Women and Law in Classical Greece

Based on a sophisticated reading of legal evidence, this book offers a balanced assessment of the status of women in classical Greece. Raphael Sealey analyzes the rights of women in marriage, in the control of property, and in questions of inheritance. He advances the theory that the legal disabilities of Greek women occurred because they were prohibited from bearing arms.

Sealey demonstrates that, with some local differences, there was a general uniformity in the legal treatment of women in...