Producing male heirs are essential, given that present in the earlier conversation towards the epikleros’
Importance of a masculine Heir
Men heirs were vital that you the family general since well because mom regarding inheriting estate, as the Keuls states: “the brand new Athenian’s wish to have genuine men offspring sprang off multiple motivations. Usually the one normally quoted into the progressive education away from Greek relatives every day life is the will off sons in preserving the clan and you will continue new cult of one’s predecessor and you will household divinities.” (Keuls, 1985, p. 100). Using this quote we could gather one to even as newborns hierarchies were currently put on children; male pupils was in fact destined to become more powerful than simply female pupils.
A consideration and that either computed the management of a woman once pregnancy was the physical gender of the youngster. In the Diseases of women step 1 because of the Hippocrates, “from the half a dozen times where sex are conveyed, one infant try men. ” (Request, 1994, p.49), proving that gender hierarchy stayed about first times of its lives. The theory you to definitely men infants were able to improve birthing techniques simpler for the mother either managed to make it therefore women that birthed male infants were maintained lower than when the she would provides borne a female child. Right here once more, women are made to endeavor due to the ‘superiority’ of males.
People and you will Pregnancy
Obviously when you look at the old Greece there is certainly a quantity regarding shame or guilt if it involved pregnancy. Regarding maternity, Bettini claims that “having an epic poem, at least, it must be discussed simply in ‘dignified’ otherwise ‘discreet’ words, because men, who talks about female’s existence regarding their own, masculine, attitude, would be embarrassed otherwise repulsed of the an in depth malfunction away from what happens when a child is due.