Who Controls the Private Sphere in an Archaic Greek Society :: Women Power Greek Greece Essays

Who Controls the Private welkin in an Archaic Greek Society Abstract Texts, such as Oeconomicus, reveal that while men in Archaic Greek association had authority everywhere their wives, they were too confident of their authorization, and once they taught women how to act and impart they granted women authority everyplace the household or personal sphere. This separationism of the public and private spheres allowed women control not only over the private sphere, but also some control over her own life. Did women in Archaic Greek society become control over their lives? Today, servicemany another(prenominal) would argue that women did not have control, but rather their fathers and husbands controlled them. However, when looking well-nigh at Greek texts, such as Xenophons Oeconomicus, one discovers that husbands were so confident of their control that once women were taught how to manage the household they granted women do it authority over the decisions made in the private sphere. Although men nevertheless had authority over women, the segregation of public and private spheres gave wives some control over their lives. Initially, when a girl was married, her husband had complete control over her life. A mans bride was usually a very untested girl who was considered an empty vessel because she had no knowledge about how to do or manage a household. During a conversation in Oeconomicus amongst Socrates and Kritoboulos, Socrates asked, Did you marry her when she was a very young girl and had seen and heard as little as possible (16)? Since girls did not come to a mans household with any knowledge it was the husbands play to only fill her vessel with the knowledge that he wanted her to know. In this way, men believed that they had control over their wives lives. Although men felt that they had control over their wives lives, it seems unlikely that women came to their husbands without any knowledge about how t o manage the household. No guinea pig how sheltered a girl was raised she still must have picked up skills from her mother. Therefore, it is safe to assume that girls were deceiving their husbands about the skills they knew and were simply putting on an act of naivete so their husbands believed they were in control.