Women and their place in Ancient Times.
The civilizations of the Ancients were not always friendly to the woman or to her reputation. But before we condemn the Ancients as uncivilized, I hope to be able to explain in this paper what the culture and society of the time was like for women and I hope to do this from the information left to us by the philosophers and scholars of the time, to understand why women were often looked upon with scorn and disdain, and viewed as an inferior counterpart to the man. I believe that after a view of what the culture of the time was like, the reader may be able to more fully understand how women were perceived, why the perception was commonly held, and perhaps help to understand how certain views of women from that time prevail even today, nearly 2000 Years later. .
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"Strange that God hath given to men slaves for the venom of all creeping pests, but none hath ever yet devised a balm for venomous woman, worse than fire or viper" Andromache to Hippolytus.
At the beginning of the first and following centuries, Rome may have been the ruling power of the time, Greek Hellenism had made great inroads into the nations, and the mixture of its philosophies did not escape the Roman subjects. The Greek poets were fond of compare woman with evil. Euripides has Hippolytus say: "Why hast thou given a home beneath the sun, Zeus, unto woman, specious curse to man?" Andromache, a woman who had internalized the values of men, comes to this conclusion: "Strange that God hath given to men slaves for the venom of all creeping pests, but none hath ever yet devised a balm for venomous woman, worse than fire or viper". Among the Romans, we find Tacitus picturing women as controlling and cruel. He quotes Severus Caecina as saying during a debate: "With good reason," he said, "had it been formerly decided that women were not to be taken among our allies or into foreign countries.