The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c11.s1.45

c11.s1.45

It may be, however, pointed out that seclusion of women was not confined to India alone. In Athens at *c.* 500 B. C. women could not meet their husbands’ guests, or go outside the house without proper guards (*E. R. E.*, Vol. V, p. 735). A bridegroom could not see his bride before marriage in the cultural capital of ancient Greece, owing to the strict conventions under which women lived (*Ibid*, Vol. VIII, p. 445). A character in one of the plays of Menander says, ‘A free woman should be bounded by the street door’. At Sparta women had separate apartments and could not be present at a banquet. In ancient Assyria veil was worn by all married women, harlots and concubines being regarded as ineligible for it. In Persia also seclusion of women had become quite common before the beginning of the Christian era. The Bible lays down’ that women should not speak in public at the Church. If they had any difficulties, they were to ask their husbands at home, for ‘it is a shame for women to speak in the Church’ (I Corinthians, 14, 34-5). Early Church Fathers held similar views. Tertullian says, ‘For a virgin of virtuous habits every public appearance with an unveiled face was equivalent to suffering a rape’¹. Clement of Alexandria says, ‘Let the woman be entirely covered, unless she happens to be at home. She will not invite another to fall into a sin by uncovering her face’.² In Russia soon after the introduction of Christianity the Terem system was introduced, which shut out women from friends and foes alike. In the 16th century wives and daughters of noblemen could not be seen even by their own brothers and other near relations (Halle, *Women in Soviet Russia*, p. 11).