Patrijarhat i položaj žena u starom veku

Abstract

Patrijarhalna struktura odnosa dominantna je u celokupnoj predmodernoj istoriji, a posebno od procesa urbanizacije, koji se vezuje za period počev od 1500 godina pre nove ere (u širem smislu od 3500 godina p. n. e.). Patrijarhat je dominirao kao crvena nit kroz sva predmoderna društva, kao odrednica hijerarhijske strukture moći od porodice do svih elemenata javne sfere, od individualnih sistema vrednosti, rodnih stereotipa, do kulturnih i religijskih matrica. Dakle, dominirao je počev od starog veka – od prvih urbanih civilizacija evroazijskih prostora (oko reka Eufrat i Tigar, Ind, Hoang Ho, Jangce, Nil) i mediteranskih regija klasične Grčke i rimske imperije – pa do procesa modernizacije, koji su na delu od vremena industrijske i političkih revolucija i u poslednjih nekoliko vekova. Moderno društvo je prvo u ljudskoj istoriji koje je donelo prekretnicu u rodnim i polnim odnosima, tako da se može govoriti o tome da ga karakteriše sukob patrijarhata i emancipacije. Patrijarhalna matrica je daleko od prevaziđene u modernom društvu, ali je takođe daleko i od potpune dominacije, kakvu je imala u predmodernom društvu. U ovom radu će naglasak biti na starom veku i ispoljavanju jedinstvene patrijarhalne strukture odnosa moći, doduše na specifične načine, na primerima rečnih civilizacija starog Egipta i Mesopotamije i antičkog Mediterana na primerima Sparte, Atine i Rima.

Patriarchal structure of relations had been dominant in the whole premodern history, and especially from the emerging urbanization processes, which happened starting from 1500 B.C. (in a wider sense already from 3500 B.C.) and further on. Patriarchy had dominated as a red core logic through all premodern societies as a benchmark of a hierarchical structure of power as being existent in family relations in all spheres of a public life, in individual system of values, as well as in widely accepted gender stereotypes and also religious matrixes. In short, it dominated from the Ancient Age – starting with first urban civilizations which had been emerging in Eurasian regions and had been located around rivers Euphrates, Tiger, Indus River, Yellow River, Yangtze, Nile, as well as those ones emerging in Mediterranean regions of the Classical Greece and Imperial Rome. Modern society has been the first one in the human history, which brought an essential shift in sexual and gender relations and in overturning patriarchal unison dominance, and insofar it is possible to characterize modernity as an epoch of dialectical struggle between patriarchy and emancipation from it. Patriarchal matrix has been far from fully overcome in the modernity, but it also has been far from its full predominance, as it had existed in a whole premodern history. In this article the focus will be on the Ancient epoch and manifestations of the unique patriarchal structure of power relations, though in specific and mutually differentiated modalities, especially in the cases of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the Ancient Mediterranean civilizations of Sparta, Athens and Rome.