1

sound. The shuttle and its bobbin (ηvíov) must have come into use before the time of Aristophanes, for he uses the words ýνioμa (Ran. 1315) and ékπηvíčeσbai1 (Ran. 578, where a woman is speaking). In Thesm. 822 the åvτíov and the κavúv are mentioned among women's implements. It is clear that they were distinct from one another, but what they were is hard to say. The kavov in Thesm. 822 is probably the long, double-pointed rod (radius) with which the woof was pushed through the warp. The reference to the spearhandle (verse 825) is then clear, for the radius resembled a spear in shape. The avríov may be the cloth-beam, or more probably the "heddle-rod" (liciatorium).

The evidence that weaving was done by women, and by women of the better class, is abundant. As has been seen, the κερκίς, ἀντίον and κavov are mentioned as implements belonging distinctively to women. In Thesm. 822 the chorus, who boast that they have never lost their ἀντίον, κανών or καλαθίσκοι, are all free Athenian women. In Nub. 53-5 Strepsiades uses the figure of a weaver in order to hint to his wife to be less extravagant. In Eccl. 556, when Praxagora is told that the state has been put into the hands of the women, she asks Tí Spâv; vpaíveiv; and in 654 she promises that in the new state the women shall weave iμária for the men. In Lys. 586 Xλaîvav iþaívev is the last step in the series of operations which the women perform with the wool. In Lys. 630 the old men say: ἀλλὰ ταῦτ ̓ ὕφηναν ἡμῖν ὠνδρες ἐπὶ τυραννίδι, using ὑφαίνω in its double sense of "weave " and "contrive." 3

1 Explained by the Schol. as equivalent to εξέλκειν ἀπὸ τοῦ πηνίου.

2 Rich thinks that avríov (Latin insubulum) means the "cloth-beam" at the top of the loom, around which the cloth was rolled when it became longer than the height of the loom. Blümner thinks that κavúv, like κavóves, denotes the "heddle-rods" (liciatoria) to which the leashes (uíTol, licia) were fastened; and that ȧvrlov in earlier times was perhaps the name of one of the "heddle-rods," while later the word became exactly equivalent to κavúv. See his elaborate note, p. 130 of the "Technologie." It seems probable that xavúv sometimes denotes the "heddle-rod" and sometimes the radius. The different meanings were often confused with one another, and this gave rise to great uncertainty about the true meaning of the word. Cf. Eustathius 1328, 43. So far as the name goes, any straight rod or bar may be called κανών.

8 Other references to weaving are Vesp. 1143-7; Av. 712; 943. In Thesm. 738 Mnesilochus calls women κακὸν καὶ τοῖς σκευαρίοις καὶ τῇ κρόκῃ. The word κрókn may mean either "thread," "woof," or "cloth."

Working in Flax. Women worked in flax as well as wool. Thus in Lys. 735 seqq. a woman pretends that she wants to go home on account of some Amorgine flax which she has left unhackled, and promises to come back as soon as she has cleaned it. In Ran. 1346 seqq. it is flax (λívov) that the woman was spinning in order to sell the thread.

Embroidering. References to embroidery are quite common1 in Aristophanes, but proof that it was done by women is scanty. We have, however, evidence that the peplus of Athena, which was woven by noble Athenian maidens, had embroidered upon it the figures of men aέio Toù éпλoν (Eq. 566; cf. 1180, and Av. 827). girls must therefore have been taught to embroider.

These

Other Duties of Women. As we have seen, women of the poorer classes went to the spring for water (Lys. 327 seqq.); they carried burdens on their heads (Eccl. 222); they sometimes turned the hand-mill, though this was generally done by the slaves (cf. Nub. 1358).

EDUCATION OF WOMEN.

The evidence of Aristophanes on this point is not very abundant; yet it tends strongly to prove that the amount of education which Athenian women of the better class received was very slight.

Knowledge of the Elements. Probably most women received sufficient instruction in тà yрáμμara to aid them in their domestic economy. Praxagora is represented as well acquainted with the alphabet (Eccl. 684-6). In Lys. 767 seqq. it is not certain from the context whether Lysistrata reads the oracle or repeats it from memory; but in Eccl. 1011 seqq. the old woman clearly reads the decree at the young man's request.

In Thesm. 432 a woman in concluding her speech says that she will have the rest written out with the aid of the female clerk (Tŷs ypaμμaréws) of the assembly; and a woman named Lysilla is mentioned as having been clerk at a council of women (verse 375). This is of course a burlesque; nevertheless it implies that a knowledge of reading and writing was not uncommon among Athenian women.

1 E.g. Eq. 967; Vesp. 475; 1215; Lys. 1189; Ran. 937-8; Pl. 1199. Cf. Pl. 530 and Schol.

Still it is noteworthy that there is no instance in Aristophanes of a woman's writing or receiving a letter. Of course the tradeswomen must have been able to calculate sufficiently to keep their accounts. They also had some knowledge of law. Cf. Vesp. 1387 seqq.

Knowledge of Singing and Dancing. A knowledge of singing and dancing seems to have been quite widely diffused among the women. To say nothing of the numerous places in the Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae and Ecclesiazusae where a chorus of women, or of men and women, sing and dance, even the poor women who ground barley at the mill could sing (Nub. 1358). In Eccl. 893 seqq. (cf. 880-3; 887) the ypaûs and veavís sing alternately, and again in 952 seqq. the veavís and veavías; but too much importance must not be attached to this fact, for the women clearly belong to the class of hetaerae. In Lys. 408-9 a husband is said to tell the goldsmith that his wife lost the pin of her necklace while dancing at evening. Women danced at the festival of Adonis (Lys. 392), and apparently maidens performed dances in honor of Ceres and Proserpine (Thesm. 101-3). Both women and girls shared in the songs and dances of the mystae (Ran. 324 seqq. cf. 409 seqq.; 444). Women were sometimes introduced on the stage to dance the licentious "cordax " (Nub. 540; 555).'

Sources of Information. Women no doubt gained considerable information by listening to the talk of the men. Cf. Lys. 513. They were in a manner educated by hearing the words of their parents and elders (Lys. 1126–7), though such instruction was rather incidental than intentional. They received a certain amount of intellectual training from hearing the tragedies at the theatre. Aristophanes even makes a young girl speak familiarly of the tragedies of Euripides (Pax 146-8), though he manifestly wishes to add to the humor of the scene by putting the words into the mouth of a child. But the women quote Euripides (Thesm. 390 seqq.), and throughout the Thesmophoriazusae their familiarity with his plays is assumed.

1 The curious Spartan dance called Bißaris is referred to in Lys. 82. Cf. Pollux, IV. 102. It was performed by persons of either sex, and required strength and endurance rather than skill, the object being to strike the posteriors with the sole of the foot (TOT) Tʊyàv åλλeσ¤α) as many times as possible. The dances of Spartan youths and maidens are beautifully described in Lys. 1308 seqq.

Ignorance of Public Life. Women's ignorance of public life and matters belonging to it is best illustrated by the amusing scene at the opening of the Ecclesiazusae, where the women meet to rehearse before going to the assembly. It is noteworthy that Aristophanes has made both Lysistrata and Praxagora assign a special reason for their knowledge of public affairs (Lys. 1124-7; Eccl. 243-4), thus clearly marking both cases as exceptional.

Women of the higher classes must also have been very ignorant of matters of business. By the Attic law a woman could not make a contract involving more than the value of a bushel and a half of barley (Eccl. 1025).1

It would seem from this brief survey of the subject that the position of the Athenian woman, though better than is sometimes represented, was yet decidedly lower than that of the women of civilized nations at the present day. Still it had its redeeming features, above all in the respect shown to the mother of children and the mistress of the home.

1 Cf. the Schol. ad loc.; also Meier and Schömann, Attische Process, pp. 563, 764.

NOTES.

ψαῦος IN ALCMAN.

Schol. A, Iliad M 137 (on the word αὔας): ἴσως δὲ βεβαρυτόνηται, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ναῦος ἐβαρύνετο, καὶ τὸ Τραῦος κύριον, καὶ τὸ ψαῦος παρ ̓ Αλκμάνι. See Lenz's Herodian I p. 1o9, II p. 81 ; Bergk's Poet. Lyr. Graec., 4th ed., III p. 77

Probably ψανος is miswritten for φανος = φάος. Hesych. φανόφοροι· Αἰολεῖς, ἱέρειαι.

In the inscriptional 'Sententia Minuciorum,' 1. 37, we read prata quae fuerunt proxuma faenisicei L. Caecilio Q. Muucio cos. The meaning is evidently 'last hay-cutting.' Mommsen supposed a feminine faenisex, of which this should be the ablative (as fontei in line 7): this I followed in my 'Remnants of Early Latin.' But it is impossible that faenisex should have had such an abstract meaning. We have rather the ablative of a *faenisicies, the counterpart of faenisicia. The spelling faenisicei I am inclined to explain as a simple error of the graver for faenisicie.

φορτικεύομαι, SCHOL. ΑRIST. RAN. 13.

Φρύνιχος · Δίδυμός φησιν ὅτι νῦν Φρυνίχου τοῦ κωμικοῦ μέμνηται, ὡς παρ ̓ ἕκαστα ἐν ταῖς κωμωιδίαις φορτικευομένου. ἔστι δὲ πατρὸς Εὐνομίδου· κωμωιδεῖται δὲ καὶ ὡς ξένος, καὶ ἐπὶ φαυλότητι ποιημάτων, καὶ ὡς ἀλλότρια λέγων καὶ ὡς κακόμετρα.

So the Scholiast. Compare Suidas s.v. Λύκις : ὁ δὲ Φρύνιχος ἐν ταῖς κωμωιδίαις παρ ̓ ἕκαστα ἐφορτικεύετο κωμωιδεῖται δὲ καὶ ὡς ξένος, ἐπὶ φαυλότητι ποιημάτων, καὶ ὡς ἀλλότρια λέγων καὶ ὡς κακόμετρα.

That Phrynichus's plays contained poprɩká is credible enough, but the statement is beside the point here. Didymus's words are evi