Herodotus also mentions women in divinity, such as Athena, to whom Xerxes sacrifices oxen (57); and the oracles, who gave guidance from the gods to Croesus (42) and Leonidas (68). Herodotus also mentions the roles of women in other cultures. For example, the Massagetai men marry one woman but all are shared sexually, essentially as property; but in Egypt the roles of women included trading at the markets while the men stayed home and wove on looms (50). Egyptian women also could not serve as a priestess for a god or goddess and were forced to support their parents in life (50). Finally, Herodotus speaks of Persian culture in which the men have several wives. Boys are forbidden from their fathers till the age of five, for in case of death the father will be free of grief while the mother must suffer (48). This suggests that Persian women have a high tolerance for suffering. Clearly men have a higher social status than women in Persian culture, as “to call a man worse than a woman is the biggest insult of all
Herodotus also mentions women in divinity, such as Athena, to whom Xerxes sacrifices oxen (57); and the oracles, who gave guidance from the gods to Croesus (42) and Leonidas (68). Herodotus also mentions the roles of women in other cultures. For example, the Massagetai men marry one woman but all are shared sexually, essentially as property; but in Egypt the roles of women included trading at the markets while the men stayed home and wove on looms (50). Egyptian women also could not serve as a priestess for a god or goddess and were forced to support their parents in life (50). Finally, Herodotus speaks of Persian culture in which the men have several wives. Boys are forbidden from their fathers till the age of five, for in case of death the father will be free of grief while the mother must suffer (48). This suggests that Persian women have a high tolerance for suffering. Clearly men have a higher social status than women in Persian culture, as “to call a man worse than a woman is the biggest insult of all