This study will examine the status and roles of women in the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hebrew and early Greek, Greek, the Hellenistic era, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the early Middle Ages, as described in Western Civilizations, by Robert E. Lerner, Standish Meacham, and Edward McNall Burns. The basic argument of the study will be that, with a certain number of exceptions, women in these ancient civilizations played little more than the most traditional and restricted roles, and their status was minimal compared to men.
One exception in Mesopotamia to this general rule was the queen Sammuramat. Her position of relative power was so unusual for a woman at the time that she became the subject of legend (44-45). The authors note, however, that for the most part women were kept in secondary roles, subjected to the cultural, political and economic domination of men in a period of "brutal masculinity" (44). "War and slaughter" (45) were prominent, and women were excluded from such militaristic pastimes. The only piece of art on women included in the chapter on Mesopotamia is that of a female in a traditional domestic role, carrying a bowl on her head (38).
In Egypt, we find the same pattern with respect to both earthly and divine females. The goddess Isis is seen as a significant character only in relation to the god Osiris, her husband and brother. She restores him to life so that he can regain his kingdom (57-58), and is then quickly forgotten, at least by the authors. In another of the rare references to women in this chapter, we read that a "bawdy tale tells of a lustful woman who says to the hero, 'Come, let us spend an hour lying together, it will be good for you!'" (61). The authors---all men---write condescendingly that "compared to women in most other ancient societies, Egyptian women were not entirely subordinated to men. Wives were not secluded; women could own and inherit property and engage in bus...