city woman were to bear children, preferably male, and to run the household. Duties of a rural woman included some of the agricultural work such as the harvesting of olives and fruit gathering of vegetables.Since men spent most of their time away from their houses, Greek home life was dominated by women. The wife was in charge of raising the children, spinning, weaving and sewing the familys clothes. She supervised the daily running of the household. In a totally slave-based economy, plentiful numbers of female slaves were available to cook, clean, and carry water from the fountain. Only in the poorest homes was the wife expected to carry out all these duties by herself. A male slaves responsibilities were usually limited to being doorkeeper and tutor to the male children. Greek custom dictated that a woman limit her time outside the house to visiting only with female neighbours. The only exceptions to such social convention were weddings, funerals and state religious festivals in which women were expected to play prominent public roles. Vase scenes portraying women inside their houses are often lacking specific details. The common presence of columns suggests that women spent much of their time in the courtyard of the house, the one place where they could regularly enjoy fresh air. Greek cooking equipment was small and light and could easily be set up there. In sunny weather, women probably sat in the roofed-over areas of the courtyard. Mens activities included politics, arts and crafts, construction, agriculture, sea faring, manufacturing and trade. Agriculture was the most common male activity however it is only rarely illustrated. Yet the large majority of citizens of all Greek states relied upon the land for their basic income, even the rich who did no work in the fields themselves, tended to oversee directly the farming of at least some of their property as opposed to leasing it all out. For the common people, agricultural work w...
