iod of Greek history was succeeded by the Hellenistic
Age, an epoch introduced by the spread of the Greek language and culture
over the vast empire of Alexander the Great. The theory of the
city-state had been one of the chief causes of the seclusion of women;
and as Alexander broke down the barriers between the Greek cities and
introduced uniformity of life and manners throughout his empire, from
this time on the status of woman is gradually elevated, her attention to
the higher education becomes more general, and she takes a more
prominent part in culture and politics and all the living interests of
the day. Alexandria usurps the place of Athens as the chief centre of
Greek life and thought, and here the Greek woman plays a conspicuous
and prominent role. Then, as Rome spread her conquests over the Orient,
the Graeco-Roman period succeeds the Hellenistic, and through the
intermingling of alien civilizations a womanhood of purely Greek culture
is merged into the cosmopolitan womanhood of the Roman world.
Christianity rapidly becomes the leaven that permeates the lump of the
Roman Empire, and, appealing as it did to all that was highest and best
in feminine character, finds ready acceptance among the women of
Hellenic lands. The woman of Greek culture, with rare exceptions, ceases
to exist, and our subject reaches its natural termination.

II

WOMANHOOD IN THE HEROIC AGE

The life of the earliest Greeks is mirrored in their legends. Though not
exact history, the heroic epics of Greece are of great value as pictures
of life and manners. Hence we may turn to them as valuable memorials of
that state of society which must be for us the starting point of the
history of the Greek woman.

The evidence of Homer regarding the Heroic Age is comprehensive and
accurate. The discoveries of recent years are making Troy and Mycenae and
other cities of Homeric life very real to us. We find that Homer
accurately described the material surroundings of his heroes and
heroines--their houses and clothing and weapons and jewels. The royal
palaces at Troy and Tiryns and Mycenae have been unearthed, and we know
that their human occupants must have been persons of the character
described by Homer, for only such could have made proper use of the
objects of utility and adornment found in these palaces and now to be
studied in the museums of Europe. Hence we are driven to the conclusion
that though Agamemnon be a myth and Helen a poet'