Mine is the right to utter final judgment here, And for Orestes I cast in the urn this stone; For unto me no mother was who gave me birth, Therefore with all my heart all manly things I praise Excepting marriage. For I am my father’s quite. Less criminal I deem the murder of this woman, Because her husband she has killed, the home’s maintainer. Though even be the vote, Orestes is victorious. Another myth depicts the fall of the matriarchate in the following manner: During the rule of Cecrops, a double miracle occurred. Simultaneously an olive-tree sprang from the earth at one place, and a well at another. The frightened king sent a messenger to Delphi to question the oracle concerning the meaning of these miracles. The reply was: The olive-tree represents Minerva, the water represents Neptune, and the citizens may decide after whom of the two deities they choose to name their city. Cecrops summoned the popular assembly, in which both men and women were entitled to vote. The men voted for Neptune, and the women for Minerva, and since the women had a majority of one vote, Minerva was victorious. Thereupon Neptune became infuriated and let the sea flood the lands of the Athenians. To appease the fury of the god, the Athenians then inflicted threefold punishment upon their women. They were to be disfranchised, their children were no longer to bear their mother’s name, and they themselves should no longer be called Athenians.[10] Thus the new order was established. The father became the head of the family. The patriarchate conquered the matriarchate. [10] Backofen: “The Matriarchate.” 3.--Legitimate Wives and Courtesans in Athens. Just as the transition from the matriarchate to the patriarchate was accomplished in Athens, it was accomplished elsewhere as soon as a similar degree of development had been attained. Woman was restricted to her home and isolated in special rooms, known as “gynacontis,” in which she dwelt. She even was excluded from social intercourse with the men who visited the house; in fact, this was the special object of her isolation. In the Odyssee we find this change in customs expressed. Thus Telemachus forbids his mother to be present among her suitors, and utters this command: But go now to the home, and attend to thy household affairs; To the spinning wheel and the loom, and bid thy maids be assiduous At the task that to them were allotted. To speak is the privilege of men, And mine is especially this privilege, for I am the lord of the house![11] This was the prevailing conception in Greece at the time. Even widows were subjected to the rulership of their nearest male relatives, and were not even free to choose a husband. Weary of the long waiting imposed upon them by the clever Penelope, the suitors send to Telemachus their spokesman, Antonioos, who thus voices their demand: