Unlike men, the majority of women lived at the fringe of public life, had no political rights and few social ones. They were destined to be wed and produce offspring and only a few were given the chance to be educated and even fewer to influence the political scene.

Their world was their house, which they ran with considerable autonomy. Their main occupation was weaving, as proven by the spindle whorls, loom weights and needles for sawing and embroidery.

They left the house rarely, mostly to participate in great festivals and only those in need of money worked outside their homes. Some of the latter obtained their own business and sealed their products with their name, while others -mostly foreigners and slaves- offered erotic services in exchange for money.

All of them, however, took care of their appearance. They kept the jeweler and hair pins in special boxes (pyxides, lekanides) and their garments and other objects in wooden chests from which only the keys, hinges, and rarely inlaid ivory plaques that decorated them, survived./