Caitlin Coomes, Molly Forrest, Alanna McLeod, Serena Newmark, Nathan Petek

Introduction to Coming of Age

In classical Greek society, the transition from adolescence to adulthood was a defining milestone in the lives of both male and female Athenians. Our Special Issue Journal explores the ways in which males and females experienced this transition physiologically, mentally, and socially. To gain an understanding of the importance of this transition, we considered medical ideas of the time, comic plays, and instructive texts on social conventions.

Our Journal provides critical, thought-provoking insights into the different transitions experienced by males and females that are necessary to our understanding of gender norms and expectations in classical societies. If these transitions did not go smoothly, and males did not become the patriarchs of efficient households upheld by respectable and responsible wives, a reputable position in society would be threatened in adulthood. A prosperous household and sound reputation were two of the most important aspects of male-dominated Athenian life, but this paradigm could not be achieved without a successful progression from adolescence into adulthood.

Although none of our papers analyze the same ancient works or argue the same thesis, when considered together, our papers reflect similar points. Newmark’s paper about the beard as a symbol of the paramount transition from boyhood to manhood connects to Coomes’s explication of women’s inferiority to men as caused by their lack of a transition of this nature. Forrest’s paper regarding menstruation and Newmark’s exploration of the importance of the beard reveal an interesting distinction between the development of males and females. A male’s manhood was regarded as the product of his outward physical appearance, whereas adulthood for women was characterized by behavioral and psychological changes. Pairing McLeod’s paper that examines a dutiful wife eager to be taught the order of a successful household by her husband with Petek’s paper showing the exaggeration found in different texts portraying both obedient and rebellious wives shows the ancients’ model of an ideal woman as contrasted with their disdain for independent, uncontrollable females. From these extreme depictions, we can deduce that an actual Athenian wife was somewhere in between the naïve, passive ideal and the disobedient radical.

We were able to gain new insight on classical societies by looking at the texts and our interpretations of them as a cohesive unit. We found that for males, the transition from childhood to adulthood brought about a new, elevated status in society. Boys became men who controlled households and communities–a position of dominance and power in ancient Athens. On the other hand, females did experience a transition to adulthood, but gained no new status or agency beyond that of their childhood. As children, females were contained within and protected by their fathers’ households, and as married women, despite being given responsibilities in their husbands’ households, they were still under the authority of a dominant male figure. Thus, males came of age and received full citizen status with the ability to exercise its related power when the growth of a beard signified their transition into adulthood. Females, however, transitioned into a state of "second class citizenship," lacking the influence held by the male members of society.

We also compared this new insight on Greek society to our knowledge about Roman society. Roman females appear to have had more social mobility and power in adulthood than Greek women, which is depicted in Roman writings that include sovereign women like Lesbia, Cleopatra, and Dido. However, males’ desire for dominance over females was still very much a part of Roman gender expectations. For example, girls were often married at 12-years-old as an extreme assurance of their virginity, thereby allowing males to mold their wives as they saw fit. This social convention is similar to the ideal marriageable female in Greek society who was young, uneducated, and inexperienced.

Our close study of this topic is helpful in understanding the roots of social norms concerning gender roles and expectations. While the balance of power between males and females has obviously evolved a great deal since antiquity, certain notions of inequality still exist. "You throw like a girl," is meant as an insult from one man to another, which suggests that males still see themselves as superior to women in particular skills. Additionally, men often try to instruct women as to the proper way to throw, which is a benign version of a husband teaching his wife order in the household–the same attitude is found in each scenario. This social expectation is imbedded in our own culture so deeply that women do not often question this idea of males’ knowledge in specific domains, just as wives in classical societies did not seem to question their own gender role as the "students" in their marriages. Comparing historical ages to the modern day reminds us of who we are now, from where we have come, and to where we are going.