Western Civilization I / Unit 5 WC1 0416 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Hellenistic Women: Property, Queens, and the Caveats
Captions available
The idea
Classical Athenian seclusion loosened enormously. Women controlled property, lent and borrowed, managed inheritances; queens like Olympias and Cleopatra VII were praised for political skill. The Macedonian norm of female autonomy spread with Macedonian rule.
In practice
Aristotle's two-fifths of Spartan land in women's hands, the anchor's figure.
Where people slip
Men still ran politics, law favored them, and birth ratios imply female infanticide.
Your place on the trail
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