“Bittersweet, Sly, Uncontrollable Creature”: How Ancient Greek Women Derived Individual Agency Through Their Sexualities, As Represented in Various Mediums
Abstract:
Ancient Greek women were able to maintain differing levels of independent agency as a result of their varying sexualities. Ancient Greek women were further able to utilize their agency to break free of restrictive social norms imposed by an over- encompassing patriarchy, thereby becoming more than just wives, mothers, and prostitutes. The further development of agency also changed according to the medium through which it was presented, either via lyric poetry, comedic plays, or judicial court cases. Lyric poetry allowed for self-expression from women writing about women, comedic plays offered women opportunities to fashion societies of their own creation, and judicial court cases showed the reality of what women could still independently achieve, regardless of their legal status.