The Role of Women in The Art of Ancient Greece - The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece | EssayLib™ (original) (raw)

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Index to the Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece

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Help with Research about Women in Ancient Greece

The purpose of this web site is to provide beneficial, educational, and timely information on the role of women in the art of ancient Greece. One of the benefits is that the interest of the subject draws people to develop research techniques that are useful in many other subjects.

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The purpose of the web site is to get answers to your questions about the role of women in the art of ancient Greece. First you should make an effort to find your own answer in the material supplied. If the answer is not there then you may submit the question to be personally answered. If the question is suitable I will supply an answer by appending your question and answer to the end of the page of interest. Unsuitable questions include:

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The website began at the address www.fjkluth.com on a local server. Due to a failure of the communications line to the local server at the site during 2000 the site was continued on www.apk.net/\~fjk. Then in about 2002 the site was placed on a remote server but returned to www.fjkluth.com. There are numerous references to the apk address most which reference the women of ancient greece. In general by replacing www.apk.net/\~fjk with www.fjkluth.com the same material can be accessed.

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Citation:

There are a lot of requests for citations for content on this website. Please note that the original author of this website, John Frederick Kluth, is no longer involved. Additionally the website has moved web hosts multiple times and the original published dates have been lost. MLA suggests using “n.d.” for the published date in this instance.

A typical MLA citation for this site (using the Fates topic page as an example) would be:

Kluth, John Frederick. “The Fates, Weavers of Destiny.” The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2017.

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.

For instructors or editors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Kluth, John Frederick. “The Fates, Weavers of Destiny.” The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2017. http://www.rwaag.org/fates/.

Questions and Answers:

Question: =in social studies, i have to dress greek at school. What should I wear?
I’m 11.

Answer: You would wear a peplos or a chiton. Both of these are basically made of two squares of flexible material, cotton or silk gauze, or a knit about six foot square. The material should be light and transparent. One piece is for the front and the other for the back. Fasten the top edges together on either side of your neck. The garment should be folded and belted to make an interesting pattern. The ancient Greeks wore no underwear or undergarments but you should wear a skin-colored body stocking or tights that a ballerina would wear. Some people wear several layers so the garment is more opaque, but it is clear that the Greek ladies did not do this.

Question: hi. I need some info on the capitoline Venus. The picture is perfect, but I need some info: like, what is the : date, medium, artist, stylistic analysis, function of piece and influence of its time. also.. the meaning of the body position and look.. thanks to your website rules, any help you could give me would rock.

Answer: Described as a Hellenic Sculpture: Capitoline Venus (III-II BC). It is located in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. MUSEI CAPITOLINI

Question: Are Hermes and Iris in competition for their jobs?

Answer: Yes and no. Iris personifies communication by light and Hermes by sound. Each is appropriate for special situations, but they also compete. We still use both.

Question: I have always thought that Hermes was the messenger of the Gods If not what is he?

Answer: Hermes is a messenger of the gods who uses sound and speech, while Iris is a messenger of the gods who uses light.

Question: Do you believe in the expression of religion, as referring to one god, I mean don’t we now, in this time of life, have different beliefs? Then why do people still honor those gods that nobody has seen or known or have proven to have existed??? Why would someone lie like that? Are they trying to confuse one's religion? What is the use of having a god or goddess for everything, Why not only one? I am confused by then, I don’t believe a word about “MYTHOLOGY” until someone explains to me the meaning of it and answers my questions..can you?

Answer: There is a problem here of gauging the truth of religion against truth as it is in other areas. We now know that religion involves personal beliefs that are not necessarily verifiable. The ancient Greeks did not understand this and attempted to find the causes of everything. They thought that some things were caused by the divinities. What the myths did was to help them understand the nature of the world and how to survive in it.The myths were not stories made up for entertainment. They were reports of experiences in the natural world. We do not know how these stories came tobe, but the process may have been similar to what resulted in stories in other religions. One problem with doubting the ancient Greek myths is that you may be doubting similar stories in your own religion that were produced in the same way. The ancient Greeks witnessed miracles, epiphanies, prophesies, cures, punishments, answered prayers, and other events that are the stuff of religion. This material is combined with natural observations and other records to produce the myths which are the records of the Greek religion. A better approach is to study the stories in terms of what they have to say about the Greek experience and how the Greeks adapted to the world. This may provide insight, not only into the nature of the world as we experience it, but insight into your own religion.

There is not so much difference between one god and many gods and goddesses. The Neo-platonists explained this problem away by saying that the many gods and goddesses were aspects of the one. After all the various realms of the gods and goddesses are parts of one reality. The ancient Christians had such trouble with the notion of one God that they assumed a trinity, the Devil, and angels to fill out the Universe. In fact they just expropriated images of the ancient gods and goddesses to serve as Angels. Some of the ancient deities even became Saints, and so on.

Emphasizing the difference between religions is not such a good idea. Because many wars are justified by religious means, some have gone so far as to say that religions cause wars. Of course this is not true, but it seems that way because the difference between a religion and a culture is not very great. In the interest of world peace it will be necessary to reconcile the differences between religions so people can live in peace. You can start by reconciling your own beliefs to those of the ancient Greeks.

Question: Who was Eros and can you show me a picture of her?

Answer: Eros is the male god of love and son of Aphrodite.

Question: what did hera like to do during sex

Answer: This would depend upon what ancient Greek women thought was perfect sex. But there is this quote from Homer:

"With this the son of Saturn caught his wife in his embrace; whereon the earth sprouted them a cushion of young grass, with dew-bespangled lotus, crocus, and hyacinth, so soft and thick that it raised them well above the ground. Here they laid themselves down and overhead they were covered by a fair cloud of gold, from which there fell glittering dew-drops." (Iliad, book XIV)

Question: what are the roles of the gods in this epic-odyssey.thank you

Answer: The divinities are personifications of natural or spiritual realms, or realms of human qualities.

Question: Did Greeks do drugs and were there alcoholics?

Answer: Ancient Greeks did do drugs. But the problem was not as bad as today because there were few drugs and they tended to be a lot weaker. Wine was the strongest alcoholic beverage. Opium was available but they did not know how to smoke it. They also liked to dilute their wine. But many did get drunk.

Question: hi. I need to find out where the people today still use the style of the Ancient Greek columns? thanks.

Answer: Public buildings, banks, churches, Georgian houses, pedestals.

Question: What did Theseus do other than kill the Minitour?

Answer: Theseus.

Question: Was Cassandra really murder?

Answer: The myths are consistent in saying that she murdered and was murdered. Schliemann even found a grave with a young woman and two babies.

Question: can you give me more details on how they have sex standing up?

Answer: Go to a farm and watch the cattle, pigs, sheep, or goats. They all have sex in this same way.

Question: I need a real life naked woman for a project! I have used your site for a while! Please hurry!

Answer: three women bathing themselves at a basin

Question: what is pandora the goddess of? and please hurry!

Answer: Pandora is not a goddess but is rather a mythical mortal. Her reality is well documented in ancient Greek literature, but there is no archeological evidence for her existence. Obviously there must have been some first mother though. Scientists now think that she must have lived in Africa some 250,000 years ago.

Question: How do you correlate Medeas act of filicide to personality theory

Answer: Apart from personality theory there are difficult questions. What would have happened to Medea had she returned to Colchis? What would have happened to Jason once Aspurtus handed dominance over them? After all they had the army from Colchis to contend with. The assumption is that Medea had to kill her brother to save her own life as well as those of the Argonauts. It was not a matter of hating her brother.

Question: How do you make a chiton? Please hurry. THANKS!

Answer: The Chiton is made the same way as the peplos except the Chiton is sewed where the peplos is pinned.
Click here

Question: what kind of clothes did they wear in648 bc/// PICTURES!?

Answer: Auxerre Kore

Question: can you tell me more about what sex slaves did?

Answer: Mainly what a sex slave did was to sell her body to benefit her master. She might perform genital sex but this was risky because a female slave might get pregnant. Oral sex or anal sex was safer for pregnancy. A pregnant slave was in trouble because a pregnancy would interfere with work and a baby could not be cared for. Since a baby could not work they were not worth much. A valuable baby had identifiable parents from good families. Nothing would prevent such a slave from being tortured if the client wanted it done. If such a slave turned out to be poor at sex she might be killed to get rid of her. But if she was really good at sex she might be able to buy her freedom and become a hetaera.

Question: How did Hera dress please hurry it is homework.

Answer: Since she is a shape-changer she can wear anything she wants. How she is illustrated depends on the time of the artist. Because most of the art was produced during the classical period she is often shown in a peplos or chiton. After the classical period she is often shown nude.

Question: nude picture of a hetaera

Answer: reclining woman playing kottabos

Question: how does the golden ratio and the 1.1618 number apply to architecture and art?

Answer: Golden Mean

Question: Do you think the greek gods could have been witches & wizards?

Answer: The ancient Greeks certainly did not believe this. Christians believe that witches and wizards take their power from the devil. But the ancient Greeks did not believe in the Devil and they had no equivalent. That the Greek gods and goddesses take on the powers of witches and wizards comes from the result of Christian efforts to demonize the ancient Greek religion and convert ancient Greeks to Christianity. Since sympathetic magic is a characteristic of many of the religions targeted by Christianity the powers of some of the gods and goddesses seem similar to witchcraft and wizardry that has developed from other sources. In some cases these powers are quite localized. All of the divinities engage in prophecy and flying through the air, while a few deities such as Hestia are associated with charms, potions, and incantations. Hestia is the most popular with persons who believe in witchcraft and they sometimes refer to her as the queen of the witches. Hestia was also popular with the Ancient Greeks because they thought she could affect their luck. In fact Hestia and Circe even look and act like witches. But though they are witches in action and appearance, they have no connection to the Devil. Their power is the innate power of a goddess and not derived from another source. Medea seems to be a witch too. Her power is derivative and comes from the fact that she is a priestess of Hecate. Mortals who seemed to be witches in ancient Greece derived their power often from the Goddess Hecate. But Hecate is not equivalent to the Devil. Because Hecate is associated with the underworld she is often associated with the dark arts. But unlike the Devil who is totally evil, Hecate is capable of good and evil. Today black is associated with evil and death, but in ancient Greece white was associated with death. The ancient Greeks thought that some souls were punished in the lower world but all souls were eventually there. Many heroes went to Elysium which seems to be on the surface of the earth. Only the especially fine, deified souls, like Herakles, made it to heaven.

Question: could you please tell me the name of the husband of Eurydice who consulted the oracle at Delphi about the welfare of their son and was advised never to let the boy touch the ground until he was able to walk? Unfortunately the boy’s nurse put him down for a few seconds and he was smothered to death by a huge serpent.

Answer: I cannot find any information on this.

Question: I’m doing a project on ancient Greek children at school and I want to know if there are any GOOD sites to find GOOD info?

Answer: Sites on Ancient Greek children in schools:

Question: What is the significance of the sculpture of Nike – the goddess of victory?

Answer: Let us assume you mean Nike of Samothrace: Click here. This statue was not always famous. There is no mention of it in ancient times. It was discovered in 1862 but it was in over 200 pieces. It took over 35 years for the piece to be restored and placed where the public could appreciate it. This happened in Paris toward the end of the Impressionist period when Paris was at the forefront of world art. At that time it was realized that the piece was one of the greatest ever crafted and unequaled in quality even today. What is remarkable is its fluidity and dynamism. Today it is one of the most famous sculptures in the world and much copied. It is a priceless treasure of the French nation.

Question: what type of architecture did they have in sparta?

Answer:

Question: in your opinion just how important was the role of the hetaera in ancient Greece and do you have any suggestions for areas of further research.

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Answer: If the hetaera was educated in rhetoric, as is suggested, then the role of the hetaera may have been very important. It seems likely that the hetaera performed sex acts at the symposiums, perhaps even naked. This is not a surprise. But that they might have given speeches and engaged in dialogue is quite a surprise. Could they have stimulated the ancient Greek interest in intellectual pursuits? Could they have saved their favors for men who actually benefited from this intellectualism? It seems there are a number of areas of research possible.

Question: Who was Sparta’s God?

Answer: Artemis was the patron goddess of Sparta.

Question: Who was Sparta’s King?

Answer: During the classical period, at any one time, Sparta had two kings.

Kings of Sparta

Question: Describe the part of nature of areas of life is believe to

controlled by Aphrodite.

Answer: Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, sex, sex appeal, and fertility. She is also the goddess of lust, motherly love, brotherly love, and heavenly love.

Question: What is Artemis’s involvement in the Trojan War?

Answer: Artemis should have been judged with Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. But Artemis and Aphrodite are too much alike to have added anything to the story. As it was they were on the same side in the Trojan War. But except for murdering merciless warriors on both sides of the battle she had little effect on the major themes. She delayed the war in the beginning by not allowing the ships to sail until Iphigenia was sacrificed.

Question: What type of clothing did Aphrodite be known to wear? This is for a school project.

Answer: For a school project Aphrodite should appear dressed in a chiton or a peplos made of fine silky material. Two or more layers can be used to obtain opacity or a body suit can be worn underneath. She should wear a crown and a sash just like Miss America. She can hold one or more of her symbols such as a scallop shell or a dove.

Question: I would like to know what powers did the women of Greece have?

Answer:

Question: other names of aphrodite

Answer: There are over 40 names for Aphrodite but the Perseus library lists only Morpho and Praxis as alternate keys. Cyprus and Cythereia are other important names.

Question: Do you have a picture of Hera being mean to the women Zeus falls in love with?

Answer: I cannot find such a picture. Such a picture would be insulting to Hera because a goddess cannot really be mean. Meanness is a mortal emotion that leads to error. Hera can seem mean but she always has a higher goal which we mortals may not understand.

Question: what job did Aphrodite have?

Answer: Aphrodite had the job of creator, spiritual ruler, judge, and governor, of the realm of love and sex. This is what is involved in being goddess of love and sex.

Question: What did Hestia throne look like, also what kind of wood was it made out of, and what kind of cushion did it have?

Answer: Hestia’s throne looked like our dining room chair. Here is an image from an ancient vase: Click Here. Any hardwood will do but metal will also work. Such a chair usually has a frame with string or rope wrapped around it and is often woven. On top of this are placed feathers or wool for padding. The padding is contained in a pillow or upholstery.

Question: I have to write a 5 page paper on Greek Holidays/Festivals and can use all the help/research I can get. If by any chance you can help me write it or give me some information/help on writing it, it would be greatly appreciated. Can you recommend a few Holidays that have good traditions and other good things to talk about in my paper?

Answer: I sent you one, the Arrephoria. See Ancient Greek Festivals. Your best choice would be one of interest to you. What holidays do you like the best?

Question: I was hoping to try something new but I was hoping it would be an interesting holiday as well.

Answer: What is interesting to you? You can probably find a deity that relates to that. You may find an historical festival that relates to that deity. But if not you look into the realm of the deity to find what festival activities are important. The neat thing about the Greek deities is that you only need to pay attention to the ones that you need for help. So which ones do you need?

Question: I am allowed to choose which one I do the project on. It is just a matter of finding one that is interesting.

Answer: Perhaps you should consider the tale of Paris who was given by Zeus the task of choosing who, among the three goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera was the most beautiful. You might study this tale and then the three goddesses and decide which one you would have chosen. This tale is at:
http://www.fjkluth.com/judge.html. Is beauty all that different from interesting?

Then you might consider the case of Elpenor, one of the sailors for Odysseus and his story:

“he (spoke) with a groan, ‘it was all bad luck, and my own unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe’s house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul came down to the house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus who is the one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that when you leave this limbo you will again hold your ship for the Aeaean island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and unburied behind you, or I may bring heaven’s anger upon you; but burn me with whatever armor I have, build a barrow for me on the sea shore, that may tell people in days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant over my grave the oar I used to row with when I was yet alive and with my messmates.'”

What deity should he have paid attention to, or who did he ignore? And notice that he seems to be recommending to Odysseus that he should participate in a festival. Why? And to what deity is he appealing? The ancient Greeks had to choose which deity to celebrate. Should it be any different for you?

Question: Can you refer me to any other sites that would be able to help me with the Odysseus topic/Zeus and Paris topic I think I’m going to write my paper on both of them

Answer: http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/JudgementParis.html

Question: Now do you happen to write 5 page papers on any topic in ancient Greece?

Answer: I do not think you have studied the judgment of the Paris story quite enough. If you had you would have realized that Paris would have been better off to have chosen Athena. And it is Athena that you have to turn to now. It will do me no good to write a 5 page paper. It will only do you good. It will do you good because you have to think about the ideas and concepts involved. You will have to relate them together. You will have to exercise your cognitive faculty. In the end you will be a stronger person for it. I do not write papers; I write web pages for students to read to help them do their own work. Perhaps you should pray to Athena. Maybe she will help you in this as she did Odysseus over 3 thousand years ago.

Question: I pray to one God and his many saints, one of the ten commandments Praise no god before me

Answer: I hope your religious beliefs do not interfere with your work on this project. You can consider this a lesson in tolerance. All prayers for peace are valid. Then you can consider this an opportunity to consider your own religion in more detail. Greek theology and philosophy had a tremendous impact on the early Christians. Then you can realize, with Aristotle, that the Gods of ancient Greece are poetic constructs and have most of their meaning in that context. Finally, even today, the ancient Greek deities are useful referents because they are personifications of important concepts.

Question: How do I cite any info regarding Greek fates in an MLA works cited page for a college paper I;m doing? Is there any author’s name? I’d appreciate any guidance.

Answer: The author of the page http://www.fjkluth.com/fates.html is Frederick John Kluth. This page was last updated(revised) 20100508. You probably ought to copy over any parts that you reference because they may change. Links typically refer to other materials that must be separately cited. I do not find any images that I have provided. If you have any questions or difficulty with the material you should address them to me. I will be happy to upgrade the page at your request.

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.

For instructors or editors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

For the Fates article:

Kluth, Frederick John, The Fates and Their Impact on Greek Art and Culture, The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece, Kent, Ohio, 8 May 2010. Web. (your access date).<ahref=http://www.fjkluth.com/fates.html>