Woman; her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece and Rome, and among the early Christians, by James Donaldson

INDEX.

Achilles, his connexion with Briseis, 15, 192, 198
Adultery, unknown in Sparta, 31;
severely punished in Athens, 51;
and in Roman wives, 88;
Augustus’s legislation, 145.
See Divorce and Marriage.
Afrania, wife of Licinius Bucco, her fondness for law, 125
Agesistrata, her efforts to reform Sparta, 35–8
Agiatis, wife of Cleomenes, 38–9
Agis, his efforts to reform Sparta, 35–7
Agnodice, first Athenian midwife, 240
Agrippina, the first, crushes a mutiny, 121
Agrippina, the second, the mother of Nero, at the Conventus Matronarum, 126;
her character, 132
Alcibiades and his hetaira, 59
Amæsia of Sentinum pleads her own cause, 125
Appius Claudius admits slaves to citizenship, 78
Ares bathed by Hebe, 200
Arete, her influence, 18
Aristophanes, on Aspasia, 65;
on community of wives, 74;
on women, 75;
and Plato’s ‘Republic,’ 215
Aristotle, on unfaithful husbands, 6;
on Spartan women, 34;
on Athenian citizenship, 213
Arria, wife of Pætus, her fortitude, 134
Asia, women elected to priesthood in, 124
Asia Minor, honours conferred on women in, 124;
inscriptions in honour of women, 237–8
Aspasia, her connexion with Pericles, 60;
her immense influence, 61;
on the duties of wives, 62;
and Lysicles, 63;
tried, but acquitted, 64;
the comic poets on, 65;
was she beautiful? 66;
in the Socratic dialogues, 73;
modern critics on, 210;
her portraits, 211
Athenagoras, on kissing, 173;
condemns second marriages, 179
Athens: two classes of free women in, 49;
restrictions on the citizen-woman, 50;
her life as maiden and wife, 52;
strangers in, 56;
the stranger-woman forbidden to marry, 57;
Aspasia’s influence in, 60–65;
treaties of intermarriage, 68, 211;
sons of an hetaira admitted to citizenship, 68;
changes in law of citizenship, 212
Augustus, was his wife a poisoner? 131;
his marriage legislation, 140–43, 238;
rewards for large families, 144

Bacchus, his worship introduced into Rome, 95–7
Bachelors, fined by the Censors, 138;
disabilities imposed on, 144;
in Plautus, 222
Bader (Mlle.) on divorces in Rome, 117
Baptism not to be administered by a woman, 162
Benecke, E. F. M., on love in Greek poetry, 206
Benoist, L. E., on female characters in Plautus, 227, 229, 230
Blandina, her terrible martyrdom, 155
Brandt, P., on Sappho, 208
Breach of promise, actionable in Latium, but not in Rome, 116
Bread-and-Cheesites, heretical sect, 165
Briseis, beloved by Achilles, 15, 192
Buchholz, E., on sexual passion among the Homeric Greeks, 205
Byzantines, intermarriage with Athenians, 69

Callistus, Bp., on marriage, 249–54
Calpurnia, wife of Pliny the younger, her ability, 121
Caracalla greatly extends Roman citizenship, 83
Carfania, woman lawyer, 126
Carvilius, Spurius, divorces his wife, 116
Cato the Censor, on adultery, 88;
opposes Roman matrons, 101–3
Cato Uticensis divorces his wife and remarries her, 110
Chelonis, her noble character, 36
Children, Roman father had power to make away with, 140;
looked upon as an evil, 141;
regarded as burdens by Christian ascetics, 180–81;
infanticide condemned by Christianity, 188;
the fœtus and the soul, 189;
“nothoi” in Homer, 193;
notable instances, 194;
legitimate and illegitimate, 195–7
Christ, his conduct towards women, 148
Christianity, its early influence on Rome, 113;
and on marriage, 147;
women in the Gospels, 148;
reason of St. Paul’s sternness to women, 149;
Christian views of morality: Clement of Alexandria, 151;
Methodius, 152;
various meanings of the term Christianity, 153;
women at first prominent in, 154;
martyrdom of Blandina, 155;
and of Perpetua and Felicitas, 156;
position of widows, 158;
deaconesses and virgins, 159;
women forbidden in the West to teach or baptize, 161;
allowed by some Eastern churches to teach, 162;
views on slavery, 167;
opposite views on marriage, 169;
pagan ideas of Christianity, 170;
Love-feasts, 172;
the “holy kiss,” 173;
marriage as a blessing, 175;
the ascetic view of marriage, 176–9;
of children, 180;
of woman’s nature, 181;
gold, ornaments, dyed clothes, and mirrors condemned, 186;
infanticide condemned, 188;
the fœtus and the soul, 189;
asceticism and the survival of the unfittest, 190;
concubinage of the clergy, 214;
influence of Christianity on the position of woman, 248;
Bp. Callistus’s views, 249–254.
See Paganism and Religion.
Chrysostom, Dio, on women of Tarsus, 150
Cicero, his affection for his daughter, 85;
on women in politics, 122–3
Clement of Alexandria, his ‘Pædagogus,’ 151;
on kissing, 173;
on children, 180;
on woman, 183;
her duties, 184;
her dress, 185–6;
on marriage, 239
Cleombrotus, his wife’s faithfulness, 36
Cleomenes, efforts to reform Sparta, 38–40
Cleopatra as ruler, 242
Clytemnestra, reasons why her conduct was condemned, 13
Collyridians, honours paid to the Virgin by, 165
Commodian on feminine adornment, 185
Companion. See Hetaira.
Comparetti, D., on portraits of Sappho, 211
Concubines, their rights in Athens, 51n., 213;
the “pallakis” and her children in Homer, 193–7;
concubinage among Christian clergy, 214;
a “God-loving concubine,” 254.
See Hetaira, Marriage, and Wives.
Conventus Matronarum, its history, 126
Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, her devotion to the State, 120
Cornelia, Pompey’s second wife, her culture, 120
Courtezans in Plautus, their heartlessness, 228, 231;
some exceptions, 229–30.
See Concubines and Hetaira.
Cratesicleia, her noble conduct, 38–40
Cyprian, on hair dyes, 186;
and tinting the eyes, 187

Deaconesses, their position in the early Church, 159–60;
forbidden to administer baptism, 162
Deacons, in the early Church, 160
Dejanira on a husband’s unfaithfulness, 5
Demosthenes on the Crown, forgeries in, 68
Diotima and Sophocles, 59
Divorce: Pericles divorces his wife, 60;
Roman wives divorced for trifling offences, 88;
dissolution of marriage contract by husband or wife, 109, 115;
first Roman divorce, 116;
divorces become frequent, 118;
legislated for by Augustus, 145;
provision for wife’s dowry in Egyptian contract, 245.
See Adultery and Marriage.
Drumann, W., on the virtues and vices of Roman women, 113
Düntzer on Thetis and Achilles, 199

Education:
Athenian wives little educated, 52;
the hetaira often highly educated, 58;
Plato on woman’s education, 74;
Pompey’s second wife highly educated, 120;
also the wife of Pliny the younger, 121;
Clement of Alexandria on women’s education, 239
Egypt, illegitimacy not recognized in, 196;
Cleopatra as ruler, 242;
typical marriage contract, 245
Elagabalus and the Conventus Matronarum, 127
Elliot, G. F. Scott, on nakedness and morality, 204
Epiphanius on the Collyridians, 165
Erinna, pupil of Sappho, 43
Eubœa and treaty of intermarriage with Athens, 68, 211
Euripides, on women, 10;
on Spartan women, 33

Felicitas, story of her martyrdom, 156
Finck, H. T., on nudity and bathing, 205
Furtwängler, A., on portraits of Sappho and Aspasia, 211

Gladstone, W. E., on Homeric women, 11n.;
on men washed by women, 200–202
Gracchus, Tiberius, his affection for his wife, 85
Greece, ancient, honour paid to priestesses in, 163;
sexual passion in, 205
Greece, modern, early maturity of woman in, 54
Greeks, their standard of conduct, 3;
views of love, 4;
their admiration of beauty of form, 7, 22.
See Athens, Homer, and Sparta.
Gregory Thaumaturgus, on chastity in woman, 183

Hebe bathes Ares, 200
Helen, not blamed by men, 13;
washes Ulysses, 202
Hetaira, companion or stranger-woman, forbidden in Athens to marry, 57;
her interest in philosophy and politics, 58;
Aspasia, 62–7;
children of an hetaira sometimes admitted to citizenship, 68;
influence on notable men, 71;
her social position, 213–214.
See Concubines, Courtezans, Marriage, and Wives.
Hippolytus on Bp. Callistus and marriage, 249
Hipponax on women, 9
Homer:
his women submissive, 11;
no flirtation in, 14;
Greeks monogamists in, 15;
married life in, 16;
influence of women, 17;
wives and concubines and their children, 192–7;
Melantho’s insolence, 198;
Thetis’s advice to Achilles, ib.;
men washed by women, 199–202
Horace on the Lex Julia de adulterio cohibendo, 146
Hortensia’s speech to the triumvirs, 105
Hortensius marries Cato’s wife, 110
Hruza, E., on the “nothoi” in Homer, 195
Husbands, their unfaithfulness tolerantly viewed by Greek wives, 6;
power over their wives in Rome, 87;
poisoned by their wives, 89, 91;
wives bought by, 105.
See Marriage and Wives.
Hyperides, his defence of Phryne, 7

Illegitimacy. See Children.

Julia, daughter of Julius Cæsar, her tact, 120
Julia, daughter of Augustus, her marriages, 131
Julius Cæsar gives rewards for large families, 143

Kissing, in the early Church, 173;
peculiar Roman custom, 233
Kock, T., attacks Sappho, 207
Koechly, H., on Thetis and Achilles, 199
Kublinski, J., on Sappho, 208

Lampito, her physical strength, 30
Lasaulx on “nothoi” and “pallakis,” 195
Laws. See Lex.
Lawyers, women as, 125
Leonidas opposes reform in Sparta, 36
Lex:
Canuleia, 82;
Julia and Plautia, ib.;
Oppia, 99–103;
Voconia, 108;
Papia Poppæa, 142–5;
De maritandis ordinibus, 146, 251
Livia, wife of Augustus, her share in politics, 123;
was she a poisoner? 131
Livy on woman’s influence in politics, 123
Love-making, among the Greeks, 205;
and the Romans, 230;
lovers’ terms of endearment, 232–6
Lysias on Eubœans and intermarriage, 211
Lysicles, his connexion with Aspasia, 63

Mæsta of Sentinum pleads her own cause, 125
Mahaffy, J. P., on the Cleopatras, 243
Marcia dissolves her marriage with Cato, and remarries him, 110
Marriage:
Greeks monogamists in Homer, 15;
happiness of married life, 16;
obligatory in Sparta for girls, 28;
and for men, 29;
restrictions on the citizen-woman in Athens, 51;
matches arranged by old women, 53;
the hetaira not allowed to marry, 57;
Athenian treaties of intermarriage, 68, 211;
intermarriage in Rome, 81;
effect of Caracalla’s action, 83;
status of the Roman wife, 105;
effect of wealth on marriage, 108, 115;
as a contract, 109;
curious dissolutions of marriage, 110;
consent the essence of Roman marriage, 114;
could be dissolved by husband or wife, 115;
Romans who married several times, 118;
Musonius’s defence of, 137;
regulated by Emperor Augustus, 138–43, 238;
rewards for large families, 144;
large families a disgrace, 147;
effect of marriage on slaves, 168;
two Christian views of marriage, 169;
marriage as a blessing, 175;
the ascetic view, 176–181;
second marriages condemned, 179;
children a burden, 180;
dowried and undowried wives in Plautus, 220;
effects of extravagance, 222;
philosophers on, 239;
between brother and sister in Egypt, 243;
equality of the Egyptian woman in marriage, 244;
typical contract, 245;
Bp. Callistus’s views condemned by Hippolytus, 249–54.
See Adultery, Concubines, Divorce, and Hetaira.
Maximus Tyrius on Sappho, 44
Medicine, first Athenian woman to practise, 240
Melantho’s insolence to Ulysses, 198
Men washed by women, 199–202, 204
Menander on Sappho, 209
Messalina, her death, 132
Metellus, Quintus, on duty of marriage, 140
Methodius, his ‘Banquet of the Ten Virgins,’ 152;
on the blessedness of virginity, 178;
on virgin purity, 188
Midwife, first Athenian, 240
Monogamy universal among Greeks in Homer, 15
Montanists, honours paid to women by, 164
Morillot, L., on legitimate and illegitimate children, 196
Müller, O., on Athenian intermarriage, 212;
on Athenian citizenship, 213
Mure, Col. W., attacks Sappho, 207
Musonius Rufus on the education of women, 135

Nausicaa, her industry and accomplishments, 20;
washes Ulysses, 200
Nothoi. See Children.

Octavia, wife of Antony, her interest in affairs of State, 121
Oppius, his legislation against women, 99–103

Paganism, its code of morality in Rome, 128;
position of women under, 153;
priestesses in Greece, 163;
in Rome, 164;
its ideas of Christianity, 170;
priestess in Plautus, 227.
See Religion.
Pallakis. See Concubines.
Panteus, his wife’s devotion, 40
Paris, P., on woman in Asia Minor, 237
Paul, reasons of his sternness towards women, 149–50;
on the members of the Corinthian Church, 171
Penelope, her love for Ulysses, 17
Pericles, on Athenian women, 55;
and Aspasia, 60;
Wilamowitz on, 210;
and law of Athenian citizenship, 212
Periktione on wife’s duty, 5
Perpetua, story of her martyrdom, 156
Phidias, Wilamowitz on, 210
Philemon on women, 10
Philosophy in Rome:
Epicureanism, 129;
Platonism, 130;
Stoicism, 133
Phratria and citizenship, 69
Phryne, influence of her beauty, 7, 71
Platæa, treaty of intermarriage with Athens, 68
Plato, on unfaithful husbands, 6;
on Spartan women, 33n.;
on Diotima, 59n.;
on Aspasia, 62;
his views on women, 73;
and the ‘Ecclesiazusæ’, 215
Plautus, women in his plays:
as slaves, 217;
the citizen-wife, 218;
marriageable girls, 219;
dowried and undowried wives, 220;
woman’s extravagance, 221;
its effect on marriage, 222;
wives faithful, 223;
husbands and female slaves, 224;
exemplary wives, 225–6;
a notable priestess, 227;
character of the courtezan, 228, 231;
some exceptions, 229–230;
terms of endearment used by lovers, 232–6
Pliny, the younger, praise of his wife, 121
Plutarch, on Spartan women, 31n.;
on Aspasia, 60;
on girls wrestling naked, 203
Poisoning by Roman wives, 89–92, 131
Politics, Aspasia’s influence on, 65;
Athenian citizen-wives without political standing, 67;
influence of Roman matrons on, 99–104;
notable instances, 120–24
Polycaste washes Telemachus, 199
Polygamy: Priam’s wives, 192
Porcia, wife of Brutus, her appeal for her husband’s confidence, 133
Priam, his wives, 192;
and his “nothoi,” 194

Religion, its effect on the condition of women in Greece and Rome, 93;
worship of the Idæan Mother in Rome, 94;
introduction of the Bacchanalia, 95;
and of Isis and other faiths, 97.
See Christianity and Paganism.
Rohde, E., on love-making among the Greeks, 205
Rome:
citizens, aliens, and slaves, 77, 79;
treatment of female slaves, 80;
patricians and plebeians, 81;
extension of the conubium, 82;
position of the Roman matron, 84;
religion in, 93;
worship of Bacchus introduced, 95;
its condition on the introduction of Christianity, 113;
pagan ideas of morality, 128;
Romans bound to marry, 138;
decrease of population, 141;
position of women in, 153;
honours paid to priestesses, 164.
See Christianity.

Sappho, testimonies to her ability, 42;
her poetry, 43;
close friendship with her pupils, 45;
her attitude towards marriage, 46;
honoured by her contemporaries, 47;
ridiculed by Athenian comic writers, 48;
was she beautiful? 66;
modern writers on her character, 207;
Greek plays on her career, 209;
her portraits, 211
Schneidewin, M., on men washed by women, 202
Servilia, mother of Brutus, her influence in politics, 122
Simonides of Amorgos on women, 9
Slaves in Rome:
become citizens, 78;
treatment of female slaves, 80;
slaves as Christians, 167;
female slaves in Plautus, 217;
amours with, 224
Sophocles, on Athenian wives, 53n.;
his relations with Theodota and Diotima, 59;
his grandson admitted to citizenship, 70
Sparta, idea of the State in, 25;
training of women in, 26;
their gymnastic contests, 27;
marriage obligatory for girls, 28;
and for men, 29;
physical development of men and women, 29–30;
no adultery, 31;
effects of Spartan system of training, 33;
influence of women in, 34;
decay and efforts at reform, 35–41;
strangers not allowed to reside in, 56;
girls wrestling naked, 202
Strabo on Sappho, 43
Sulpicia, her Satire, 127

Tacitus, his praise of his mother-in-law, 121
Tarsus, character of its women, 150
Telemachus washed by Polycaste, 199
Terentia, wife of Cicero, her share in politics, 123
Tertullian, on virgins and widows, 159;
forbids deaconesses to baptize, 162;
denounces women who speak in church, 165;
on marriage between Christians, 175;
on wives and wedlock, and second marriages, 179;
on children as burdens, 181;
on woman as a temptress, 182, 185;
on the fœtus and the soul, 189
Thebans and Athenians, question of intermarriages, 68
Theodota and Sophocles, 59
Thessaly, land of the beautiful women, 22
Thetis, her advice to Achilles, 198
Tiberius, his mother’s plans for him, 131

Ulysses, his love for Penelope, 17;
promises wives to his slaves, 193;
washed by Nausicaa, 200;
and by Helen, 202

Valerius, L., proposes abrogation of Lex Oppia, 102
Valerius Maximus, on women as lawyers, 125;
on bachelors, 139
Vestal Virgins, allowed to marry, 129;
honours paid to them, 164
Virgin Mary honoured by the Collyridians, 165
Virgins, their position in the early Church, 159;
virginity extolled, 178;
Cyprian’s advice to, 186–7

Welcker, F. G., defends Sappho, 207
Widows, their position in the Christian Church, 158;
prohibited from teaching, 161;
allowed to teach by some Eastern churches, 162
Wilamowitz, U. von, condemns Aspasia, 210
Williamson (Rev. David), his seven wives, 118
Wine, Athenian wives fond of, 54;
forbidden to Roman wives, 88;
drunk during the Bacchanalia, 96
Wives, in Homer, tolerant of husbands’ unfaithfulness, 5;
their faithfulness in Sparta, 32;
restrictions on, in Athens, 51;
fond of wine, 54;
Plato on community of wives, 74, 130;
their position in Rome, 84;
in early Rome, 87;
forbidden to taste wine, 88;
severe restrictions on, ib.;
many husbands poisoned, 89;
later cases, 91;
bought by husband, 105;
transferred to husbands’ family, 106;
effect of wealth on, 107, 109, 115;
their interest in politics, 120–124;
Christian view of wifely duties, 176;
wives and concubines in Homer, 193–7;
wives in Plautus, 220;
their extravagance, 221;
its effect on marriage, 222;
faithful to husbands, 223;
model wives, 225–6.
See Adultery, Concubines, Hetaira, and Marriage.
Woman in Greece:
reverence for her beauty of form, 7;
her history written by and for men, 8;
satirists on, 9;
her culture in modern Greece, 54
Woman:
In Homer:
her meekness, 11;
her influence, 17;
her freedom, 18;
her open-air life, 20;
causes of her beauty, 22;
mildness of Homeric women, 192;
two kinds of wives, 193–7;
Melantho’s insolence, 198;
Thetis’s advice to Achilles, ib.;
men washed by women, 199–202, 204;
girls wrestling naked, 203–4;
love-making, 205
In Sparta:
legislation for motherhood, 26;
gymnastic exercises, 27;
marriage obligatory, 28;
physical development, 30;
moral courage, 31;
faithfulness to husband, 32;
land held by women, 34;
heroic women—Agesistrata and Chelonis, 35–8;
Agiatis and Cratesicleia, 38–9;
the wife of Panteus, 40
Sappho:
her unique position, 42;
her friendship with her pupils, 45;
praised by contemporaries, 47;
ridiculed by Athenian comic writers, 48, 209;
modern critics on, 207;
her portraits, 211
In Athens:
restrictions on the citizen-woman, 51;
her life as maid and wife, 52–4;
the stranger-woman or hetaira, 57;
her interest in philosophy and politics, 58;
Aspasia’s life and influence, 60–67, 210;
notable “companions,” 71;
Plato on the education of women, 74;
Aristophanes on women, 75
In Rome:
as full citizen, as alien, and as slave, 79;
female slaves, 80;
effect of the conubium on, 82–3;
position of matrons, 84;
severe restrictions in early Rome, 87;
worship of the Idæan Mother, 94;
of Bacchus, 95–97;
and of other gods, 97;
opposition to sumptuary laws, 99–103;
appeal to the triumvirs, 104;
in power of father or husband, 105;
effect of wealth on, 107;
married several times, 118;
active interest in politics, 120;
elected to magistracies and priesthoods, 124, 237–8;
as lawyers, 125;
and law-makers, 127;
their ideas of morality, 128;
noble Stoic women, 133–5
Under Christianity:
women in the Gospels, 148;
St. Paul’s sternness towards, 149;
Clement of Alexandria on, 151;
Methodius on, 152;
contrast under paganism and under Christianity, 153–4;
martyrdom of Blandina, 155;
and of Perpetua and Felicitas, 156;
position of widows, 158;
deaconesses and virgins, 159;
widows and deaconesses forbidden to teach, 161;
women and teaching in the Eastern Church, 162;
honours paid to women under paganism, 163;
and by heretical sects, 164–6;
Christianity and women-slaves, 167;
the ascetic view of woman as a temptress, 182;
her duties, 184;
must not wear dyed clothes or use mirrors, 186;
value of woman in the home, 191;
effect of Christianity on, 248
In Plautus:
women-slaves, 217;
the citizen-wife, 218;
marriageable girls, 219;
effects of dowries, 220
Philosophers on woman’s education, 239;
the first woman doctor in Greece, 240
In Egypt:
Cleopatra, 242;
equality of the woman in marriage, 243.
See Wives.
Wordsworth, Bp. J., on women under Christianity, 248

Zscharnack, L., on women under Christianity, 248