How are we to account for this anomaly—the absence of sexual romance in
a nation which was so passionately enamoured of Beauty in its various
forms?
The answer is to be found in the non-existence of opportunities for
courtship, and the degraded position of woman. The following sentences,
culled at random from Becker’s classical work, show how the Greek men
regarded their women, whom they considered inferior to themselves in
heart as well as in intellect. Iphigenia herself is made to admit by
Euripides that one man is worth more than a myriad of women:—
εἶς γ’ ανὴρ κρείσσων γυναικῶν μυρίων.
“The ἀρετή (virtue) of which a woman was thought capable in that age
differed but little from that of a faithful slave.” “Except in her own
immediate circle, a woman’s existence was scarcely recognised.” “It was
quite a Grecian view of the case to consider a wife as a necessary
evil.” "Athenians, in speaking of their wives and children, generally
said τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας, putting their wives last: a phrase which
indicates very clearly what was the tone of feeling on this subject"
(Smith).
Women “were not allowed to conclude any bargain or transaction of
consequence on their own account,” though Plato urged that this
concession should be made to them; and it was even “enacted that
everything a man did by the counsel or request of a woman should be
null.” “There were no educational institutions for girls, nor any
private teachers at home.” “Hence there were no scientifically-learned
ladies, with the exception of the Hetæræ.”