What Women *Did*

This article focuses on Hittite women, but certain of the activities it elucidates are close to timeless, or at least functionally practical enough that they span quite startlingly large swathes of history.  One notable exception to this is the role of priestess, which Christian tradition revoked entirely from women once the Catholic church gained sway, and which to this day remains unavailable to those of us with the wrong chromosomes.  At least in some Christian denominations.  Interestingly, the most visible religious role available to women today in that particular tradition is the one marked out by its abstention from the one function for which women have historically been valued, and insists upon virginity.  Hmm.