Factors Increasing the Public Role of Women in Karia

Abstract

When one thinks of ancient Greek women,
the first image that comes to mind is that of the upper
class women of Athens, the cultural center of the Greek
world in the classical period, from where the vast
majority of the sources and the ancient opinions have
survived today. However, this immediate image of
Athenian women’s lives being restricted to the oikoswas
idealized by male authors and does not portray all
women even within Athens. Although the richness of
Athenian sources in comparison to many other cities
and periods has often tempted researchers to focus on
Athenian women, it is clear that all Greek women
cannot be considered in a single polis and period. Karia,
for instance, is a pretty remarkable region by showing
that women’s lives not only extended beyond the oikos
(home), but also they gained more power than
elsewhere in the Greek World, although fewer literary
and epigraphic evidence has remained about them. The
purpose of this study is to examine all the possible
factors that affect the increase of public roles of women
in Karia. Therefore, the paper begins with the Hekatomnid dynasty, which presents itself to the public as a
whole, including its female members. Then, a small
number of women’s euergetic activities in the Hellenistic periodwill be examined. Finally, the influence of the
Roman imperial policy and euergetic politics of Carian
elit families on the increasing role of women in the
public sphere will be discussed.