Ancient Mediterranean World
"...Those who defended the city in war also had full rights of participation in its constitution. Women could not be citizens in this sense..." pp. 62
"Spartan women were famous (or notorious) for having more freedom than the women of other cities...received an education similar to that of boys..." pp. 65
"...authors wrote of homosexual love...the passionate and erotic dimensions of love that they celebrated were to be found here, and not in heterosexual love leading to marriage...dancing in Sappho's chorus was also an important rite of passage; living apart from men and bonding with their peers...could be intense and even erotic in nature..." pp. 68-69
"...the conventions of Greek society, which accepted male nudity in public but jealously guarded the sexuality of respectable women and girls." pp. 71
I don't have much to expand on this, since it's self explanatory. I am aware that every city is run differently and this age allowed for such variety. I just wanted to physically point out just how varied this age is from page to page - from "jealously guarding female sexuality" to the "celebration of homosexual love". How colourful.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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Oh Emily, you would pick up on this! I noticed this too and was going to bring it up in class. I agree, I find it so interesting that they place so much emphasis on the human male body and their sexuality but they don't place any emphasis on the womans form. Throughout the rest of history the female form is worshipped and yet in the Archaic period it was covered up while something that was far more taboo is embraced.
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