Ancient Greek Women

[ginayang]

While working on the English project, I learned that most Ancient Greek women got married when they were 15 years old and husbands were typically 15 years older than them. Plus, the marriages were arranged by the parents so women never got to marry someone whom they loved. What would you have done if you were a girl in Ancient Greece who was about to get married? Would you just go with the flow or would you run away from everything? Explain why.

If I was a 15 year old girl in Ancient Greece, I would have thought of running away but I would not have had the guts to do so. I would just go with the flow because I am too scared to get caught by my parents, especially my dad. Also, even if I run away, my life would be miserable. Where would I find the money to buy necessities such as food?

[sageda]

I think people are usually appalled when they hear about people getting married so young back in the day, but we have to realize that it was a very different society. Other than the lower life expectancy, fifteen year-olds back then were probably more mature than their peers today in every sense of the word. I don't have a problem with arranged marriages unless it's not forced, but the whole 15 years older than her thing is a little messed up. But arranged marriages in general aren't "loveless." It's finding someone that you're compatible with building a relationship from that point on. It's known to be a lot more successful than love marriages.

[delmanykkfs]

I have to agree with sageda. I think people's thought toward marriage was very different from society we are living in right now. We think people should get married after they become an adult, but i guess in Greek society, they tend to get married at a very young age. Personally, i do not want any arranged marrige, becuase i want to marry someone i like

[jessicak016]

During that time, the girls were raised and told that they are going to get married by their parents and they are fully aware that their parents are going to arrange marriage for them. They did not know the concept of falling love, dating and having relationship with someone before getting married. And the girls get used to that fact. So I think that if I was a girl in Ancient Greece, I would have agreed to the marriage because I might get brainwashed that this is the only way you can live in the society.

[alexkoo]

Well throughout history, women were told to obey men. Greek women were suppose to get married at such a young age and i think that was just their culture. As Jessica mentioned, they did not have any thought about falling in love. I do not think i want to have arranged marriage since i have lived in modern day society and i believe that arranged marriage is for people who failed to find their love.

[minchoi0923]

It was the trend of society and during that time, 15 years old was not a young age, I think. People didn't live that long during time. I heard that the average death age was like 40? So I think getting married when you're 15 is not that big deal. If I was in Ancient Greece, i would have just got married because that's just how the rest of the society worked.

[sarahlee2]

If I was in that kind of situation, I think I would just marry whoever my family told me to. I feel like if I ran away with someone I loved at that moment, I would regret it. It's not guaranteed that that person will love you forever or if I would love that person forever. I think its a too big risk to take.

[hanbikang]

Yes i agree with the major people's opinion. That time period woman's role was to give a birth to a child and raise the child healthy. Of course nowadays it is the same but nowadays woman want also education and earn money. That time period marriage was different.

[sujeonggg]

I don't think arranged marriage is a really bad thing, since it is possible that I might actually fall in love with that person. And if I were an Ancient Greek girl, I don't think I can go against the society even though I really don't want to marry. Actually, I don't think I could even imagine going against the tacit marriage rule.

[yerin0727]

If I was a girl living in Ancient Greek, I would probably feel like I want to run away from my country as soon as possible. However, it would obviously be not as easy to do as we can say. This is because if I get caught, I would probably not even have the rights that I used to have before I tried to run away. Or maybe, I may even be assassinated for trying to abandon my own country.

[edward08]

During that time i would probably not know about the rule or oppurtunity that i can marry older. I would stay put and marry. I also dont want to make other troubles refering to me

[minjaeyang]

If I were a women from Ancient Greece, I would not run away. The main reason is because arranged marriages are a culture. Back than, everybody used to get married under those conditions. It would be weird if I ran away all of a sudden. I would become the strange person who did not do what everybody does.

[anica]

If I were an ancient Greek women about to get married with an arranged person, I think I would have to run away because there's more of a chance that I will not love the person, since after all, it's an arranged marriage. Moreover, I also think that marrying at 15 isn't really a surprise because it was part of how they lived. Thus, it was their culture.

[junaen0416]

Being an ancient Greek women was like being a slave back then. You had to obey what your Superiors told you to do. In this case, getting married to an older man. But what to do, this was the life they had to live on. Maybe it was not a good idea to run away from your family and live on your own as a woman. You might be viewed as an unholy person to society's eyes and no one will ever like you. As a result, they would treat you badly and maybe exiled from the society which would make life a hell.

[hannahs]

I don't think I can say for sure because the values they had back then is completely different from values now. Now when we read about young girls getting married to men that are way older than them we think that it's gross and that the guys are bunch of pedophiles. But back then, since every girl did that it was probably something normal. I think I would just go with the flow if I was living back then since back in those times, it was the normal thing to do.