Liberty suspended: legislation and women's action in Antiquity

Abstract

This article propose questions about the public performance of women in antiquity, seeking to understand the status that wives had and the legislation that limited their mobility. Through discussion about some women, Aspasia, Diotima and Xantipa, we seek to raise hypotheses that some had a voice and were heard and others were despised in their manifestations. The singularity of the performance of some contrasts with the legislation on them, but points out in Aristophanes' comedy possibilities that Athenian wives could articulate informal social networks to influence the public sphere. In the same way, Plato's Republic assumes a fair city through the education of the guardians, a possibility of unusual public action in Antiquity. Through this discussion, we seek to raise possibilities of reading about the suspended freedom of women in the ancient world.