well dr bill what do you thing the woman of ancient greece and rome did all day? the had slave to cook, and prepare food. did they sit and read, and eat bon bons?

there is some evidence, (scant, but all history of woman's work is scant) that they were spinsters, and weavers. especially the greek women. the cloth they wove was one of the standard domestic product traded for copper, tin, silver and other metals that are naturally in short supply in greece. they prepared wine and olive oil for export, and all those sheep? were sheered, and the wool spun, and woven. and all those woolens? an other trade commodity.

nowdays, with so many synthetics and micro fibers, we forget how valualbe wool is. it can be spun and woven into a sheer cloth (tropical weight wools are nothing new) it insulates, even when wet. the grease from wool is an extremely high quality lubricant, good for human use, or industrial use.

there isn't much talk about how the populi (that is the men of the city, who's saw it as there job to run the city) earned money.. they lived in the city, so by defination, they were not farmers. what industry supported them?

their wives, like penelopy, sitting home, working at the loom!

but you're right, the woman wouldn't get to keep the money that was earned by their effort. and i expect, any woman who somehow did manage to get herself independent faced the risk of being denegraded. (it still happens now!)

roman woman might have had few choices, and even weaving might have been denied them.
it is speculated, that the famous Venus di Milo, was a sculpture of a woman, holding a drop spindle and spinning.


my other obsession