Nano-History Research Paper

The Status and Role of Assyrian Women

Submitted By: Dakota Compton

History 134
Professor Patrick McDonald
February 15th, 2015

The Status and Role of Assyrian Women

The kingdom of Assyria was a Kingdom that existed in pre-historic times. As with other
kingdoms that existed during the same era, there treatment and esteem of women was roughly
the same. The status as well as the role of the women within this particular kingdom was based
upon the fact that it was a highly patriarchal society. The womans role and status within the
kingdom was therefore governed within the construct of such a society (Dossani 8). What they
did and how they were perceived was strictly confined within this particular belief system. The
aim of this paper is to present an overview and discussion relating to the status that women
within this particular kingdom were accorded. It also analyzes the role or roles that these women
played within the society.

Status of Women
Being a patriarchal society, the status of women in the kingdom was deemed to be below
that of men, who were viewed as superior to women. It is for this reason that women were
viewed as beings meant to cater for the wishes and demands of the man. For example, it was the
sole discretion of the father of a girl to determine when and to whom that girl would be married
to. This is an example of how girls were viewed, a little more than goods in place for the service
of men. The status of women can also be seen in the tradition forbidding a woman to divorce or
leave her husband. The same was not true for the husband who was allowed to leave his wife if
he so wished (Teppo 30). This mismatch also acutely demonstrates the status of women within
this particular kingdom.

Among the women themselves, there was also a difference in status. There were those
women who were viewed as being of a higher status that others. This stratification meant
different treatment of different status of women. Those considered to be of a higher status were
treated much better that those who were viewed as being of a lower status (Dossani 20). There
were the queens who were of a higher status that the lowly servants of the household. There were
also women of the status of prophetesses who were revered in their own sense (Teppo 84). The
lowest status however seems to be women perceived as Harlots or prostitutes.

Role of Women
The role of women within the Assyrian Kingdom was largely predicated upon how they
ranked in status among the women folk. The highest ranking among women in the kingdom was
the Queen. Even as a highly ranked woman within the kingdom, her place as being subordinate
to men was still evident. She was in the periphery and served only at the pleasure of the King.
This is what her role was confined to, to being a wife and a mother. A second example of the role
of status in determining the role of women in society is for example the work of prophetesses
(Teppo 84). This function became their sole role within the kingdom, doing nothing else but
serving this particular function. There were also women whose main function was to serve as
servants within households, especially within the palace. Overall the remaining women were
housewives and daughters since the professions women engaged in were those connected only to
either the Kings palace or to the temple or as a prostitute (Teppo 100).

From the roles discussed above, it is evident that women in general, in whatever role they
played, ultimately served the needs of men as people who were inferior to these men. From the
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queen down to the despised prostitutes, all the roles occupied by women were meant as being
subservient to men (Teppo 98). This was the place of women and it permeated through from their
status down to the roles that were left for women to play within the kingdom

It is evident that the status of the women within the Assyrian kingdom was, first and
foremost predicated upon the construct of a patriarchal system. This meant that the men were
viewed as superior to the women within the kingdom (Sayce 19). This can be discerned from the
manner in which the women were treated and viewed. Secondly, they were not just viewed as
being second to men in status; they were viewed as being at the whims and mercy of the men
who lorded over them (Collie, Kindon, Liu & Podsiadlowski 214). Finally, not all women were
accorded the same status.

In conclusion, while generally they were seen as second rate to the men, there were
women who were regarded as being higher in status than other women. Regarding their role, as
has already been discussed above, this was fragmented and depended largely on the status that a
particular woman was given within the society. The role was in this case determined by the status
accorded to that woman. The higher the status accorded to the woman, the loftier and more
prestigious the role that was accorded the woman. For example, the role of the queen was much
more prestigious that that of the prophetess. Similarly, the role of the prophetess was higher than
that of the prostitute.

Annotated Bibliographies

Collie, Philipa, Kindon, Sara, Liu, James & Podsiadlowski, Astrid 2009, Mindful identity
negotiations: The acculturation of young Assyrian women in New Zealand. Web. 14th February
2015. http://nzrefugeeresearch.wikispaces.com/file/view/CollieetalIJIR-Acculturation2010.pdf
I found this article interesting because the majority of the content is a look on the
acculturation found in New Zealand by Assyrian women. It explains how they managed to
navigate newfound living conditions in New Zealand, after having to flee Iraq, and the social
status of their role as women that followed. To me, this source is credible as the information is
from studies performed by many suitable professors and anthropologists. The authors of the
article are also experienced in cross-culture research and cultural geography.

Dossani, Khairunessa 2013, Virtue and Veiling: Perspectives from Ancient to Abbasid
Times.

Web.

14th

February

2015.

http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=7880&context=etd_theses
This article was helpful in regards to information on the gender roles and perspectives of
ancient females from vast time periods. The main topic of the thesis is the link between female
virtue and the practices of veiling in world history. This thesis was for the department of History
at San Jose State University, which leads to the conclusion that it is a highly credible source as it
was reviewed by multiple professors in the History and Comparative Literature departments with
PHDs.

Sayce, Archibald 2008, Babylonians and Assyrians Life and Customs. Web. 14th February
2015. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25080/25080-pdf.pdf
This resource is scientific research in the study of Babylonians, Assyrians, and Semitic
races in ancient history. I used this source to get more information on the patriarchal system of
Assyria and the gender role and status of women in comparison to men. I found this to be a
credible resource because each of the contributors are known specialists in subject and were
chosen from a number of Semitic scholars in Europe and America.

Teppo, Saana 2005, Women and Their Agency in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Web. 14th
February 2015. http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/hum/aasia/pg/teppo/womenand.pdf
My last resource explores the womens agency in Assyrian history and the role of women in society in
general. The author put a lot of information and detail into the research for the thesis and studied over
100 Assyrian women in order to get a closer examination of the subject. Her information comes from a
number of reliable sources, including the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus project.