A Study of Women, in Attic Inscriptions

In making this study my object has been to collect all the information upon the life and position of women to be found in the Attic inscriptions. With this purpose in mind I have tried to examine all published inscriptions which relate directly or indirectly to women, individually or collectively.

A careful reading of them has not brought to light any fact contrary to our knowledge of the manner of life or position in society of Athenian women derived from literary and artistic sources; but from them we gain confirmation and copious illustration of knowledge acquired by other means, as well as a vivid picture, composed of accumulated details, of the everyday occupations of women at home and abroad, of their religion and superstitions, their family relationships and public honors.

And although not many new facts have been added to our knowledge by the inscriptions, they effect a decided change in the view which is given by Greek literature alone. We recall Pericles' speech after the first year of the Peloponnesian war - a speech full of the deepest feeling for youth, for the loss inflicted upon the state and upon the family, but harsh, even to a shocking degree, toward the bereaved mothers and wives of the dead; yet in Pericles, because of his association with Aspasia, a different attitude might well have been expected.