Think about the difference between “practice” and “prescription” . For whom do you think Xenophon wrote this document? How does Xenophon describe “proper” gender relations within a marriage? Given that we know that fundamentally Greece was a patriarchal society, so what extent do you think women’s roles and lived experiences in marriage relationships actually reflected what Xenophon describes here as the ideal? Do you think some women found ways to circumvent male dominance?
Do you think that some men have been motivated to afford their wives more agency than Xenophon recommends?
