Did Athenian Women attend theatre?

By Kate Bardwell, Student

This essay looks at the limited ancient sources available and the debate which has existed on Athenian women as spectators at the theatre. A discussion of modern views is also included.

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

“Often in history books, the men of this time are only mentioned and the women are too easily forgotten, but we must not forget the women that lived in this time for they played just as significant role in creating and in making the culture inspiring to this day.”

Did Women Attend Theatre in Athens?

A simple enough question which appears to require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, nevertheless, there appears no such definitive answer. An examination of limited references by ancient scholars as well as from what can be derived from the plays and their authors is all that modern scholarship has to work with. To answer this question, an examination of both ancient and modern sources in addition to the two view points which can be taken with the question. As this topic has been debated through time with no final conclusion, Athenian women’s General role in society can be dissected as to possibly reveal if women were involved in viewing these dramatic wonders in Ancient Athens.

‘There is in fact, no literature no art of any country, in which women are more prominent, more important, more carefully studied and with more interest than in the tragedy…of fifth-century Athens’. Much can be derived and questioned from this observation; does it mean that the female characters in these plays were placed there as crowd pleasers hoping it would appeal to the women who would presumably identify with the characters? Or perhaps it was that an all male audience preferred to observe female roles? The hetarae (female companions) have been portrayed as intelligent and they would have presumably identified with the often strong characters in the plays, such as Antigone (in Sophocles’ Antigone). Whilst Ancient Athenian society was male dominated, the dramatists wrote for the audience in order to win at the dramatic festivals. Would they have taken into account that women were observers as well (if they were) and believed their opinion weighted enough to write in so many female characters which would appeal to a female audience? Plutarch tells us that ordinary men judged these plays and were influenced by the audience’s reaction. Is it possible the women had a great hold over the men? It is doubted, considering their seemingly passive position in almost every other sector of society. Though these are all hypothetical situations, they are valid questions as to how, why and if the realm of theatre was any different to that in the public sphere.

‘Women were powerless in law, scarcely stirred from the rooms in which they were locked, and were systematically treated with contempt’. This systematic contempt, as Gomme describes it, can be seen in Pericles’ Funeral Oration written by Thucydides. ‘I can say all I have to say in a short word of advice…the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you’. This exemplifies how women’s inferior status and is also shown in the way they were not involved in many of the same activities as citizen males and were segregated not only in outer society but even in their living quarters. Despite this, there are too many documented exceptions to a blanket seclusion of all Athenian women to ignore or downplay that women were at times involved in the outside life. For example, the well known hetaera of Pericles, Aspasia was recognized for her intelligence and political shrewdness. Plutarch tells how she used to receive visits from Socrates, his pupils and other men whose wives would accompany them to listen to her. Instances where women could partake in the public realm could be seen in their participation in retail trade, weddings, state ceremonies such as ‘public observances for the war dead’ and state religious festivals. Even so, it is clear that Athenian women had very few rights both in the legal and social sphere. For example, the way in which Aristophanes uses his vehicle of comedy to make fun of Euripides who presents his women as talkative. In Greek Society, drama was viewed as the example of how its society and the members of it should act. This can be seen through the religious themes and the devastating effects of hubris such as in Sophocles’ Antigone.

With the portrayal of so many women in Greek plays, such as Euripides The Trojan Women, Greek drama often emphasised areas in which Athenian women contributed to their polis. This was seen in fields of publicly acting as priestesses and privately bearing and raising legitimate children. Women were not only portrayed this way in Greek tragedy, but were also an integral part of comedy. In Aristophanes’ Peace, the second slave in the opening of the play makes a quip against women, ‘I spend the whole day shaping it and rubbing it and kneading first – you think it was a woman!’ . Comedic quips such as this one may have offended some women, however, it can indicated one of two things. Firstly, it may have been an all male audience where remarks like this were welcomed and appreciated. Secondly, it may have been both sexes in the audience, but the fact it may be offensive was discarded. Alternatively, it may prove neither of these points as it is a play rather than a factual account. Even so, the plays themselves are good sources for views upon women during this time. Bradley believes that what can be deduced from these plays which also contained vulgar references is that women must have had greater freedom than what is generally considered, if they had of attended theatre.

Numerous plays were written during this Period but fewer remain today. Aeschylus, for instance, wrote ninety plays, many linked were thematically and as trilogies. Evidence exists for the titles of eighty-one to eighty-two of these plays, however, some are from less dependable sources. Of these plays, only seven remain . This example shows the limited evidence available compared to what was originally on hand and whilst there is an abundance of plays who have female characters, such as Sophocles’ Electra, the question remains whether women were in the audience in Athenian theatre. With so little solid evidence available, modern scholars have often grasped onto small snippets of information in order to find a definitive yes or no answer or attempt to decipher whether the information existing is a figure of speech which is being analysed too deeply. An example of this in modern scholarship, is Kitto who makes the comment that it was very possible that women attended theatre and uses an example from Life of Aeschylus to prove the point. In this, a story is told that the Chorus of Furies in the Eumenenides was ‘so terrific that boys died of fright and women had miscarriages’ . Kitto acknowledges the absurdity of the story but believes what can be derived from this is that those who initiated the account obviously believed that women did attend theatre in Athens.

Bottiger, a German scholar, viewed a version of Euripides’ Ion, directed by a man named Schlegel in 1802. From this, Bottiger’s observations was that Greek Mythology was inaccurate and that Creusa’s rape to Apollo was indecent. As a modern scholar, Katz observes there are cultural and periodical views of the world which were influential upon his view and may have led him to the conclusion that the content of these plays were too confronting, thus women must not have viewed them. During Bottiger’s life time, women had graced the stages as actresses and prior to this, travelling acts performing for market audiences had included women, however apparently the mere presence of middle class women could ‘exercise an inhibiting effect on presentation of serious drama’ . Again, using this evidence Bottiger believed that is was unlikely that women attended theatre in Athens, given the content of the plays. In addition to this, Katz reports findings by a contemporary scholar of Hamburg theatre that a 1777 production of Shakespeare’s Othello incorporated a happy ending when women fainted and in some cases went into premature labour. This sounds reminiscently familiar to what we are told about Aesychlus’ Chorus of Furies and it is little wonder these male dominated societies were so protective of what women saw when they appear to be so fragile. That is, if the view is to be taken that women did not see theatre productions in Ancient Athens and that these sources are truthful, however problematic as they are from only a male’s perspective.

Despite this evidence from outside the theatrical productions, modern scholarship remains divided as to whether women did or did not attend theatre, such as Bottiger’s observations previously discussed. There is evidence indicating that both views have weight, Bradley identifies that there are three main issues surrounding views on Athenian women in general but this also indicates the problematic evidence of whether they were attendees of the theatre. Firstly, the evidence is sparse, thus easy to misinterpret. Secondly, most of the literature is written by men thus from their point of view only and thirdly, the majority of women described are wives, daughters, mothers and members of the middle class which does not typify a broader spectrum . Sorting through the modern sources for reasons and explanations on this is a difficult as there are only fleeting references from ancient sources thus not leaving a great deal for modern scholars to work with. By examining, Bottiger, who wrote in 1776, this exemplifies that it is surely not a new debate but one that has been discussed throughout the ages. Thought during this period was that women definitely did not attend theatre in Ancient Athens. However, as previously discussed, it seemed that views of women during that period influenced the conclusion, but it does not seem to be the way in which scholars are reaching their answers currently. According to Kluth, the debate of whether or not women attended theatre in Ancient Athens is redundant and he considers the real question to be what sort of women actually attended these events. Kluth, like Graham believes that the hetaerae and women slaves would have attended whereas proper women would have remained at home. This is a sentiment shared by eighteenth-century German scholar, Schlegel, who remarks ‘that proper women among the Greeks lacked educations, were kept secluded form the company of men…education and the company of men were permitted only to female entertainers’ .

Welch examines the actual production of these plays and reveals that it was the right of the Athenian citizens to do so. Though there is evidence that as only citizens were permitted to attend the theatre of Dionysus and women, not being citizens, must have not been allowed. Welch recognizes this and believes that those who attended the theatre were any Athenian citizen, metics may have and women probably did and though she does not offer further debate but acknowledges the discrepancies among scholars in that area. Katz takes a slightly different approach to this believing that the debate will forever remain open and does not wish to add literature on the question.

According to Plutarch, to have a winning play in the competitive dramatic festivals, the audience had to find it favourable as they were chosen by a panel of ‘ordinary male citizens who were influenced by the audience’s reaction ’. During Sophocles’ sixty year career as a playwright, he won at least twenty times out of approximately thirty competitions and never finished worse than second. From this, Martin deduces that these works appealed to the men attending these festivals because of the way in which they were judged. As for the women, the evidence presented to him is ‘contradictory ’ but he believes they were probably allowed to see dramas. As a modern female source examining what is available, Blundell sees that Greek literature actually offers very little towards women’s responses and reactions to the plays and myths. Of course this does not mean they did not exist but a very clear problem lays before those trying to answer any question about women in the ancient world, and more specifically about whether they attended the theatre, and that is the ancient sources available to us are male with no great exceptions.

Did Women Attend Theatre in Athens? As has been exemplified, there has been and continues to be debate on the topic. An examination of Athenian women’s role in society in general deduces that she probably did not attend the theatre, conversely, there are too many documented accounts excepting of these generalities which indicate that it may have been possible. The vast number of female characters in the plays only raise more questions as to who the dramatists were attempting to appeal to in the audience. Generally, modern sources generically conclude that women probably attended theatre, however sources such as Kluth delve deeper to reveal which kind of women actually attended. His argument is convincing considering that these ‘other women’, the hetarae, had so much freedom otherwise in society and were often educated so much more than her respectable Athenian counterpart.

End notes
1. Women in classical Greek Culture, (Internet : http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/CLAB52/Culture/Culture.htm )

2. Gomme, A., The Position of Women in Athens, Classical Philology, Volume XX, (The University of Chicago Press, Jan.-Oct. 1925) p. 4

3. Plutarch, 8.7-8
4. ibid, p. 3
5. Thuc. 2.46
6. Jones, N.F., Ancient Greece – State and Society, (Prentice Hall, 1997), p. 137
7. Blundell, S., Women in Ancient Greece, (Harvard University Press, 1995), p. 148
8.id.
9. id.
10.Graham, C., Ancient Athenian Women, (Internet : http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/ancientchix )

11. Gomme, loc cit.
12.Women in Classical Greek Culture, (Internet : http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/CLAB52/Culture/Culture.htm )
13. Aristophanes, Peace, trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, (Penguin, 1978)
14. Bradley, P., Ancient Greece – Using Evidence, (Edward Arnold, 1998), p.215
15. Dr. D.J. Phillips, Lecture 3 of Greek Drama AHST 221, March, 2002, Macquarie University
16.Kitto, H.D.F., The Greeks, p.233 in Kluth, Frederick J., Women in Ancient Greek Drama, (Internet : http://apk.net/~fjk.html)
17. id.
18. Katz, Marilyn A., Did Women of Ancient Athens Attend the Theater in the Eighteenth Century?, (Internet : http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/cciv243.WomenatTheater.html )
19. id.
20.Id.
21. Id.
22. Bradley, op cit.
23. Bottiger, Karl A., ‘Were Women in Athens Spectators at Dramatic Performances?’ in Katz, Marilyn A., Did Women of Ancient Athens Attend the Theater in the Eighteenth Century?, (Internet : http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/cciv243.WomenatTheater.html )
24.Kluth, loc. cit
25.Graham, loc. Cit.
26. Schlegel F., ‘On Diotima’ in Katz, Marilyn A., Did Women of Ancient Athens Attend the Theater in the Eighteenth Century?, (Internet : http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/cciv243.WomenatTheater.html )
27.Kluth, Frederick J., Women in Ancient Greek Drama, (Internet : http://apk.net/~fjk.html)
28. Welch, K. Athenian Society in the Classical Age, in Lawless, J. (ed.) Societies from the Past, (Nelson ITP, 1998), p. 241
29. Katz, loc. Cit.
30. Plu. Cim. 8.7-8 in Martin, Thomas R., A Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander – Athenian Religious and Cultural Life in the Golden Age : The Development of Athenian Tragedy : Tragedy and the Polis,
31. Martin, Thomas R., A Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander – Athenian Religious and Cultural Life in the Golden Age : The Development of Athenian Tragedy : Tragedy and the Polis,
32. id.

33. Blundell, op cit., p.15

Bibliography

Aristophanes, Peace, trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, (Penguin, 1978)

Blundell, Sue, Women in Ancient Greece, (Harvard University Press, 1995)

Bradley, P., Ancient Greece – Using Evidence, (Edward Arnold, 1998)

Graham, C., Ancient Athenian Women, [Internet : http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/ancientchix (Accessed 25th May,2002) ]

Jones, N.F., Ancient Greece – State and Society, (Prentice Hall, 1997)

Katz, Marilyn A., Did Women of Ancient Athens Attend the Theater in the Eighteenth Century?, [Internet : http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/cciv243.WomenatTheater.html (Accessed 18th May, 2002) ]

Kluth, Frederick J., Women in Ancient Greek Drama, [ Internet : http://apk.net/~fjk.html (Accessed 17th May, 2002) ]

Martin, Thomas R., A Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander – Athenian Religious and Cultural Life in the Golden Age : The Development of Athenian Tragedy : Tragedy and the Polis, (Yale University, September, 1996) [Internet : http://www.perseus.tufts.edu (Accessed 25th May, 2002) ]

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. Rex Warner, (Penguin, 1972)

Women in Classical Greek Culture, [ Internet : http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/CLAB52/Culture/Culture.htm (Accessed 25th May, 2002) ]