Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, edited by Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim, 315-330. 7th ed.
Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2012.
Lycurgus, The Spartan Military Machine in Readings in Ancient History: Thought and
Experience from Gilgamesh to St. Augustine, edited by Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim,
129-137. 7th ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2012.
Meek, Thophile J., trans. The Code of Hammurabi, in Introduction to Western Civilization:
Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843, compiled by David Phillips, 7-21. Los Angeles,
CA.: Westwood Copies, 2014.
Sandars, N. K., trans., The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction. Rev. ed.
Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1972.
Twelve Tables, in Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843,
compiled by David Phillips, 29-34. Los Angeles, CA.: Westwood Copies, 2014.