ABSTRACT
I T is generally recognized that the sections of the Code1 which contain special provisions relating to the heiress (patroiokos) 2 are of considerable importance, both from a social and from a legal point of view. In their comparative aspect, the Gortynian provisions have been interpreted as the outcome of a more enlightened legislation,3 in that they show more consideration for the rights of women than, for example, the Athenian. But the rejection of this interpretation, in favour of the view which sees the Gortynian legislation as an attempt to advance in the same direction as the Athenian, is implicit in what has already been said in the first chapter. There, the even more favourable position of women in Sparta, as compared with either Crete or Athens, was taken into account. Little more will be added here about ~artaarta; but in order to substantiate the interpretation that at Gortyna the men had not gone so far in the elimination of women's rights-or, in Qther words, that the Gortynian laws reveal an earlier stage in the breaking down of the rule of exogamy, by which husband and wife had had to belong to different clans-it will be necessary first to discuss the Athenian practice in more detail, so as to offer a proper comparison with the Gortynian.
