The Burden of a Child: Examining the Effect of Pregnancy on Women's Power in Ancient Egypt and Greece.

• Date: 15 December 2020
• Author: Varadharajulu, Sara Divija

In the ancient world, parturition was considered a sacred phenomenon. The overlap of medicine, myth, and magic associated with childbirth differentiated pregnant women from other members and granted them a unique status in society. The fascination around pregnancy is perhaps best encapsulated by the use of various rituals regarding fertility, conception, and parturition. It has been shown that ancient Greek women often referred to calendars to identify the optimal environmental circumstances for conception.1 In addition, many women and priestesses belonging to the cults of goddesses, such as Artemis or Demeter, engaged in rituals to enhance fertility. (2) At the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, there is evidence that garments were donated to the goddess by women who had given birth or on behalf of those who had died during childbirth. (3) Garments were popular, and amongst the most luxurious gifts, signifying that the ancients were willing to spend riches on pregnancy related matters. In ancient Egypt, fertility tests were performed by placing a clove of garlic in the vaginal region; since the womb was thought to be connected to the alimentary canal, Egyptians believed that the scent of garlic could be detected on the breath of a fertile woman. (4) In addition, various ceremonies were performed to earn the assistance of the birthing deities including Hathor, Isis, and Neith; in labor women were placed in a "house of birth" (5) that connected to the temples of the goddesses.

The diverse efforts devoted by ancient Egyptian and Greek societies to improving the pregnancy process signifies its importance in their sociocultural structures. This paper examines the types of social power possessed by women and pregnant women in ancient Egypt and Greece. By comparing and contrasting their social and legal standings as well as the impact of social, cultural, political, and economic forces on these standings, it aims to identify the effect of pregnancy on women's statuses, and more specifically, power in society. To better clarify the meaning of "power," sources will be read through the lens of Mann's well-regarded IEMP model, which is discussed below. (6)

There are numerous similarities between the two societies, with the distinguishing factor between non-pregnant women in Egypt and Greece being access to political and economic power. While women were officially considered citizens in both states, the politico-economic structure of Egypt enabled women to legitimize their citizenship with formal monetary and governmental contributions, while that of Greece prevented women from fully participating in public life. However, pregnancy changes the ideological power allocation in these societies. The sociocultural differences, in particular, religious rituals and myths and social practices, between the states resulted in women in Greece gaining some ideological power during pregnancy while women in Egypt were somewhat stripped of their pre-existing autonomy.

It is important to note that this paper uses Athens as the model city-state to represent ancient Greece. However, political organization, social structure, cultural values, and the role of women differed between the city-states of ancient Greece, such as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. (7) For example, Spartan women enjoyed many freedoms not given to Athenian women such as owning and controlling property and participating in sports. (8) While the findings presented in this paper directly reflect women's power in ancient Athens, they will be most likely be less applicable to city-states such as Sparta which held women in higher regard. Mann's Sources of Social Power: Ideological Power Drove the Ancient World

Michael Mann defines power, in its most general sense, as "the ability to pursue and attain goals through mastery of one's environment." (9) Power arises from the human need to chase individual goals, and therefore, create networks of social interactions to obtain these goals. These networks, also referred to as four primary sources of social power in Mann's IEMP model, have distinct capabilities and boundaries. It is the combination of these sources, in particular the utilization of the intensive and extensive power they possess, that drives human achievement.

This particular model was chosen because it has been cited frequently in the literature, for example, as a scheme that "comprehensively [clarifies] the power situation at the macro-level " (10) In addition, Mann's focus specifically on the ancients lends well to this paper, as it is well recognized that the sources of power driving major changes in the world alternate through the centuries. With regards to the ancient world, it is postulated that the ideological power was the dominating network, as it was a time when religion and its associated "emotional/ritual techniques of solidarity and impressiveness" (11) spread. Mann's model provides a framework to compare and contrast the freedoms given to and limitations placed on women in the ancient world. For those unfamiliar with the model, its facets will be explored in depth in this section.

The first of these powers is ideological, the power of belief. This belief can be personal or institutionalized, such as with religious authority, and is entirely faith based. Its unprovable nature is best conveyed in the statement "You cannot argue with a song." (12) Mann proposes that this power stems from the ability to monopolize norms, meaning, aesthetic/ritual practices and from the claim to knowing what is "right" and just. Although the knowledge of ideological power cannot be proven, its message does not have to be false or manipulative; most successful ideological movements contain rational, legitimate messages. While religion is an obvious example of ideological power, secular movements, such as Marxism, can be just as influential.

In stark contrast, economic power, simply put, is the access to resources. More specifically, it relies on one's capacity to control the production, distribution and consumption of goods, thereby effectively inserting oneself into the consumer relationship as a middle man. Marxists often focus on production as being the ultimate source of power because labor precedes the other parts of the chain. Mann also proposes that economic power is frequently dispersed and might not directly correlate with a hierarchical class structure, although it can.

According to Mann, though, the most coercive, concentrated form of power is military strength, or the mobilization of violence. While commonly thought of as the utilization of force during wartime, violent forms of social control, such as slavery, are subsections of military power that exist during peacetime. In direct contrast to political power, which will be discussed below, military influence has an extensive reach even outside of state borders. Mann gives the example of a local tribe which still continues to supply an annual tribute to its conquerors despite the fact that the nearest military base might be over 300 kilometers away.

Finally, Mann presents political power as the institutionalized regulation of society, or, in other words, state power. Unlike the other sources of power in IEMP, political power is contained within a society and is constrained by its borders. This limitation of power can be observed in the variable influence of a teacher. External to a teacher's power sphere, i.e.: school, their political power as an instructor ceases to exist, which is why they cannot assign homework if encountered at a grocery store. Also, in contrast to the rest of the power sources, political power relies on a "center" and falls with only a particular group or subsection of a group.

Throughout the remainder of the paper, these identified sources of power will be referenced. In addition, the sources and consequences of sexual power, which was added to this existing model by later historians, will be discussed.

The Legal Statuses of Women in Ancient Greece and Egypt Differ

From the analysis of the earliest available art, archeological, and textual records, it can be interpreted that the legal status of women in Egypt was equivalent to that of men. (13) Both men and women were able to purchase and sell property, which allowed women the chance to accumulate economic power. The ownership rights of Egyptian women are best communicated by an engraving on the Statue of Nakht-mut, a sculpture from the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt, 1070-664 BC. (Figure 1). (14) Mut was considered to be the mother goddess of Thebes; her double crown is thought to represent her rule over both Upper and Lower Egypt. (15) The statuette reads, "Act excellently for our daughter... Let her seize this property and kill anyone who will trespass against her!" (16) Not only is a woman's right to ownership so fierce that she can "seize" the property, but it is so great that she may "kill" to defend it. In the legal arena, both sexes could initiate court cases or be sued by others. Women were responsible for their own civic actions and although it was rare, they could serve as witnesses in a court case or for legal documents and sit on juries. (17) The extent of women's full legal rights was manifested in her ability to initiate divorce and maintain the opportunity to remarry thereafter. (18)

This legal equality of the sexes most likely stems from political and economic structure of Egypt. Egypt functioned as a theocratic monarchy; the king was viewed as an intermediary to the gods and his laws as manifestations of the gods' wills. (19) The political power of the state was concentrated in him, and to some extent, the royal family, which prevented any group of civilians, such as upper-class males, from gaining an advantage over others. (20) This allowed for political power to be somewhat evenly distributed among citizens. In addition, because Egypt was not an empire but a contained state, (21) women were able to...