Athenian Women In Classical Period

In the early 4th-5th century B.C., Athens, experienced such reforms as Solon, Pericles, in the classical times, and then became flourishing as never with its economic, political and cultural development; development of democratic policy was also expanded broadly and rapidly in such city-states as Athens. The substantial development of democratic reform of Athens was embodied specifically in the following aspects: citizens of Athens had rights to review and consider affairs of their own country through the Assembly, they had democratic decision-making rights; the jury court made the trial results fair; establishment of the Board of Ten Strategy made the democratic decision-making of citizens meet higher level, preventing any individual from grabbing all the power; the Council of Five Hundred expanded rights of citizens, thus improved the democracy of Athens gradually. From the perspective of the whole Athenian society, establishment of democratic system in Athens promoted the flourishing of democratic politics and social stability greatly, however, the status of the slave and Athenian women can not be ignored. Athenian women haven’t got the full civil rights, so they are unable to enjoy the achievements brought by the democratic reform.This paper mainly discussed such three issues: first, the civil rights of Athenian women; second, the status of Athenian women at politics, economy, culture; third, roles of Athenian women played in their religious life. Through comparing analysis of the author with the studies of the predecessors, this paper holds that the civil rights given to Athenian women are incomplete; their physiological instincts decide their destiny, i.e. their status at politics, economy, culture will not be more important than that of Athenian men. However, the religious status of Athenian women is more optimistic than other aspects, while for various reasons, Athenian women have a higher status in some religions.