The undergraduate thesis focuses on the roles that women played in ancient Greek religious practices and the importance of these roles in the wider social context of the time. Women in ancient Greece were limited to subordinate social roles, but they could find greater autonomy within religion. They could participate actively and passively in religious ceremonies. Actively as priestesses, who were given special status and privileges during their tenure, as well as the honoring of their name after the end of their mandate. Most women, however, participated passively, as donors of dedications to the gods, which was a rare opportunity for them to appear publicly, and by participating in women's festivals. Among them, the best known is the festival of Thesmophoria, during which the goddess Demeter was worshiped to promote her fertility, which symbolically and practically represented the growth and development of the polis. Such a festival was a rare opportunity for married women to enjoy an all-female company, as the course of the festival was kept a secret from men, and was for this repeatedly the target of their criticism. Also, women were the only ones who had access to certain areas of life, such as death. Preparing the body for burial and traditional mourning were tasks that could only be performed by female relatives of the deceased. The importance of respecting this social norm is also reflected in its legal restrictions. In my thesis, I also touch on the question of how the status of women in society affected their opportunity to participate in religious ceremonies (depending on whether they were free or slaves, citizens or foreigners, and rich or poor) and how it affected conservation of resources to date.
|
