Women’s property rights in the Archaic and Classical Cypriot city-kingdoms?

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the law of the Cypriot city-kingdoms in the Archaic and Classical periods. New insights concern the property rights of upper-class women from Cyprus, specifically from Idalion. The paper provides a fresh analysis of the content of the Idalion Bronze Tablet and of two scarab-seals. The data coming from their examination are compared with the iconography of women in Cyprus and the contents of two paragraphs of Lysias’ speech, On the Property of Aristophanes. The analysis of these testimonies demonstrates that in the Archaic and Classical periods, Cypriot upper-class women may have been landowners who rented out their properties, may have owned personal seals, and conceivably, may have managed family estates in the event of their husband’s death.