Women in Ancient Greece
In the article provided, the author’s main argument is that there are inconsistencies in the historical reality of how significantly women were a part of wining and dining occasions in Greek society and how this reality is altered in the limited documentation. This documentation overlooks women’s significant role in these events, reflecting inadequacies and biases in documenting women’s roles and experiences in societies. Social events like symposia or communal meals were important occasions where social or political connections were made, ideas were debated, and important decisions were made[1]. These occasions were key in determining one’s standing in society as well. In addition, Men are well recorded having attended these occasions in historical, art and literature accounts but unfortunately this is not the case for women which then takes away their role in some of these decisions that shaped society that they were very much a part of.
The article contains a combination of both primary and secondary sources, which the author lists. These sources include poetry, inscriptions, sympotic literature, works of visual art, court cases, biographies, histories, plays, moral treatises, scholia, fictive letters, and travel texts[2]. Compared to what we have learned in class, women in ancient Greece have been highlighted as servers and entertainers, not guests. In this article, the author shows numerous occasions where women held a more important role, not only as guests but as hosts as well. One example is the Thesmophoria festival, one of the most significant, widespread festivals that was dedicated to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and it was an exclusive event for women only.
- David B. Small. The Ancient Greeks: Social Structure and Evolution. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- Joan Burton, “Women’s Commensality in the Ancient Greek World,” Greece and Rome 45, no. 2 (October 1998): 143–65, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0017383500033659.
Bibliography
Burton, Joan. “Women’s Commensality in the Ancient Greek World.” Greece & Rome 45, no. 2 (1998): 143-165.
Small, David B. The Ancient Greeks: Social Structure and Evolution. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
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Question 
Reading academic articles is among the most important skills that we practice in history, and it is a useful skill no matter what field you end up studying. For this assignment, I want you to read the article by Joan Burton that is posted to Canvas (Attached) and answer the following questions in a short essay:
- What is the author’s main argument (thesis statement)? What is she trying to convince us of, or add to the discussion?
- What types of sources did the author use to make this argument? Did she mostly consult primary sources (letters, poems, plays, newspapers, government records or any other items from the time period being studied) or secondary sources (works written later by historians about the time period being studied)? Please be specific about the types of sources used.
- Does this article confirm or contradict what we have learned in class? Again, please be specific.
Women in Ancient Greece