| |
| author |
Amiya Young
| | title |
Analyzing the Role of Greek Women in Athenian Religious Festivals: Are the Conventional Roles of Women Reinforced or Offered an Alternative Reality?
| | abstract |
In my thesis I explore how women were involved in Greek religious festivals. My
research starts by identifying the responsibilities that Greek women and girls performed in
society from childhood to adulthood. I discuss the daily lives of women and why it is believed
that they were largely confined to the domestic sphere of society. Then, I will discuss a few
different types of religious festivals that occurred in Athens, especially those festivals that were
women-only. By comparing the daily duties of women to the duties they carried out during
religious festivals, I examine how women had freedom to a certain extent in this culture. They
were not completely confined to the household as sources may suggest, but they did manage the
household as their main social role. I address the portrayals of dominant female characters in
Aristophanes' plays, the Thesmophoriazusae and Lysistrata. Then, I briefly discuss the concept
of the utopian aspirations being expressed by rituals in religious festivals. My analysis will show
how the social construct of women in Greek society has been reinforced and simultaneously seen
as breaking that social construct. My thesis will conclude that religious festivals, no matter how
much more value and freedom women were given, still reinforced their social roles in Greek
culture.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2022)
|
| advisor |
John Lenz
|
| full text | AYoung.pdf |
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