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The role of women, in Etruscan, Greek and Roman Civilizations

Introduction

The social role of the upper-class married women during the early Roman Empire became a civic duty. The culture of Rome and their attitudes towards women can be said to have evolved from a number of other cultures. Athens traditionally has been credited with having the most influence on the culture of Rome, but this is overlooking the Greeks and majorly the Etruscans. The Etruscans for many years dominated Italy and ruled the region long before Rome was founded, in those early years when the Roman monarchy had just come into place. The Etruscans, before Rome, rose to fame as a superpower ruled almost the whole of Italy. They maintained dominance over the land and the surrounding seas and news spread abroad about how they accorded their women influence and power. Women in Etruria were accorded respect and dignity, extending beyond the construal domains of religion, family, and politics. The Etruscans were finally subsumed into the Roman culture and civilization. This integration led to permanent notable changes in the way of life to the Romans, the Etruscans and the Greeks (Bonfante, 1981).

While the influences of the Etruscans could largely be felt in Rome, the cultural integration defined Rome’s transitioning into modern Italy, social behaviors impacted various celebratory aspects of the lives of the Etruscans, a manifestation that embraced leading to a change in the role and status of their women. This study will look at the role of women, in Etruscan and Greek Civilizations and how their roles differed defining those clear distinctions in social, cultural and religious influences during Ancient Rome's transitioning into the progressive cultivated Modern Globalization of Italian culture of modern Italy, post-WWll.

The Etruscans

Etrusans dominated the central regions of the Italic Peninsula from the late 8th through the 6th centuries BC. Majorly their economy depended on trade. Their commercial networks went as a far as Sicily and Southern Italy in the Greek colonies. They were influential in transforming Rome into an urban civilization during the 6th century BC. Although the Etruscan civilization was later inscribed into the Roman rule, their legacy lived on in the culture and customs of Rome (Bagnall,2012).

The Greeks

The Etruscan culture established and represented the necessary infrastructure for the formation and benchmarks for the conducting of business practices for men and woman of the Mediterranean world. During the climax of the Greek civilization, they ended up dominating the whole of the Mediterranean region. The Greeks were also known as great colonizers. The Greek emigrants from as early as the 8th century BC founded new settlements in North Africa, Italy, Southern France, the Black Sea region and Asia minor (Bagnall,2012).

The Romans

They traced their mythical origins to the Trojan War and to Romulus who is believed to have founded the city of Rome in 753BC. The Romans transformed the ways of life and the ideals of the Etruscans and the Greeks into their own civilization and culture. The Roman Empire under the reign of Trajan AD 98-117 reached its greatest extent with their culture and norms incorporating various races, cultural backgrounds and language groups.

The Etruscan’s way of life developed in Italy during the 800 BC which is approximated to be the period that preceded the Villanovan Iron age culture. The Iron Age period occurred during the 7th century BC, a culture that was majorly influenced by the customs and norms of ancient Greek. At its helm, when ancient Rome was being formed, the civilization of Etruria thrived in three confederacies of towns of Etruria, Campania, and Latinum. The decline happened gradually, but as at 500BC, the Italian political destiny had passed out of the hands of Etruria. And at around 100BC, the last of the Etruscan cities were absorbed by Rome.

Even though the Etruscans had their writing system, their language remains just understood partly, and not many texts of any length did survive which therefore makes the current understanding of their culture and society heavily dependent on generally and much later disapproving Roman sources. During their heyday, the elite ones of the Etruscans grew super-rich by trading with the Greeks in the south and the Celtic world in the north, this explains why their tombs were filled with imported luxuries. The ancient Greek had a big impact on their architecture and art, and the mythology of the Greek was very familiar to them.

The ancient Romans called the Etruscans the Etrusci or Tusci. The origin of the term is explained by their Roman name Tuscany which means their heartland and the term Etruria refers to their expansive region. The Etruscans in Attic Greek were called Tyrrhenian from which the name Etruria was derived by the Romans. At around 540BC, the Italian battle caused a new power distribution in the western part of the Mediterranean. Even though there was no clear winner in the battle, Carthage was able to expand its spheres of influence which saw Etruria being relegated with full ownership of Corsica to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea at the expense of the Greek (Bagnall,2012).

The new political situation from the first half of the 5th century BC, triggered the beginning of the fall of Etruria when they lost their southern lands. Carthage, Etruria's ally was defeated by a coalition of Magna Graecia in 480BC; later the Etruscans were defeated by the Syracuse tyrant at the Cumae battle. Their influence over the Campania and Latium cities weakened, and the region was taken over by Samnites and the Romans. Etruria then became conquered by Rome in the 3rd century BC (Haynes,2005).

The Etruscans had to subscribe to the foundations of Rome after the invasion which generally triggered the influence of Etruria on the Roman culture-that is the Etruscan culture that was adopted by the Romans. It is believed that Italians formed Rome which later merged with Etruscans. In this perception, the culture of the Etruscans is considered to have greatly impacted the Roman ways of life. Rome was just a small town before the arrival of the Etruscans (Hallet, 2014).

The role of women in ancient Greece

The late bronze age

During the 8th century BC, Homer the blind Poet had described the Trojan war that had taken root before the end of the Bronze age. Many influential and powerful women appeared in the epics of Homer among them the queens of Greece-Clytemnestra, Helen, and Penelope (Tregiarri,1996).

Marriage frequently was matrilineal, which is the inheritance that a mother passes to a daughter. Helen's right to leave her husband and become married by Paris could not be challenged. The main reason why Menelaus together with his allies started a war was that he owned a right to the Spartan throne as the husband of Helen. If she married another man, Menelaus would lose his power and rights as the ruler of the city and its states. Likewise, Clytemnestra held the Mycenae rule herself after Agamemnon had left, she was married and together with her new husband they went ahead and ruled and killed Agamemnon finally upon his return. Penelope also was besieged by suitors during the absence of Odysseus, probably not because she was beautiful but because she was the ruler of the politically significant and wealthy city of Ithaca.

Generally, Homer was trying to portray these ancient feminine figures within the domains of his patriarchal value. Sons had more value compared to daughters; the fidelity of wives was praised while the double standard was not taken seriously. Men had the right to own slave concubines and even be polygamous while women were expected to stay indoors and to perform domestic duties. Women believed to be of upper-class level had slaves to perform menial tasks. It is quite probable that the portrait of Homer towards women not only reflected his own experience during the 8th century but the real practice during the 12th century. The Mycenaean tablets suggested that the allotted food for men then was two and a half times bigger compared to that of women. This, therefore, would indicate that the position of women was inferior to that of men.

Archaic Greece (800-500BC)

The status of women is decreed by the law codes of two city-states during the period. The Spartan law code suggests that the most important role of women was to bear children. Therefore they were to be fed equal rations, trained and educated in athletics. Towards the end, many Spartan women accumulated wealth and reduced the population by not agreeing to give birth to more children. The Spartan women were portrayed as proud and heroic (Pembroke,1967). The Gortyn law Code suggests that women did have a right to control, inherit and own property. A certain percentage of what a woman produced having invested her own work belonged to her. A woman in cases of divorce retained half the property. The women of this age belonged to the upper societal class and were educated. They, therefore, enjoyed leisure and freedom.

Athens during the classical period

The status of women during the classical and archaic Athens was far more restricted compared to other city-states of Greece. The women there were generally excluded from political life and education. The six Solon law code legalized prostitution which shows that men were allowed to be promiscuous. The main duty of women in Athens was to get married and give birth to children. In the event that a family lacked a son, a daughter would be allowed to inherit family property but only if she married her next of kin (Louis,1926).

Attic literature of this time depicted women to be of an unpleasant and dull character and inferior to men. It is believed that if women were educated, they would be more dangerous to men.The Utopian literature, however, depicts the greatest proximity to the equality concept. There was no need for legitimate heirs in the ideal society since private property was also not there. Women were given the right to participate in politics and even have more freedom.

A later view of classical Greece

During the first century AD, the status of the ideal woman was written by Plutarch while he was explaining the mores and customs of the Greeks. In marriage even if the larger part of the estate was contributed by the wife, it was more fitting if the man was said to be the owner of the entire lot. Wives were to remain silent and secluded and just to be seen in the company of the husband (Hall,1996).

To sum up the story, in classical Greece, women did have some role and education in the society. However, neither their social role nor their education would be taken to be equal to that of their male counterparts. Women were not given the freedom over their personal lives, they were controlled and were expected to be inferior before men (Louis,1926).

The religious roles of women in ancient Greece

There were pictures of goddesses taken with female dancers surrounding them; the male priests were not as many as the female ones and dressed just like the female priests. The role of women became subordinate from the time when Zeus was installed at the topmost level of the hierarchy of gods, even the goddesses' rites were dominated by male priests. Women were excluded from any kind of religious participation by some cults (Garrison, 1991).

Generally, the role of women in the traditional Greek religion was more restricted than it was in the syncretistic cults of mystery which were popular in the whole empire in the Hellenistic period (Louis,1926).

Women in the Roman Empire and the civilization that marked the transition into modern day Italy

The status of the feminine figure in the Roman Empire was linked to the influence of the women in the initial Italian civilization of Etruria. Women were accorded greater respect and freedom by the Etruscans. Women were given the freedom to independently participate in business and society (Buamn, 2002). Many women in the Roman Empire possessed massive wealth. Influenced by the Hellenist queens example –who had also lived in empires where their husbands were always away on campaign missions for long time periods. Roman women started to gain authority and even exercise political power even though they did not hold any office in the political arena. Sometimes they ruled in the names of their absent husbands or even sons who occupied political positions. Women in other parts of the empire fared better in acquiring influential political positions although it is true that they were only given honorific titles. Women also influenced the men who assented to influential political positions (Buamn, 2002).

Theoretically, the Roman society still accepted traditional sex roles. This issue leads to the creation of tension between the reality of historical women free to have a say in the marketplace and the political arena and the theoretical concept of the woman whose moves were restricted to just staying at home (Lefkowitz,1997). The Roman law suggested that women were still under the total control of men, this authority existed and extended both to life and death (Glassman,2017). A woman could face a death penalty because of just drinking alcohol or committing adultery. It was not legal for a woman to transacts business, manumit a slave or make a will without the consent or the approval of the male guardian.

The Etruscan women were treated equally to their male counterparts; they were educated, politically ambitious and popular for their sexual infidelity. They were greatly different from the Roman women who were supposed to value chastity and fidelity. However, the freedom that the Etruscan women had been granted paved the way for the Roman women to be able to enjoy many rights that the Greeks forbade (Warren,1973). The Greek women were highly oppressed both in private and public spheres. Women in the Roman society were allowed to attend social occasions, they went to private and public bouquets even they were not included in most political and religious ceremonies. They enjoyed private rights equal to the males.

Therefore it can be said that women in the Roman society were allowed to exercise a public role, they had actual economic and political power though they were restricted to the better form occupying political positions. They were always theoretically and legally subordinate to men. The upper-class women were able to access an education. This made them earn respect form men though their status was not equal to that of men (Warren, 1973).

When Augustus assented into power he had a feeling that the Roman Kingdom had fallen into disarray due to decadence and corruption. He started to intensely emphasize on the Roman virtues in a bid to restore order back in the society. There was a great condemnation of the role of women in the past decadence. Augustus also saw that men were in shortage owing to the 50 years of strife and civil war and high infant mortality rates, he, therefore, implemented laws that compelled increased reproduction.

The expectation was that all women would get married and those that bore more than three children at the age of twenty were given special privileges from the state. The transition to the empire ensured that there was an expansion of the rights of women mostly for those of the upper class. While the empire had started to establish the expectations about the education of women also changed (Buamn, 2002). Many women became well informed and literate with regard to contemporary politics. Historical documentation reveals that women of the early empire were supposed to offer political advice to their husbands even if they never received council invitations. Their involvement in politics and independence increased and in 195BC women in a bid to fight for their rights and to defend their freedom even organized a public demonstration (Warren,1973).

While the emerging confidence of women was cultivated primarily as a status social certification, intentionally related to increase male respect for them to buffer the negative stigma that most men had, regarding a feeling of insecurity about women acquiring greater political power. Despite the insecurities that men had, today we clearly can see a sign of advancement within the Roman society. The women of Rome were consistently depicted as strong people. Women's position during the first century in the Mediterranean world during the first century differed from culture to culture. Post the women’s rights/suffrage movements, it generally would be assumed that the female figure was invisible regarding equality compared to the dominant roles held by male figures of representation. Yet the Roman women had the privilege to enjoy some level of freedom and even to some extent exercise actual economic, political and religious roles that influenced societal issues (Boatwright et al., 2004).

The changing roles and status of women in Rome’s transitioning to modern Italy

During the Roman transitioning which was the period leading up to the reign of Augustus, several political and social problems like unstable governments and civil wars lead to a malaise in the general population with regard to the status of Rome. It was then felt that the crumbling morality of the upper class was responsible for these problems. Women were even used by some Roman authors as scapegoat for most of the problems that were occurring in Rome. Women were accused and attacked on a frequent basis. The roman authors believed that according to women too much freedom and power contributed to the moral degradation of Rome (Boatwright et al., 2004).

Women were blamed for the uncertainty in Rome. For example Horace a Roman Author blames women for promiscuity in Ode3.4. Cicero blames the moral corruption of Mark Anthony as being caused by a woman. The ensuing results were that the upper-class women suffered legal attacks since they were being perceived as a threat to the society. Generally the status of women became threatened during the late transitioning all because of the uncertain political environment. This unrest and uncertainty set the stage for the ascension of Octavian into power Octavian then redefined the morality of the upper class and it became his mission to restore this lost virtue the moment he gained power. He specifically wanted to restore the distinction between females and males and set a clear line between private and public. Several laws were enacted to control the morality of the upper-class most of which affected women. For example, it was forbidden for an upper-class member to marry someone from another class. The unmarried people were barred from attending public games. Childbearing and marriage became a civic duty for women and men to be full members of the Roman society. All people were required to adhere to the Augustan morality to be able to receive full benefits of Roman citizenship. The ultimate judge of primary family matters was the father and the man of the family (Buamn, 2002).

Conclusion

Before the rise of the Roman Empire, the Etruscans were in charge and ruled almost the entire country of Italy. Their women were accorded respect and dignity, religious and public life and rights across a wide spectrum of family and societal issues. The development of the Roman culture and the attitude the Romans had towards their women developed from a synthesis of many other cultures of the society, traditionally Athens is known to influence greatly the Roman culture which then overlooks the Etruscans. The Etruscans gave their women a higher status, and it is their culture that the Romans incorporated into their own and assimilated most of their practices. Even though the Athenian culture is said to have had a great culture on the Roman ways of life, it is the influence of the Etruscans that accounts for the privileged status of the Roman women, with the wife of Augustus being the model of an upper-class female figure. Therefore it is evident that the view of the status, as well as the role of women as wife and mother, did not just come from Athens alone but from a wide range of several different influences one of them being the Etruscans.

The roles and attitude of the upper-class married women during the Roman empire were influenced by several cultures, but evidence suggests that the Etruscan society played a major role in shaping the roles and status of Roman women. After the cultural integration of the Greek and Etruscans into the Roman culture following the Etruscans invasion, the role and status of the Greek and Etruscan women gradually changed. Before the invasion, the ideal image of the Etruscan woman was a wife and a mother who attended public games, enjoyed freedom and some legal rights and was promiscuous. This was later changed based on the legal codes put in place by Augustus which demanded that marriage be a civic duty, morality be upheld and restrictions placed on the attendance of public games. FIN

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