Daisy Goodwin, a 61-year-old married novelist and TV producer, has alleged that ten years ago she was molested by Daniel Korski, and said she felt ‘entirely justified’ in describing the alleged incident a decade later. She claimed that other women had come forward with ‘very interesting stories’ on the topic. What would the Athenians have made of this?
An Athenian woman was a precious asset, supplying children for battle but, being too weak to fight, denied political decision-making.
She was integrated into society within the family unit, with female friends and vital religious functions, and certainly holding views of her own (as Homer’s epics make clear). In the eyes of the law, however, she remained a minor, under the control of her male kurios (‘lord, master’): for example, her father, husband, brother or paternal grandfather, to whom she returned if, say, her husband died.
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