ABSTRACT
A woman’s life long supervision by a guardian, her kyrios, summarizes her status in
Athenian law. She was not considered a legally competent, autonomous individual
responsible for her own actions or capable of determining her own interests. As Harrison
observes:
There can be no doubt that a woman remained under some sort of tutelage
during the whole of her life. She could not enter into any but the most trifling
contract, she could not engage her own hand in marriage, and she could not
plead her own case in court. In all these relations action was taken on her behalf
by her kyrios, and this was so during her whole life.
