The Law and Ideology of Women

A law quoted by the 4th century BC Order, Icyus, decreed that no child or woman should have the power to make any contract above the value of one Madimnos of barley. No doubt they would have had to buy and sell produce in the agora during these times. In Aristophanes, Thesmophora Zuzai, a widow with five children describes how she earns a precarious living by weaving garlands. Besides prostitution, women who sought employment typically engaged in occupations which were an extension of their domestic skills.