possible, then, the husband would try to make sure that his bride was well supervised while he was away
from the house, as he often was, whether attending to public matters or supervising the management of his
landholdings. This was easier in the case of wealthy citizens with a large and trusted staff of slaves and
servants than in the case of those households that could afford to maintain only a small number of slaves,
and those of perhaps questionable character. In addition, it might be necessary for women from poorer
families to work outside the house, selling goods in the agora or working as a nurse or a midwife, or to
leave the house for other purposes, such as going to the spring or fountain to fetch water.
Figure 46 Attic red-figure vessel by Sotades in the form of a knucklebone, showing women or divinities
flying; length 16.51 cm, ca. 470–450 BC. London, British Museum, 1860,1201.2.
Source: © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
Thus we find that, in fifth-century Athens, and presumably in most other Greek poleis, it was the mark of a
woman from a family of upper-class citizens that she spent most of her time inside the house. Among her
most frequent activities will have been the production of fabrics for use by the household by spinning
wool, weaving, and embroidering. Because these activities took place largely out of sight of the male
members of the family and because they involved the application of intricate and subtle skills, textiles
came to have an ambivalent character in the eyes of Greek men. For all their beauty and value, textiles
could have associations with deviousness, and there are a number of myths and stories in which fabrics
are used by women for destructive means. In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, for instance, Clytemestra first lures
her husband into walking on precious fabrics as a way of exposing him to divine anger and then she
snares him with woven garments before he is stabbed to death. In addition to spinning and weaving, a
married woman’s responsibilities will have included supervising other household chores and ensuring
that the resources of the house not be expended in a wasteful manner. The Greek word that refers to this