Social Hierarchy - Ancient Mediterranean History

Social Order in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Class vs. Status

Impersonal structures of authority repeated over time, Fixed layers of authority and power (Fixed through different institutions), Stuck in the rank in which one is born, All societies everywhere and in all times have been characterized by inequalities and an unequal distribution of wealth and power

Greece (Women and Gender)

Belief that women should be hidden away as not a part of society

Spartan women

Similar upbringing of girls and boys (Singing, dancing, cultivation of body), Spartan women mingled with boys in public, Men and women in Sparta trained together in the nude, More free than Athenian women

Roman women

Not confined to women’s quarters in homes and not excluded from public space, Religion was a common place for women in the public (vestal virgins had high rank) , Glorification of ideal women (Idealised mothers, Idealised wives), dowries gave women some financial independence

The Roman Family

Nucleus institution, Domain in which rank, authority, and power are made clear

Roman Marriage

A Roman man and woman living together and declaring marriage

Roman inheritance

Partible inheritance (Inheritance distributed amongst all children)