Help needed coming up with a specific thesis. Here is the prompt:

Question

Explore the role of women in Archaic Greek society as presented in the literature examined in class (The Iliad, Sappho's poems, Archilochus, and a book about Ancient Greece by Thomas Martin). **You might consider how women were viewed relative to men, how the interested with men, how women related to politics, how they related to each other socially, what behavior was expected of them, views of motherhood, views of wives and daughters, whether men and women viewed marriage similarly. Explore one topic and develop a specific argument that you prove with analysis.

The paper needs to be five pages. I'm trying to figure out which topic is going to give me the strongest thesis, and something truly arguable.

Please help if you have any ideas to throw out.

Answer 1

It's very hard to generalize about this topic because each polis had slightly different cultures and attitudes. Greece was not a unified country with a uniform culture in 5th century BC.

My suggestion is that you concentrate on one of the city-states -- most likely Athens. So ... go to http://scholar.google.com and http://books.google.com and conduct the following searches. Then read widely until you make a decision.

women in ancient athens

influence of women in ancient athens

Re-post when you're ready.

Answer 2

For example --

(Broken Link Removed)

and

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=influence+of+women+in+ancient+athens+&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=10000000000001&as_sdtp=on

Answer 3

Thank you! I'm going to stop by my uni's writing center tonight, and then I'll probably repost. :)

Answer 4

I'll keep checking!