er mans) wife in order to produce children for him, because he would be giving his own seed rather than that of his brother. Women in the Ancient world were considered property of men. A woman belonged to her father until she married, and she was then considered to be property of her husband. These women had no identity of their own; in both Greek and biblical literature, women are identified not by their own names, but by their relation to their husband or father (i.e. Andromache, wife of Hector; Esther, daughter of Abihail). This demonstrates the common thought that women were nothing without a man. Often, women were traded as currency, or used by their fathers or husbands as incentive when making a deal. A good example of this concept can be found in Genesis Chapter 8, in the case of Lot. When the angry men of Sodom surround his house, Lot offers to give them his two daughters in order to protect his houseguests. Please, my brothers, do no harm. Look, I have two daughters who have known no man. Let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you want. Only to these men do nothing (Genesis19:8, p86). Lot puts no thought into how his daughters might feel about being forced to have sex with these men. It seems outrageous that a man would offer the virginity of his two daughters just to please a houseguest, but in ancient times such an offer was common. Lots daughters were his property, and he was free to do with them as he wished. Hecuba, Cassandra, and Andromache in The Women of Troy mourn their future as slaves after the Trojan War ends. Because their husbands have been killed, they have lost their identities; they have become nothing more than war-booty for the Greek men to take as their own. Whatever stature they used to have is now meaningless, because the men who supported them are gone. Although Hecuba was once a queen, she realizes that she has become nothing more than a prize. Im to go to Greece/ an old wom...
