Greece

Within the general patriarchal framework which was present at least to some extent in all of Greece's city-states and colonies from Homeric times (c. 700 B.C.) through the age of the Roman Empire, one finds a diversity of roles and views of women that goes beyond the confines of early Judaism. There was a great deal of difference, however, between being a woman in Athens, Sparta, or Corinth.

Athens

Athens was a city of contrasts in regard to the status and roles of women. It is impossible to generalize about their positions because apart from common prostitutes and slaves, there were three categories of women: Athenian citizens, concubines, and companions.

Concubines are probably the smallest and least important group for our discussion. They occupied the middle ground between legal wives and companions. Their relationship to an Athenian male citizen was recognized by law, and if the concubine was an Athenian citizen her children would be free, though not legitimate members of the family of her male partner – unless he chose to give them such status. Finally, concubines had no dowry and their main function was to care for the personal, especially sexual, needs of their male partners. In this way, a male Athenian citizen could limit his legitimate heirs without limiting his sexual activities.

It is fair to say that although female Athenian citizens were respected as wives and mothers in the classical period (before Alexander the Great [356 – 323 B.C.] who initiated the age of Hellenism), their position on the whole was little better than that of Jewish women in the same period.